(1866–1952) Mary spent most of her life in Victor, NY. Her family included many physicians and Mary continued this caring tradition by opening her home to others in need. She was an active member of the Presbyterian Church, Eastern Star, and the Unity Club. Through these organizations, she gave her time and energy to meeting the needs of others in her community. The Victor Equality Suffrage Association first met at her home in October 1913. Seventeen members committed to carrying out the work needed to grant women the right to vote.

(1875–1963) Mary Elisabeth was a labor union activist and women’s suffrage supporter. From 1906 to 1914, she was president of the New York Women's Trade Union League (NYWTUL), an organization dedicated to improving factory working conditions for women, raising funds for striking workers, and lobbying for labor reform legislation. She was arrested for participating in the “Uprising of 20,000,” a 1909 shirtwaist factory strike.

From 1915 to 1918, Mary devoted her energies to women’s suffrage and chaired the Industrial Section of New York City's Woman Suffrage Party. She remained on the NYWTUL board until it disbanded in 1950. Throughout her life, she was a highly respected labor leader, serving on several commissions including: the New York State Factory Investigating Commission, the New York State Committee on Women in Industry, the New York Council for Limitation of Armaments, the Committee for the Outlawry of War of the WTUL, and various other boards and advisory committees.

(1877–1952) "Kate", as she was called, was best known as an artist who supported other artists and a social reformer. Born in Brooklyn, NY to well-off German immigrant parents, Kate was afforded many opportunities; her parents were active in supporting their community and expected the same from their children.

As a young woman, Kate worked with her mother who founded the German House for Recreation of Women and Children. She served as treasurer for nine years. As an adult Kate was an active suffragist. She was a member of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, attending their 1909 convention in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1910, Kate founded and directed the Manhattan Trade School to train young women to enter the manual trades. In 1915, she headed the German American Committee of Woman Suffrage in New York City. While in declining health, Kate continued to write and lecture during the last ten years of her life.

(1859–1930) Rena was a leading citizen of Shortsville as well as an active member of the Presbyterian Church there where she was a member of the Women's Organization. In May of 1916, she attended the Ontario County Suffrage Convention held in Shortsville.

No other documentation of her contributions was found. If you know more about her, you can help us tell her story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information.

(1852–1910) Annis was a restless intellect who was under-nourished by the opportunities for women in her day. Despite those limitations, she became a pulpit minister, an active suffragist, and a lifelong student of philosophy, religion, and psychology. Two of her children - Max and Crystal Eastman - became well-known reformers and intellectuals, influenced by their mother’s ideas. Annis and her sisters grew up in Peoria, Illinois in a household with a violent, alcoholic father. All five sisters were determined to make their own living, which Annis did by seeking a college education at Oberlin College (class of 1874). There she met her husband, Samuel Eastman, who was studying for the ministry. They settled in Canandaigua, NY. The early years of their marriage were fraught and difficult, marked by the births of their four children and the death of their oldest son at age seven. In 1886, Samuel Eastman’s health collapsed and he stepped down from his pulpit. This made space for Annis to lead both the church and the family.

In 1889 she was ordained a Congregational minister based on her independent study of scripture, one of the first female clergy in the denomination—and the country. She led a church in Brookton, NY (near Ithaca) and became increasingly well known as a preacher. In 1893 she addressed the World’s Parliament of Religions at the Chicago World’s Fair. The following year Annis and her husband were both hired as assistant pastors of Park Church in Elmira. Whether Samuel Eastman was active in the ministry or hired because they would not have hired Annis alone is unclear. When Rev. Thomas K. Beecher died in 1900, the Eastmans were elevated to co-pastors with Annis as the intellectual leader of the church. Her own academic journey included summer study at Harvard with some of the great men of philosophy, and she grew increasingly skeptical of Christian dogma. In 1907 she led the church to change its affiliation from Congregational to Unitarian. The shift indicated her own engagement with the secular world. In her 50’s she became increasingly interested in suffrage and social reform. In 1908 she addressed the 60th anniversary ceremony at Seneca Falls—giving one of two keynotes, alongside Mary Church Terrell, one of the most prominent African-American activists in the country. In 1910 Annis wrote a eulogy for Mark Twain, Elmira’s most famous resident, but was too sick to speak so her husband delivered it on her behalf. She died later that year. Samuel Eastman outlived his wife by 15 years. Their shared headstone reflects the partnership Annis Eastman and her husband eventually developed: ministers and equals. Bio by Rachel B. Tiven.

