top of page

352 items found

  • Clemence Sophia Harned Lozier, MD

    Clemence Sophia Harned Lozier, MD (1813–1888) As New York State barred women as physicians in hospitals, in 1863 Dr. Clemence Lozier founded a medical school exclusively for female students, the New York Medical College and Hospital for Women, which was staffed and supervised by the College’s male faculty. In 1860, prior to opening the school, Dr. Clemence began a series of lectures from her home on anatomy, physiology, and hygiene as these topics were regularly neglected in women’s education. Seeing high demand for the lectures and tired of seeing qualified women get turned away from medical school, Dr. Clemence, with the help of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was able to persuade the New York State legislature to grant her a charter for a women’s medical college. In 1863, the New York Medical College for Women opened with seven female students in the inaugural class, and a faculty of eight doctors, four men and four women. Over the next twenty-five years, the school grew and placed more than 200 female graduates in medical practice throughout the U.S. and abroad. The school’s hospital was the first place in New York where doctors of their own gender could treat women, and its clinic attracted up to 2,000 female patients each year. Dr. Clemence was President of New York Woman’s Suffrage Society from 1873-1886, and very active in other suffrage organizations. She gave the commencement address at the medical school’s 25th graduation ceremony in 1888 and passed away two days later at the age of 74. Green-Wood Cemetery Section 152, Lot 19173 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232 Kings County Learn More

  • Mary Emeline Alverson Brace

    Mary Emeline Alverson Brace (1846–1930) Attended a Women's Rights Convention in 1948 at the Unitarian Church, Victor, NY with other "prominent and respectable" community 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. Boughton Hill Cemetery Old Ground, Section B, Row 2, Lot 17, Grave 4 1518 NY-444, Victor, NY 14564 Ontario County Learn More

  • Reverend Samuel J. May

    Reverend Samuel J. May (1797–1871) Due to his close friendship with William Lloyd Garrison, Rev. Samuel became an active member of the abolitionist movement, helping to establish the New England Anti-Slavery Society, the American Anti-Slavery Society, and the New England Non-Resistance Society. In 1845, Samuel became the pastor of the Unitarian Church of the Messiah in Syracuse, NY, continuing to fight against the Fugitive Slave Act while aiding escaped enslaved people along the Underground Railroad. Samuel was also an advocate for women's rights and suffrage. Two years before the first womans rights convention, the Reverend preached a sermon entitled, "The Rights and Condition of Women," which supported equality for women in all aspects of life, including the right to vote. His sermon was later published as the Woman's Rights Tract number one in Syracuse by Lathrop's Print in 1845. In 1869, Samuel attended the founding meeting of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association, held in Saratoga, NY. When asked to assume a role as an officer of the new organization he declined, believing that those positions should be held only by women. Oakwood Cemetery Section 17, Plot 1 940 Comstock Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13210 Onondaga County Learn More

  • Ada Mantha Hall

    Ada Mantha Hall (1861/75–1943) Ada was active in the suffrage movement in New York from 1899 through roughly 1912. A survivor of what her father described as “mild attacks of temporary insanity,” after losing first her mother and then stepmother, with whom she was close, Ada spent some time in at least two mental institutions before “recovering” from suicidal tendencies. Her immersion in community and society groups was suggested as her self-created cure, with Ada joining the Browning Society, a local poetry group, and becoming the club's secretary in 1896. By 1899, Ada's interests had turned to women's rights and she became active in the Syracuse Women's Educational and Industrial Union, founded in 1886 with the aim of improving the ""physical, intellectual and moral condition of women and children."" Ada's work there launched an Employment Bureau designed to help young women find gainful employment. Her efforts to ensure education and work for local women led to her involvement with the New York Trades School for Girls and Day Nursery in Syracuse, where she served on the Board until 1912. Through her work in the aforementioned groups, Ada was drawn into the suffrage movement. By 1901, she was described in the local press as "an ardent suffragist," serving as the corresponding secretary for the New York State Woman Suffrage Association, attending statewide and national suffrage conventions, donating $5.00 annually to the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) (roughly $130 in today's money), and making connections with the major players in the movement, including Carrie Chapman Catt and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Ada served as a de-facto touring manager for both women during their lecture tours throughout New York State in 1902 and 1903, hosting Catt at her home and arranging speaking engagements across the state for Gilman. Ada Hall also began to lecture herself, speaking on suffrage, architecture, and women's rights starting in 1904. Around the same time, she joined Syracuse's Political Equality Society and became their auditor. (Courtesy of AlexanderStreet.com) Oakwood Cemetery Section 24, Plot 66 940 Comstock Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13210 Onondaga County Learn More

