(1869–1912) Edith's suffrage work included a stint as the acting president of the Equal Franchise Society, a home for upper-crust women who were uncomfortable with the increasingly public, rabble-rousing suffrage work that was coming into fashion in New York. Though Edith came from wealth, she was drawn to more vigorous public organizing.

In 1909, she spoke at a rally at Madison Square, introduced by Harriot Stanton Blatch. In addition to publishing other works, Edith wrote a tract called "Some Ideals of Suffrage." Her speech at the 1909 rally gives a clue to her suffrage politics: [Suffragists are housekeepers who] do not want to confine our housekeeping to our own homes. We feel that there is housekeeping for us in the streets, in the prisons, and on our school boards. There are old and young bachelors on the school boards, and there ought to be a mother or two."

(1854–1937) Susan was one of the powerhouse Glens Falls women behind the first local study club, Friends in Council (1884) and the first suffrage club in Warren County, the Political Equality Club of Glens Falls (1893). She was elected vice president of the PECGF in 1901, and later served as president hosting many meetings in her home on South Street.

In 1914, she became the Warren County Suffrage leader, and served on the canvass committee with Lucy Wooster Chapman, and Adelen Walsh Bayle. On June 7, 1894, as Chair of the Campaign Committee of the 21th District, Susan addressed the New York Constitution Convention Committee in Albany, stating “there is one cogent reason for woman suffrage–woman herself. Womanhood and motherhood are as strong arguments for the right to vote as fatherhood and manhood. Though a woman, she is a citizen, a house-holder, a tax-payer, and ought to have, according to the accepted principles of our form of government, a voice in the expenditure of the public money she helps to pay and the making of laws she is bound to obey. As wife, mother, daughter and sister, she is a silent and uncounted unit in the State, except as she appears in the census returns. By what authority is she thus governed by proxy?”

Anthony, S. B., & Sewall, M. W. (1895). Constitutional-amendment campaign year: report of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association, twenty-sixth annual convention, Ithaca, N.Y., November 12- 15. Rochester, NY: Charles Mann, printer, Elm Park. Bio by Tisha Dolton.

(1873–1945) Josephine entered the field of medicine at a time when women were not readily accepted. Her story and many accomplishments are best documented by the Long Island and the Women Suffrage website. Dr. Jo enjoyed well earned retirement years in New Jersey with her life partner, novelist Ida Wylie.

(1850–1931) Along with the Geneva and Ontario County Political Equality Clubs, Charlotte was active in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). Connections between the temperance and suffrage movements were common and the liquor industry feared women’s votes would hurt their business.

For Charlotte and many of her peers who were already active within the community supporting issues like education, health care, and the arts, the right to vote was part of civic engagement.

Charlotte was President of the Ontario County Political Equity Club. She advocated for tax-paying women to exercise the right of franchise in certain cases, which is documented in a letter to her on official stationery by Governor B. B. Odell.

(1852–1921) Dr. Eveline was one of a number of prominent early female physicians mentioned in the History of Women’s Suffrage.In January 1887 the Provident Dispensary was opened for business. It provided free medical care for women and children and was operated solely by women physicians. The clinic was located on Front Street in the city of Rochester by the Genesee River. Rochester City Council supplied Provident Dispensary with three rent free rooms and a $100 budget. The rest of their funds came from private donors.

During this time, dispensaries were founded to meet the needs of urban, working poor families. Dispensaries held clinic hours and made home visits. Beyond medical needs, they met the social needs of their patients, helping them find employment, providing food and clothing, and teaching about hygiene and sanitation. Unlike other dispensaries, Provident Dispensary was founded specifically to serve women and children.

Provident Dispensary was established in conjunction with the Practitioner’s Society, a medical society for women in Rochester. Women physicians during this time period were largely excluded from practicing in hospitals. Provident Dispensary gave women the chance to practice medicine, maintain their skills, and care for poor women and children, a core value of their mission.

The founders of Provident Dispensary were: Drs. Sarah Dolley, Mary Stark, Anna Searing, Harriet Turner, Eveline Ballintine, Frances Hamilton, Lettie Woodruff, Sarah Perry, Mary Brownell, Marion Craig, Mary Slaight, and Minerva Palmer.

(1833–1901) Lucy came from the small rural community of Alfred and voted in the general election on November 3, 1886, as well as another time in the 1880s. This was a sensational story across the USA because Lucy was arrested, spent a night in jail, and had a trial and other court proceedings.

In celebration of her vote, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony held a banquet in her honor in New York City at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Lucy did not attend this event, although all of her expenses would have been paid for, citing too much work to do at home.

(1859–1945) Though born along Lake Champlain, Dr. Annetta Barber spent much of her medical career in Glens Falls, NY where she was active in local, state, and national medical associations, women’s clubs, and civic organizations. She was active in the Glens Falls Political Equality Club from 1902-1917, and was elected treasurer of the club in 1903. She also served on the Meetings and Programs committee in 1914, and on the Membership committee in 1915.