(1881–1928) Crystal began her reform work by improving labor conditions. She drafted a workers’ compensation law, the first of its kind in the country, requiring employers to cover costs for injuries endured on the job. Several states passed workers’ compensation laws based on Crystal’s model in response to public outcry following the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

In 1912, Crystal spearheaded a state suffrage campaign in Wisconsin. Its failure convinced her that the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)’s state-by-state strategy was too slow, and in 1913 she joined Alice Paul and Lucy Burns to found the Congressional Union (later the National Woman’s Party) to press for a suffrage amendment to the constitution.
A committed peace activist, Crystal founded the Woman’s Peace Party (WWP, later the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom) with colleagues Jane Addams and Lillian Wald in 1915. Eastman also contributed to the founding of the the National Civil Liberties Bureau, to protect the rights of conscientious objectors to military service. This organization would become the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Crystal delivered her classic speech “Now We Can Begin” in 1920, following the ratification of the 19th Amendment. She called for equal pay for women workers and an end to employment descrimination; to that end, she co-authored the Equal Rights Amendment with Alice Paul. She argued that women could never be equal without equality in the home, and advocated for women to be able to control if and when they had children, and to have domestic labor recognized, compensated, and shared with men. Valuation and control of reproductive labor and an end to gendered divisions of labor in the household would become central to the second-wave feminist movement.

(1844–1915) Mary Elizabeth was an African-American social justice advocate and women’s suffrage leader. At sixteen she started teaching in the New York City Public School system where she was said to have been an exceptional teacher and an inspiration to her students. Mary taught at Grammar School No. 3 on West 41st Street, later moving to Grammar School No. 80 on 42nd Street. She retired in 1904, after a career that spanned forty-four years.

Mary Elizabeth also led a number of social justice programs, including St. Mark’s Mutual Aid Society, the New York African Society for Mutual Relief, and the Hope Day Nursery for Colored Children.

She became a member of the Colored Women’s Equal Suffrage League of Brooklyn, New York and served as its Vice President in 1908. During her tenure she was noted for inviting a diverse range of suffrage speakers including white women suffragists and men.

(1872–1940) A woman born into the spotlight to political parents, Sarah was considered a socialite and activist; she used her platform for purpose, serving as an officer in a number of county and state suffrage organizations and was most notably recognized for her lifelong work with the Girl Scouts of America.

In June 1916, she served on the reception committee for the annual Suffrage County Suffrage Convention in Riverhead, NY. In January of 1917, she and several other women prominent in the suffrage movement attended the opening of the state legislature in Albany and witnessed the introduction of a resolution favoring the resubmission of the ‘votes for women' proposal to the voters of the state next November.

On September 14, 1917, Sarah hosted the Campaign Conference of the New York State Woman Suffrage Party of Suffolk County at her family summer home in Near-the-bay in Bellport, Long Island. The delegates celebrated having enrolled 15,005 women for suffrage in the county. Edey announced that, "We must not fail to bring home to the voters of this county the fact that such a tremendous sentiment for Suffrage exists among their own women. We have enrolled almost as many women as the combined vote for and against Suffrage in 1915. We have the indisputable argument in the fact that they want Suffrage to a number as large as the combined 'yeas' and 'nays' of the men in 1915.”

In a 1917 letter to the editor of the East Hampton Star, Sarah chastised the women picketing President Wilson and bemoaned that their “misguided doings” be “laid on the shoulders of all Suffragists.” She spoke at a rally in Mt. Vernon that same month and “emphasized the need for persistent, systematic work on the part of every suffragist, saying that New York state may be won over to exhibit the spectacle of democracy that will inspire the sons of American women in the trenches abroad.”