  • Lydia Hammond Strowbridge, MD

    Lydia Hammond Strowbridge, MD (1830–1904) Dr. Lydia was a physician, suffragist, abolitionist and progressive reformer. She specialized in diseases of women and children. During the years when it was considered rare for a woman to want to be a doctor, she challenged the social conventions of the day, opening doors for other women. Despite her own serious health issues, Dr. Lydia studied with local doctors in NYC ”one of the earliest women to do so." She brought attention to many social issues, including abolition of enslavement, women's suffrage, the temperance movement and women's dress reform. Dr. Lydia was a speaker at the first New York State women's convention held at Congress Hall in Saratoga Springs. Cortland Rural Cemetery Section S, Lot 40 110 Tompkins Street Cortland, NY 13045 Cortland County Learn More

  • Leila (Lee) Vanderbilt Stott

    Leila (Lee) Vanderbilt Stott (1880–1969) Leila (Lee) was an active suffragist and educator in New York State, who was also connected to the settlement house and labor movements. She herself never married. Lee was especially active in the final few years of the push for suffrage in NY, chairing the National Woman's Party 3rd district in Albany, NY. She held meetings in Ravena and Voorheesville, NY. In October of 1917, Lee and other New York suffragists journeyed to Washington to hear a special address from President Wilson, who showed his support and passion towards women's suffrage. However, the suffragists who were present sought to push the President to work harder and to push Congress to actually grant women the right to vote. Lee was recognized on the National Roll of Honor of the National League of Women Voters in Washington D.C. as a substantial suffragist throughout the movement. Along with 72 other women, Leila Stott's name was inscribed on a bronze tablet that was placed in the national headquarters of the National League of Women Voters. *courtesy alexanderstreet.com Hudson City Cemetery Sec. B, Lot 48 Cemetery Road, Hudson, NY 12534 Columbia County Learn More

  • Margaret Maude Fish

    Margaret Maude Fish (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. Little Church Cemetery ​ 4948 Little Church Road, Stanley, NY 14561 Ontario County Learn More

  • Ella Hawley Crossett

    Ella Hawley Crossett (1853–1925) Ella was always devoted to her home, Hillcrest, in Warsaw, and to the cause of women's suffrage. In September,1891 she organized a convention in Warsaw where the Wyoming County Suffrage Association was formed with Ella named as president, a position that she held for many years. Shortly thereafter the Warsaw Political Equality Club was formed and Ella was named president of this group as well, a position she retained until national women's suffrage was enacted into law. Warsaw Cemetery ​ Route 19, Warsaw, NY 14569 Wyoming County Learn More

  • Harriet M. Lee Rathbun

    Harriet M. Lee Rathbun (1840–1929) Harriet was an author and businesswoman, Yet she seems to be an individual whose work on suffrage was not well documented. Google books makes reference to her as someone who supported an amendment to the New York State constitution allowing women to vote. Her name appears often in the records and in several volumes of The History of Women's Sufferage. After her first husband's death, Harriet relocated to Manhattan. Her name appears in a 1924 New York City voters list, so she was able to exercise her right to vote. Rathbunville Cemetery ​ Verona Mills Road, Rome, NY 13440 Oneida County Learn More

