Evanetta Hare

(1862/63–1938) Evanetta played a prominent role in the New York State suffrage movement and the local movement in Troy. In 1894, she attended the New York State Woman Suffrage Association (NYSWSA) convention in Ithaca and was named a press officer representing Rensselaer County. She was a founding member of the Political Equality Club of Rensselaer County and served a stint as the club's vice president. In 1913, she earned an appointment from NYSWSA as chairman of the Empire State Campaign Committee for the eleventh district in the Keene Valley region. As a district chair, Evanetta coordinated publicity for the 1915 referendum vote in her region and led a conference and school for suffrage workers where she collaborated closely with National American Woman Suffrage Association president Carrie Chapman Catt.

Evanetta spoke frequently in favor of suffrage and proved a formidable opponent in debate against anti-suffragists. Just days before the November 2, 1915 referendum vote in New York, she engaged in a memorable clash with Margaret M. Crumpacker of the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage. In her eloquent defense of suffrage, Hare described a woman's right to vote as "part of the eternal forward march of the human race toward complete democracy."

Evanetta labored diligently for the improvement of salaries and working conditions for teachers in the Troy area as another extension of her activism. She was elected treasurer of the Troy Teachers Association in the 1890s and later chaired the legislative committee for the Teachers' Welfare League of New York State, spearheading lobbying efforts in Albany on behalf of teachers. Additionally, she was a founder and an administrator of the Troy Teacher's Pension Fund.

Until her death at the age of 75, Evanetta Hare maintained active membership in countless community organizations, particularly the welfare of women and children, including those concerned with improving housing conditions in Troy. (Courtesy of AlexanderStreet.com)