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  • Pauline Kirley

    Pauline Kirley (1858–1944) Born in Rome, NY, Pauline was an active member of Trinity Church and a charter member of the church's Women’s Auxiliary. Pauline was a charter member and the first President of the Lewis County Historical Society. She was an active member of the Lewis County League for Women’s Suffrage and served as treasurer in 1914. In 1923, Pauline was Lowville’s delegate to the annual convention of the Northern New York Federation of Women’s Clubs. Pauline's daughter Mary followed in her mother's footsteps working alongside her and becoming an active member of the suffrage movement in her own right. Lowville Rural Cemetery B58 Rural Avenue, Lowville, NY 13367 Lewis County Learn More

  • SuffragistsHelen Probst Abbott

    Suffragist Gravesites in New York State Helen Probst Abbott (1879–1970) Helen was President of Rochester Political Equality Club and Chair of Monroe County Woman Suffrage Association. She was also one of the founders of the Woman's City Club, a leader in women's civic activities, and served as Vice Chair of the City Manager Committee. Named on the Democratic ticket in 1927, Helen ran unsuccessfully as the first female city council candidate of the East District of Rochester. Very active in civic and political affairs, she occupied the office of chairman of the Christmas Bureau, Council of Social Agencies, was president of the Rochester Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and served on the Board of Directors of the YMCA. Her work in organizing the Rochester Woman's City Club attracted the attention of Miss Anne Morgan, founder and the executive director of the American Woman's Association and daughter of financier J. P. Morgan. In 1932, Helen left Rochester for New York City when Anne Morgan appointed her as the executive director of the American Woman's Association (AWA), an organization which helped women invest their own money for leisurely pursuits. Helen directed the activities for over 4,000 women of the AWA, who took part in study groups, lectures, and other activities ranging from art to music and drama. Helen challenged women not to hide behind their roles as homemakers. She reminded women that the modern woman does not have to choose one role over the other, but to embrace the idea that she can have a career and a family. She urged women to get involved in politics and civic matters on a consistent basis and, plan to meet the challenges of modern times and modern freedom. *courtesy alexanderstreet.com Riverside Cemetery Section I William Street, Gouverneur, NY 13642 St. Lawrence County Learn More 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 Bella Savitzky Abzug (Battling Bella) (1920–1998) Born in the Bronx, Bella predated women’s right to vote by one month. A tireless and indomitable fighter for justice and peace, equal rights, human dignity, environmental integrity and sustainable development, she advanced human goals and political alliances worldwide. Known by her colleagues as a “passionate perfectionist,” Bella believed that her idealism and activism grew out of childhood influences and experiences. From her earliest years, she understood the nature of power and the fact that politics is not an isolated, individualist adventure. At a time when very few women practiced law, Bella graduated from Columbia University’s law school, was admitted to the bar in 1947, took on civil rights cases and was also an activist in the Woman's Movement. Known as "Battling Bella" in the 1960s, she became involved in the antinuclear and peace movements and helped organize the Women Strike for Peace. Carrying on as a feminist advocate, in 1971, she was elected as a Democrat to the 92nd Congress and to the next two succeeding Congresses, serving until 1977. She was the first Jewish woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress and was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to co-chair the National Advisory Committee for Women, serving from 1977–79. After leaving politics, she remained active in the feminist movement, addressed international women's conferences as well as establishing the global organization, Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO). As co-creator and president of WEDO, Bella galvanized and helped transform the United Nations agenda regarding women and their concerns for human rights, economic justice, population, development and the environment. WEDO represented the culmination of her lifelong career as public activist and stateswoman. Bio based on the work of Blanche Wiesen Cook and John J-Cat Griffith. Mount Carmel Cemetery Section 1, Block C, Map 14, Grave 28 83-45 Cypress Hills Street, Glendale, NY 11385 Queens County Learn More Mary Jane Austin Agate (1849–1933) Born in Glens Falls, NY, Mary Jane was a mother of three children. Notably she was first secretary and treasurer of the Pittsford Political Equality Club, which was organized September 6, 1902 in Pittsford, NY. In 2019 Mrs. Stevens-Oliver's 4th Grade Class at Thornell Road Elementary School created a site in honor of Mary, based up the 1881 diary she kept, which is in the Town Historian’s collection. The students focused on the malt business John ran with his brother William, the Agate’s historic house, and Mary’s interest in woman suffrage. A quote from their project: "In the Pittsford's Political Equality Club's minutes from 1902, kept by Mary Agate, she wrote what Miss Anthony talked about at one of their meetings. Miss Anthony asked the ladies to protest when they paid their taxes. She wanted them