  • William Clough Bloss

    William Clough Bloss (1795–1863) William was a dedicated supporter of equal rights for all people. Born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, William moved to Rochester to join his parents. He and his new wife built and operated a tavern in Brighton. A short time after, William became involved in the temperance movement. His liquor was dumped in the Erie Canal and the building was sold. In the early 1830s, Bloss became involved in the anti-slavery movement. He worked to establish a local anti-slavery society as well as a statewide convention to address this injustice. William was a publisher of the Rights of Man newspaper when local papers refused to include anti-slavery articles. He served in the New York State Assembly for three years, advocating for obtaining the vote for people "of color" and for desegregating all public schools. William also embraced women's rights. He spoke at the Rochester Convention in August of 1848 in support of the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. In later years, William worked to have the NY death penalty abolished. Social justice was his life's work. Brighton Cemetery ​ Hoyt Place, Rochester, NY 14610 Monroe County Learn More

  • Helen Pitts Douglass

    Helen Pitts Douglass (1838–1903) Helen was born in Honeoye, Ontario County, to abolitionists and suffragists parents. She went to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in Lima, NY, and graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1859. She taught at the Hampton Institute in Virginia until poor health forced her to return home. In 1882, Helen moved to Washington D.C. where she was active in the women's rights movement and co-edited the Moral Education Society's paper, The Alpha. Helen was hired as a clerk in the recorder of deeds office, run by Frederick Douglass. They were married on Jan. 24, 1884. He was 66 and she, 46. Neither his children nor her family approved. When asked about her marriage, she responded, "Love came to me, and I was not afraid to marry the man I loved because of his color." Helen and Frederick traveled extensively and lived in Haiti when Douglass was appointed Minister by President Benjamin Harrison. After Frederick's death in 1895, Helen worked to save their home in Washington, named Cedar Hill, as a memorial to her husband's legacy. She died there in 1903. No services were held and her remains were interred in the Douglass family plot in Mount Hope. (Bio by the Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery) Mount Hope Cemetery Section T Lot 26 1133 Mount Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620 Monroe County Learn More

  • Charlotte Augusta Dickson Cleveland

    Charlotte Augusta Dickson Cleveland (1818–1901) Charlotte stood strongly for temperance, total abstinence, and the enforcement of law. She was an active member and a liberal supporter of the Women's [sic] Christian Temperance Union, and was especially interested in temperance instruction in the common schools. It is well and widely known that Charlotte was particularly interested in the civil and political rights of women. For many years she had been closely identified with this movement, giving it her most earnest effort, and laboring diligently to secure the fullest suffrage for her sex. She regarded the successful prosecution of many reforms in the light of equal suffrage. Charlotte sought the opportunity to vote, not for itself alone, but as a means to the attainment of many ends, not only for the betterment but the highest good of society and the State. She had read much upon this subject, thought deeply, and of all public questions it was nearest her heart. Cheerfully accepting important official positions, both in the county and the state, and always holding herself for the most strenuous service, she lived to see her hopes realized in the hard won privilege of a limited suffrage for women, and she passed away with an unwavering faith in its future enlargement and complete accomplishment. (courtesy of AlexanderStreet.com) Hope Cemetery ​ East Mill Street, Castile, NY 14427 Wyoming County Learn More