After women acquired the vote in New York State, Sarah was active in the League of Women Voters, serving as chair of the intelligence committee of the NYS League. She is reported as stating that she had learned three things during the successful campaign for women's suffrage in New York: “how to organize groups to do a special piece of work; to speak in public; to get along with people.” Sarah also realized that women for whom she had worked to acquire the vote, “were not ready for their enfranchisement, that people needed to be trained to be citizens early in life.” (Bio courtesy of alexanderstreet.com)

(1877–1962) Born Mabel Rosalie Edge, she preferred "Rosalie". She was a socialite who committed her life to activism, becoming an influential environmental advocate. Rosalie was the daughter of Harriet Bowen Woodward and John Wylie Barrow, a wealthy British importer and accountant who was a first cousin to Charles Dickens. After marrying Charles Noel Edge, a British civil engineer, in 1909, she spent several years traveling throughout Asia. In 1915, after settling in New York, Rosalie joined the Equal Franchise Society, an organization founded by women of wealth to channel energies of the upper class into social activism.

Rosalie became involved in the movement for women's voting rights, giving speeches and writing pro-suffrage pamphlets. In 1916, she was elected as the secretary-treasurer of the New York State Woman Suffrage Party under the leadership of Carrie Chapman Catt. In the 1920s, Rosalie turned her focus to environmental conservation, eventually establishing the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. The Rosalie Edge Society is named for their founder who is considered one of the most important conservationists of the 20th Century.

(1853–1939) Born in Port Byron, NY, Eva was the mother of two biological children and one foster child. A founding member of the Pittsford Political Equality Club, she lived at 10 North Main Street where she and her husband ran a thriving greenhouse business.

Eva exemplified the civic engagement that was a part of many suffragists’ lives. In addition to working to win women the right to vote, among other interests, Eva was also an active member of the Cheerful Workers of the King’s Daughters, an organization that supported homes for aging women and was founded on the principle of service to others. Its motto was “Look up, not down; Look forward, not back; Look out, not in; Lend a hand.”

In addition Eva was a member of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, one of the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that “linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far-reaching reform strategies based on applied Christianity.” Eva served as Treasurer.

And she was involved in Pittsford Grange, which focused on the economic and political well-being of agricultural communities. In 1902 the Pittsford Grange No. 424 installed new officers, which included five women. The Grange was an unusual fraternal organization because it allowed women to be members and to hold office. (courtesy of www.townofpittsford.org/19thAcentennial)

(1871–1964) Gertrude "Gertie" was very active in her native Glens Falls community as Librarian, and later Director, at Crandall Free Library. She was a member of Study Club, Social Worker’s Club, and Glens Falls Garden Club.

In 1914 Gertie was present at the official reformation of the Political Equality Club of Glens Falls, and was elected corresponding and recording Secretary. Gertie also represented the club at the 46th annual convention of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association in Rochester in 1914. Bio by Tisha Dolton.

(1887–1953) Maude was a member of the Ontario County Political Equity Club. She addressed the need for women to be enfranchised at local meetings of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the Grange and others. In 1917, she was named a captain in the push for votes for women in the town of Seneca.

During World War I, Maude signed on with the YMCA and was stationed in France and the British Isles working in canteens for the troops. In later years, she resided in Manhattan and was an executive secretary at the Museum of Natural History. Maude's life included a wide variety of experiences. If you know more about her, you can help us tell her story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information.

(1798–1868) Sarah was among Rochester's most prominent early suffragist and abolitionist advocates. The Fish Family, including Sarah's husband Benjamin, and their daughters Catharine Stebbins and Mary Curtis, were involved in organizing all kinds of anti-slavery and suffrage activities. Their home was an early way-station on the Underground Railroad. Sarah was a member of the Rochester Female Anti-Slavery Society and served a term as its secretary. In 1842, she joined the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society and served on its Executive Committee. She wrote for Frederick Douglass' North Star newspaper.

Sarah and her daughter Catharine participated in the First Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls in 1848. Sarah helped organize the second women's rights convention two weeks later in Rochester, and delivered an address at this convention. She was part of the radical group that recommended that the Rochester convention elect a female president, and her group prevailed, selecting Abigail Bush as chair.

