May Groot Manson

(1859–1917) The wife of a stockbroker, May was a socialite in New York City and Eastern Long Island. She and her husband, Thomas Manson, supported the suffrage movement. May chaired the Executive Committee Women’s Suffrage League of East Hampton and later on led the Suffolk County organization. She organized a 1913 march in her town with Harriet Stanton Blatch as the keynote speaker. In 1915, May kicked off the Torch Relay Crusade, an auto rally from Montuak to Buffalo. She drove from Montauk to Nassau County, stopping along the route to give speeches to waiting crowds. Although May died before passage of the 19th Amendment, today a historical marker at her former East Hampton home honors of her contributions.