Dr. Annetta presented a number of papers to the club based on some of her medical research including one titled “What the World Owes to the Scientific Discovery of Medicine and Surgery”. She was a charter member of the local Zonta branch, as well as both the Tri-County & Glens Falls Associations for the Blind. Dr. Annetta retired to and is buried in her hometown of Chazy, NY. Bio by Tisha Dolton.

(1883–1971) Nora continued the legacy begun by her grandmother, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and mother, Harriet Stanton Blatch. Nora was the first female to graduate from Cornell University with a civil engineering degree and the first woman admitted to the Society of American Civil Engineers. When she aged out of her junior member status, she sued to be a full member but was denied based on her gender. In 2015, she was given this status posthumously.

Nora's first husband wanted her to give up her occupation to be a housewife. Although pregnant, she refused and they were divorced shortly after. These actions speak to her strong belief in women's rights. In 1915, Nora was elected president of the Women's Political Union began by her mother. This organization joined thousands of working women together in support of voting, equal pay and improved working conditions. In later years, she worked in support of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Nora wrote articles promoting world peace until the time of her death.

(1882–1926) Caroline attended several of the National Women's Rights Conventions in the 1850s. She signed a petition to urge voting against Leslie Russell, a New York State Attorney General—who opposed women's rights and whose recommendation was blocking women’s rights legislation in New York State. He was defeated. Caroline served as Michigan's state superintendent of the Women's Temperance Union for three years. Frances Willard, later president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, spoke of the problem in a 1874 speech known as “Everybody’s War:”

“There is a war about this in America, a war of mothers and daughters, sisters, and wives.” Frances described how a man goes to a bar and “loiters away his time” and “fritters away his earnings” and then goes home, “to the house where he is best loved…he inflicts atrocities which imagination cannot picture and no tongue dare describe.” As Anthony put it in 1899, “the only hope” for Prohibition was, “putting the ballot into the hands of women.”

In that way, Prohibition and women’s suffrage went hand in hand, with the latter actually happening when the 19th Amendment was ratified seven months after Prohibition went into effect on August 18, 1920. In addition to her Temperance work, Caroline trained as a teacher at Albany Normal School. Later she became the second woman to be an ordained minister in the Free Baptist Church and ministered in West Fall, NY, near East Aurora.
Bio by Mary Ellen Capineri.

(1860–1946) Rev. Juanita was an American Congregationalist minister, her application being the test case to determine the policy of the denomination. She was the first woman to be awarded a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Oberlin College (1891), and Oberlin was the first school to award this degree. While at Oberlin, she was a member of Ladies' Literary Society. For decades, Rev. Juanita was a community organizer in the women's suffrage movement.

Rev. Juanita chaired the Suffrage Party in Ithaca, New York, and was a leader of Tompkins County, New York in New York state's campaign for woman suffrage. The city of Ithaca and Tompkins County carried for suffrage.

Rev. Juanita was interested in The Social Service League, Y.W.C.A. work, and both home and foreign mission work. She served as first vice-president of the Ithaca Political Study Club; was a member of Susquehanna Ministerial Association, New York State Congregational Conference; and was a director of New York State Federation of Women's Clubs, Ithaca Woman's Club, and City Federation of Women's Organizations of Ithaca.

(1888–1933) Adelene was an active member of the Political Equality Club of Glens Falls. She was on the local Canvas Committee in 1915 helping coordinate the canvassing of Glens Falls to ascertain how many men and women in the city were in favor of granting women the right to vote. This committee was part of the Empire State Campaign of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association. Glens Falls was in the 11th campaign district led by Katharine Notman.

(1876–1958) In History and Feminism: A Glass Half Full (1993), Judith Zinsser argues that beginning in the 1930s, Mary Beard was the most well-known authority and advocate for women's history in the Unites States. Mary's writings and the actions she took during her life on behalf of women's suffrage, labor issues, and establishment of women's archives also helped to illuminate the contributions that women made throughout history.

Mary became involved in the suffrage movement through her activism in women’s labor organizations, and became a leader within the New York City Suffrage Party. She left the NYCSP in 1913 to join the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage, where she became an executive member of its board and editor of its weekly magazine The Suffragist. Mary and Charles Beard published a number of books together, starting in 1914. In 1915 Mary published the first of six books that she would publish alone.

Mary helped found the World Center for Women's Archives in 1935. As director of the Center, Mary worked to collect all manner of women's published and unpublished records, and to establish an educational institution that would aid in the writing of history and the education of women. She directed the Center for five years before resigning in 1940. Mary's next project was to work with a team of female scholars to write an analysis of Encyclopedia Britannica's representation of women.

Despite their work, the recommendations of the report were ignored. Mary was disappointed with the effort and later suggested that women no longer write for the Britannica. Despite her extensive work in acquiring the personal papers of women throughout the world, she, along with her husband, destroyed nearly all of their papers and manuscripts before their deaths. Bio by: Pete Mohney

(1893–1943) Bessye was a journalist and civic leader known particularly for her work with the Democratic Party. She wrote as a correspondent for the Chicago Defender and was the first black woman elected to the New York City Board of Education, a position she served in for seventeen years.

Bessye was tapped to work for the IRS as an auditor while continuing to be an active community leader. She served on the executive boards of the Urban League, Council of Negro Women and the Harlem Community Council and was the first president of the Colored Women's Democratic League.