(1868–1940) Annie was born in Flushing, New York. The wife of a prominent lawyer, Joseph Fitch, she was known to be involved in charitable works in her community.

Annie served as the Vice President of Flushing's Equal Franchise Association leading up to women earning the right to vote in New York State. Volume six of the History of Woman Suffrage (p. 462) lists Mrs. Joseph Fitch as one of many "capable officials" who in 1915 helped with various activities on behalf of the cause, including canvassing and clerical work. (Courtesy alexanderstreet.com)

Joseph died in 1917, the same year New York gave women the right to vote, and any record of Annie Fitch's suffrage activities ends there. As suggested in the Alexander Street document, "she may have lost her energy at that time." Or perhaps we don't know more because it appears she had no grandchildren or great-grandchildren who would document her life on a genealogy site.

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

(1872/73–1954) Mabel was a member of the Gorham Political Equity Club. She also belonged to the Ladies Aid Society, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), and the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Little is known of her exact contributions but she was involved in working to gain the vote for women.

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

(1886–1970) Portia was said to be educated, beautiful, well connected and daring--making her participation in suffrage publicity events fodder for press coverage. Her father was distinguished for his Civil War record and later became a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Her mother was a prominent socialite. The press dubbed her "The Prettiest Suffragette in New York State.”

Portia was deeply involved in the New York State suffrage involvement from 1911 to 1917. In 1911, she and five other suffragists (including Harriet May Mills of Syracuse, President of the New York State Women’s Suffrage League) conducted a fourteen county tour of the state to organize local suffrage clubs as branches of the state’s organization. Portia was the youngest of the group. In the following years she extended her lecture tour to New Jersey, Washington, DC, and Massachusetts.

In addition to her lectures, she participated in other highly visible events. She worked with the New York State Suffrage Association to organize an aviation rally and parade in Hempstead, New York. Nearly 200 women and eight men participated. She encouraged the young participants to demonstrate their courage by taking a ride in a bi-plane piloted by a female suffrage aviator, Ruth Law.

In 1914, she drove an elephant carrying a Suffrage Plank at the head of a parade leading up to the Republican Convention in Chicago, IL. That same year, she was the Grand Marshal of the Women’s Peace Parade, which was a World War I anti-war protest.

After the passage of the 19th Amendment, Portia continued to demonstrate her commitment to civic engagement. She was an advocate for the League of Nations as a member of the Women's Pro-League Council. She helped to found and manage the Greater New York branch of the League of Nations Association. She chaired the United Nations Round Table from 1950-53, where she served with Eleanor Roosevelt. Portia's name was entered into New York State's suffrage honor roll in 1931.

(1859–1948) Fanny, along with her sister, Rose, was a member of the St. Catherine Welfare Association, a Manhattan-based Catholic organization of young women advocating for suffrage that grew out of the work of the Catholic Committee of the New York City Woman Suffrage Party.

Fanny and Rose were listed in the History of Woman Suffrage: 1900–1920 among several members who "helped [promote suffrage] unceasingly by writing, speaking and in many other ways."

(1863–1937) Rosina (Rose) along with her sister, Fanny, was a member of the St. Catherine Welfare Association, a Manhattan-based Catholic organization of young women advocating for suffrage that grew out of the work of the Catholic Committee of the New York City Woman Suffrage Party.

Rose and Fanny were listed in the History of Woman Suffrage: 1900-1920 among several members who "helped [promote suffrage] unceasingly by writing, speaking and in many other ways."

(1819–1888) Seneca Falls residents Eunice Newton Foote and her husband (Elisha) were close friends of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and were both signed the declaration of sentiments (she was #5 on the list). Eunice was on the editorial committee that prepared the published proceedings. Eunice was a scientist who published an early experiment on greenhouse gasses, now being recognized as pre-dating the famous experiment by John Tyndall. Source, Wikipedia.

(1869–1953) Elizabeth was the founding mother of the St. Lawrence County League (of Women Voters). She was the chair for several years, and the regional chair for the area. In a letter in the League archive, the author describes being motored to Ogdensburg by Mrs. Elizabeth Ford, to call upon each of the members to rejoin and to recruit new members.