  • Maria Louisa deBernabeu Steuart Haughton

    Maria Louisa deBernabeu Steuart Haughton (1869–1963) Maria Louisa was born in Maryland, but came to Ilion with her husband who was a Vice-President at the Remington Arms Company, Inc. She became involved in the Women’s Political Union, founded in 1907 by Harriot Standon Blatch (daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton). Its purpose was to educate women on how suffrage could change their lives. Blatch focused her recruiting efforts on wealthy women, who had the time and resources to work for the suffrage movement. In 1912, Ilion hosted its first meeting of the Women’s Political Union. In 1913 Maria hosted a Women’s Political Union meeting at her home. In 1915, she was the Chairwomen on Speakers and Meetings. She was also a suffrage activist for various organizations including the Ilion Suffrage Study Club and the Herkimer County Suffrage Convention. Equally important, Maria Louisa was a principal participant in the 1915 Suffrage Torch relay. She carried the Suffrage Torch (patterned after the Statue of Liberty torch) from Little Falls to Utica. She was one of only twelve New York State women who were Suffrage Torch carriers. The Suffrage torch relay was a central component in the strategy to win support for the 1915 referendum to add a suffrage amendment to New York State’s constitution. It was the public relations brainchild of Harriot Stanton Blatch, National President of the Women’s Political Union. The Suffrage Torch car relay began on June 8 in Montauk, Long Island and finished on July 31 in Buffalo. The route included major cities and small towns including New York City, Amsterdam, Little Falls, Utica, Canastota, Cazenovia, Syracuse, Cortland, Ithaca, Olean, Salamanca, Jamestown and Buffalo. The automobile that carried the torch was decorated with banners of white, purple, and green and the words “Votes for Women and Victory on November 2,1915.” Suffrage receptions, meetings and conventions were held enroute. The Haughton family moved from Ilion to Schenectady, New York. While there she continued her leadership role in civic activities, including board member of the YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association), the county child welfare board, and the Humane Society. Maria Louisa died at the age of 93. She is featured in Part 1 of Herkimer County's documentary on Women's Suffrage. Click on Learn More below to see for yourself. Vale Cemetery Plot M-3 85 907 State Street, Schenectady County, NY 12307 Schenectady County Learn More

  • Dora Gannet Sedgwick Hazard

    Dora Gannet Sedgwick Hazard (1864–1935) From her obituary; “Word of the death of Mrs. Dora G. Sedgwick Hazard, 'the First Lady of Syracuse,' which occurred at her summer home in Narragansett Pier, R. I., Tuesday night, was received in sorrow by thousands of men and women in this city—friends who had known her for her social charm and friends in lowly walks of life who knew her only as a benefactress and lover of humankind.” In 1887, Dora established with four friends the Solvay Guild, a social service group and served as its president for 42 years. She aided the late Rev. Dr. F. W. Betts in the Moral Survey crusade that “monitored vice in the city." When America entered World War I, she organized the Hazard Hospital Unit, a group of twenty young women who went to London and assisted in the hospital problem. The Huntington Club and Syracuse Memorial Hospital were nearest to her heart. The daughter of an abolitionist, Dora was a suffragist who helped establish the National Woman's Party in the Central NY area. Oakwood Cemetery Section 15, Plot 39 940 Comstock Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13210 Onondaga County Learn More

  • Ella Boole

    Ella Boole (1858–1952) Her obituary reads “World Leader of WCTU dies at 92." Ella was an American temperance leader and social reformer. She served as head of the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union from 1931 to 1947, after serving as head of the United States' National WCTU. Following the enfranchisement of women in the United States, Ella decided to run for office herself. In 1920, she unsuccessfully challenged James Wolcott Wadsworth Jr. for the Republican Party nomination for the United States Senate. After losing the nomination, she ran as a candidate for the Prohibition Party against Wadsworth and the Democratic and Socialist Party candidates in the general election. Wadsworth won easily with 52% of the vote, while Boole came in third place with 7% of the vote, not far ahead of the Socialist candidate. Earlier in her life she had shown great skill as an organizer of new unions, and became vice-president of the New York state union in 1891. After the death of Ella's husband, she was able to support her family through an inheritance from her father and income from her speaking engagements and temperance activities. One of her key activities was in shifting WCTU work away from its emphasis on collecting petitions, and towards direct lobbying of legislators. Her other causes included supporting legislative changes to bring about social reform, including laws to protect the rights of women and children in industry, the establishment of separate courts and deputies for juvenile offenders, and woman suffrage. As President of the International WCTU, she promoted disarmament, the end of the international illicit drug trade, and supported international women's rights. Cypress Hills Cemetery ​ 833 Jamaica Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11208 Kings County Learn More

