Suffragist of the Month

Suffragist of the Month – December, 2016

Edna Buckman Kearns, 1882 – 1934 No work illustrates the effectiveness of a grass roots campaign as well as that of Edna Buckman Kearns. Not only did Edna labor to bring the campaign for woman suffrage to all Long Islanders via her work as editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, she also passed on the suffrage fervor […]

Suffragist of the Month, November 2016

Suffragist of the Month, November 2016

Florence Gibb Pratt, 1872 – 1935 Florence Gibb was born in Brooklyn, on November 3, 1872, into what would be a family of eleven children. Her father John Gibb had emigrated from Scotland, and was a wealthy merchant who imported lace and upholstery. Her mother, Harriet Balsdon, was born in England and died when Florence […]

Suffragist of the Month, October, 2016

Suffragist of the Month, October, 2016

Abigail Jane Scott Duniway, 1834 – 1915 Abigail Jane Scott was born October 22, 1834 in Groveland, Illinois into a large, poor farm family; as a child she received little schooling. In 1852 her parents moved the family by wagon train to Oregon, a trip that sadly proved fatal for her mother and younger brother. Once […]

Suffragist of the Month, September, 2016

Suffragist of the Month, September, 2016

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, 1825 – 1911 Frances Ellen Watkins was born September 24, 1825 to free black parents in the slave state of Maryland. Her mother died when she was two years old, and she was raised by an aunt and uncle. She attended her uncle’s school for free black children until the age of […]

Suffragist of the Month, August 2016

Inez Milholland Bossevain Saturday, August 6 marks the 130th birthday of the courageous suffragist, Inez Milholland Bossevain,  whose early death while campaigning for suffrage  resulted in her being hailed as a “martyr” for the cause. Inez was born August 6, 1886 to a wealthy, progressive family in Brooklyn, New York. Her family spent much of […]

Suffragist of the Month - July, 2016

Suffragist of the Month – July, 2016

Alice Duer Miller, 1874 – 1942   I’m in a hard position for a perfect gentleman, I want to please the ladies, but I don’t see how I can. My present wife’s a suffragist, and counts on my support, But my mother is an anti, of a rather biting sort; One grandmother is on the […]

Suffragist of the Month, June 2016

Suffragist of the Month, June 2016

Miriam Folline Leslie 1836 – 1914 Miriam Folline was born in New Orleans on June 3, 1846. After a brief marriage that was annulled in 1856, she spent a year on the stage, and in 1857 married Ephraim G. Squier, who in 1861 became an editor of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper. Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper had […]

Suffragist of the Month, May 2016

Suffragist of the Month, May 2016

Margaret Fuller,  1810 – 1850 Margaret Fuller was born May 23, 1810 in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts. As a young child she was taught at home by an exacting father, and did not attend school formally until the age of ten. Perhaps for this reason she was a precocious child, educated far beyond her years, schooled in Greek, Latin, German […]

Suffragist of the Month, April 2016

Suffragist of the Month, April 2016

Mary Coffin Ware Dennett – 1872 – 1947 Mary Coffin Ware was born April 4, 1872 in Worcester, MA. She attended Miss Capen’s School for Girls, and later studied at the school of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, where she developed her talent for design and decoration. She taught at the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia, […]

Suffragist of the Month, March, 2016

Suffragist of the Month, March, 2016

Inez Haynes (Gillmore) Irwin, 1883 – 1970 Inez Haynes Irwin was born March 2, 1873 in Brazil. Originally from Boston, MA, the family returned there during her childhood and it was there that she grew up, eventually attending Radcliffe College. While at Radcliffe she became involved in the woman suffrage movement, and co-founded the National […]

Suffragist of the Month, February 2016

Suffragist of the Month, February 2016

Isabella Beecher Hooker, 1822 – 1907 Isabella Beecher was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, February 22, 1822 into the famous Beecher family, which included her half-sister and author of the famous anti-slavery story, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe. As a child she was educated mainly in schools run by her sister, Catherine Beecher. In 1841 […]

Suffragist of the Month - January, 2016

Suffragist of the Month – January, 2016

Maud Younger, 1870 – 1936 Like many other dedicated suffragists, Maud Younger came from a very wealthy family, and as a young woman enjoyed a life of ease and elegance. She was born January 10, 1870 and lived in California. On a trip to France she stopped in New York for week’s visit to a […]

Suffragist of the Month - November, 2015

Suffragist of the Month – November, 2015

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1915 – 1902 Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born November 12, 1815 in Johnstown, NY, one of eleven children (six of them died before adulthood). Her father was a prominent attorney and judge in the town. Elizabeth would often visit him in his office where she learned at an early age that women, […]

Suffragist of the Month – October, 2015

Abigail Scott Duniway, 1834 – 1915 We sometimes forget that the struggle for woman suffrage was nation-wide. Some western states extended suffrage to women in the mid-19th century, (Wyoming in 1869, Colorado in 1893, Utah in 1896) but others dragged their feet for years, thus necessitating an active movement throughout the west as well. Abigail […]