Bessye and her husband, Richard Bearden, opened their Harlem home to artists and intellectuals. The Jazz Cadence of American Culture described Bessye as a political force, someone you came to to cut through red tape and get action. Her son, Romare Bearden, became a famous collage artist.

On the community level, Bearden served on numerous boards, including the Citizens Welfare Council, the Harlem Community Council, the NAACP, and the Utopia Neighborhood Club. She received a number of honors for her devoted service, including medals from the Citizens' Welfare Council and Veterans of Foreign Wars. Bessye accomplished a lot in her 52 years.

(1859–1937) Emma was a proud member of the Easton Political Equality Club, the first suffrage club in Washington County. From 1891 to 1917 the Easton Political Equality Club had a mission- to prove to people that women, as citizens of the United States of America, deserved the right to vote. Like the "good wives" they were, Lucy Allen, Chloe Sisson, Emma J. Skiff Becker and the ladies of the Easton PEC used their influence as wives & mothers, neighbors & friends, to convince many men in the area to vote in favor of female suffrage.

This tireless effort culminated on November 6, 1917 when male voters all across New York approved the measure guaranteeing the right to vote to citizens of the state regardless of sex. The measure passed statewide by about 80,000 votes, in Washington County by 188 votes & in Easton by 18 votes. It would be another 3 years before the 19th Amendment would be ratified.

The women of the Easton PEC continued to serve their communities through the library, the grange, the school board, and a book club. Emma was superintendent of press work for the EPEC for a number of years.

(1809–1875) Lorinda was a speaker at the first New York state women's convention held in Congress Hall, Saratoga Springs, NY, and served as the Superintendent of Women's Studies at Oberlin College. Her husband was the proprietor of a water cure and hotel, called Congress Hall. Lorinda was born in Fredonia, NY.

(1870–1925) Stella was an active member of the Political Equality Club of Glens Falls. She was appointed to the club’s finance committee in 1914.

If you know more about her, you can help us tell her story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information.

(1875–1941) Charlotte was named as a delegate to the North Eastern Federation of Women's Clubs in 1904. At the first annual convention of the Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs in July 1909, she was elected vice president. Charlotte continued as both a member and officer of the organization for several years. She was chairman of the executive board in 1913, when the federation officially endorsed women's suffrage, asking all clubs to take an active role in the suffrage campaign that was occurring in New York State.

(1846–1929) Margaret, born in Ilion, was inspired by Susan B. Anthony and Dr. Anna H. Shaw, who spoke at the nearby Herkimer Opera House in 1894. They were seeking support for a women’s suffrage amendment to be added to New York State’s constitution. Shortly thereafter, Margaret was one of 50 women who met at the Ilion YMCA to form a Political Equality Club. Susan B. Anthony spoke at that meeting.

Margaret was elected Corresponding Secretary. At the same meeting the group formed the Herkimer County Political Equality Club and she was elected Recording Secretary. Political Equality Clubs were organizations within the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). These local clubs were intended to broaden suffrage support in small towns and rural areas. Even though the 1894 suffrage amendment to the state constitution was defeated, the women leading these local clubs continued their work.

In 1914, Margaret trained other women in suffrage campaign strategies in a Suffrage School in Syracuse, New York. In 1915, Ilion participated in the Suffrage Liberty Torch relay that started in Long Island and ended in Buffalo. Ilion club member, Maria Louisa Haughton, carried the bronze suffrage torch from Little Falls to Utica. In 1917, the Ilion club hosted the annual Herkimer County Women’s Rights Convention at Wilcox Hall in Ilion.

In addition to her suffrage work, Margaret was recording secretary in the Women's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.) dedicated to prohibiting alcohol, labor laws, prison reform, and suffrage. The Herkimer County organization had over 300 members in 1900. Margaret died at the age of 83.

(1853–1933) Alva was a prominent multi-millionaire American socialite and a major figure in the American women's suffrage movement. Known for having a haughty manner that antagonized some people, she was also noted for her energy, intelligence, strong opinions, and willingness to challenge convention.

In 1909, Alva founded the Political Equality League to get votes for suffrage-supporting New York State politicians, wrote articles for newspapers, and joined the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). She later formed her own Political Equality League to seek broad support for suffrage in neighborhoods throughout New York City, and, as its president, led its division of New York City's 1912 Women's Votes Parade.

In 1916, she was one of the founders of the National Woman's Party and organized the first picketing ever to take place before the White House, in January 1917. She was elected president of the National Woman's Party, an office she held until her death.

On "Equal Pay Day," April 12, 2016, Alva was honored as President Barack Obama established the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument in Washington, D.C.

(1878–1928) Glendolen was a press secretary for the New York State Woman Suffrage Party, representing Oneida and Herkimer counties. The records she compiled from party meetings and activities between 1915–1919, archived by the New York State Library, document the party's efforts in securing women's voting rights.

Glendolen worked to raise funds in support of Alice Paul and other members of the National Woman's Party who were serving jail sentences for protesting in front the White House in Washington, DC. She was also a founding member of the New York State League of Women Voters.