  • Harriet May Mills

    Harriet May Mills (1857–1935) A teacher at a private academy near Boston, Harriet embraced the suffrage cause after hearing Lucy Stone speak in 1886. She moved to New York City to work with the then-new National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). At some point she returned to her childhood home in Syracuse, where she organized the 24th annual convention of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association (NYSWSA) in 1892. In 1894 she was named recording secretary of NYSWSA. By then she was in demand as a lecturer and organizer. Other notable activists with whom she worked closely included Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, and Carrie Chapman Catt. Source: freethought-trail.org North Pitcher Cemetery ​ 1069 NY-26, Pitcher, NY 13136 Chenango County Learn More

  • Mary Jane Ashley Abel

    Mary Jane Ashley Abel (1867–1957) Mary Jane Ashley was born in Richmond Center and died in Canandaigua, New York. She was a member of the Political Equality Club where her sister Alice Ashley was President. There were only 15 club members in 1906 when they agreed to help Harriett May Mills, the President of the New York State Women's Suffrage Association in Syracuse bring the issue of suffrage to their group in Honeoye. Mary Jane was 41 in 1906 when the Honeoye Political Equality Club was formed. She was Captain of the First Election District of Richmond, and in 1909 served a term on the Executive Committee of the Ontario County Woman Suffrage Association. That same year she attended the State Convention as a delegate. Her daughter Theresa, at age six, was recognized in 1910 as the youngest member of the Club. Lakeview Cemetery Memorial ID #62579133 West Lake Road, Honoeye, NY 14471 Ontario County Learn More

  • Oreola Williams Haskell

    Oreola Williams Haskell (1875–1953) Oreola was an American activist for suffrage, author, and poet in the early twentieth century. Devoted to the suffrage cause, she worked alongside famous suffragists such as Carrie Chapman Catt and Mary Garrett Hay. Ida Husted Harper, who wrote the introduction to Banner Bearers, commended Oreola for her modesty and lack of interest in the limelight, which was very much in line with the self-sacrificing attitude that Haskell attributed to suffragists in her works. Her quiet, efficient, hardworking attitude was also noted in an interview she had with the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1915, as a prime example of the faceless army of diligent suffragists who worked behind the scenes. Alongside her suffrage activism and high society work (predominantly philanthropy), Oreola was an auditor and recording secretary of the New York Federation for Women's Clubs. Though her contributions to the suffrage movement in New York have not garnered much attention from historians, her plethora of appearances in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper suggest that she was a well-known and respected figure of the time. Green-Wood Cemetery Lot 8862 Section 33 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232 Kings County Learn More

  • Kathryn Helene Starbuck

    Kathryn Helene Starbuck (1887–1965) Kathryn graduated from Albany Law School in 1914 and served as Saratoga County Chair of the New York State Woman Suffrage Party between 1916 and 1918. She compiled a list of laws relating to women and children for The History of the Woman Suffrage Movement volumes. The list of laws was not included. In 1918 Kathryn was among the first women named to the Executive Committee of Democratic State Committee. The same year she ran unsuccessfully for a New York State Assembly seat from Saratoga County on the Democratic ticket and remained active with the state Democratic Party the rest of her life. After 1920, Kathryn served on the Committee for the Uniform Laws For Women of the National League of Women Voters and campaigned in New York State to allow women serve on juries. *courtesy alexanderstreet.com Greenridge Cemetery Y-19-SE Corner 17 Greenridge Place, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 Saratoga County Learn More

  • Susan Smith McKinney Steward

    Susan Smith McKinney Steward (1846–1918) Susan was Brooklyn's first black woman physician (who also happened to be the third black physician in the whole country.) Dr. Kinney Steward had a very successful practice with locations in Brooklyn and Manhattan but for her, medicine was more than just treatment. It was a means by which she could further elevate and impact the community she loved and fight for racial inclusion and women's rights. During her life she founded clinics, clubs and suffragette groups. Susan fought daily against the convergence of racism, sexism and professionalization in order to have a great impact on Brooklyn. Green-Wood Cemetery Section 204, Lot 29541 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232 Kings County Learn More

bottom of page