to protest against the injustice of, "taxes without the privilege of the Ballot." This means why are they paying taxes if they don't get to choose their representative. This was a lot like the quote, " No taxation without representation!" This quote was from the Revolutionary War, it is like what Mary Anthony said because they both don't have a representative. Also the ladies had marches for political equality. They did this to recruit more people to their cause. They also marched so the men in charge would listen to them. This shows that what the ladies were doing meant a lot to them. We know this because they were doing so many things for what they believed in and they wouldn't give up. " Pittsford Cemetery L 179 38 Washington Road, Pittsford, NY 14534 Monroe County Learn More Edith Mary Ainge (1873–1948) Edith was an American suffragist and a Silent Sentinel, the title given to the women because of their silent protesting. She joined the National Woman's Party (NWP) led by Alice Paul, aiming to get the 19th Amendment ratified. From September 1917 to January 1919, she was arrested approximately five times for unlawful assembly at NWP protests. Edith worked for the movement to gain suffrage in New York state in 1915. She spearheaded participation in The Torch of Liberty event where suffragists from New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, organized events to gather more participation and awareness about the cause, and to raise funding for the suffragist movement and for the political rallies. With suffrage in New York secured, Edith rallied for national voting rights for women. On November 10, 1917, she and Eleanor Calnan were two of 33 suffragists arrested after stationing themselves in peaceful protest in front of the White House in Washington, D.C. They carried a sign that read, "How Long Must Woman Be Denied a Voice in a Government Which is Conscripting Their Sons?" Edith and other suffragists were sentenced to 60 days in jail at the Occoquan Workhouse in Lorton, Virginia, for Unlawful Assembly. She was given solitary confinement while others endured torture. The event has been named the Night of Terror. On August 15, 1918 at the Watch Fire Demonstrations in Lafayette Square, members of the NWP burned copies of President Woodrow Wilsons speeches in urns. Edith was the first to light her urn. Lake View Cemetery Sect LLA, Lot 9, Row SP, Grave 4NE 907 Lakeview Avenue, Jamestown, NY 14701 Chautauqua County Learn More Margaret Livingston Chanler Aldrich (1870–1963) Margaret became president of the Woman's Municipal League. She founded the Churchwoman's Club, a suffrage club; headed the Law Enforcement League, and was treasurer for the Woman's Suffrage Party in New York. In 1917, she was elected president of the Protestant Episcopal Women's Suffrage Association. When she met Susan B. Anthony, she asked her advice for a suffrage speaking engagement in Albany. Anthony told her, "Always address the farthest man on the farthest bench. Some of those in between are agreeing with you." She is noted as one of Carrie Chapman Catt's capable officials in the campaign for suffrage in New York State. Trinity Church Cemetery ​ 770 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10032 New York County Learn More Nellie Grainger Aldrich (1838–1920) An article appeared in the Geneva Daily Times on Saturday, October 25, 1913 stating that a political equality club had been formed with the assistance of Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Beard from Geneva. Mrs. Nellie (Nettie) Aldrich was chairman. 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 Zobedia Alleman (1848–1940) Zobedia she served multiple terms as an officer in the Cayuga County Political Equality Club, was a delegate to the State Suffrage Convention, and was the state chair of the School Suffrage Committee of the NYS Woman Suffrage Association (NYSWSA). At the age of 90, Zobedia was still active in community affairs, giving, according to newspaper accounts, a “pleasing senior program” at a meeting of the Sherwood Orange Grange No. 1034, which described her as the oldest Granger in Cayuga County. A side note: Her obituaries misspelled her last name as Allerman; a mistake that perhaps helped to obscure her legacy in the movement. (Ruth Bradley April 2020 auburnpub.com) Maple Grove Cemetery ​ 41 W Main Street, Waterloo, NY 13165 Seneca County Learn More Lucy Phillips Allen (1851–1946) Lucy was a founding member of the Easton Political Equality Club in 1891. She was president of the club during its most active years. Here is her quote from 1910 regarding the women of the PEC: "The majority of us are farmers' wives here in Easton and our husbands are perfect - we are so well-housed, so soft-bedded, and so loving cared for that our tendency is to forget that Easton isn't the whole world, that there are other women not as we are. Yet industrial [economic] conditions are open to some slight criticism even in this paradise of Easton. First of all, we want to get rid of this fallacy that marriage is a state of being supported. Since our men are mainly the gatherers of money - we mistakenly assume that they are the creators of wealth. They are not. The man gives his daily labor toward earning board and clothes, but what he receives cannot be eaten or worn. It is nothing till he puts it into his wife's hands and her intelligence, energy, and ability transforms the raw material. Until this is done no man can receive anything worth having. He begins and she completes the making of their joint wealth. The man turns his labor into money, the woman turns the money into usable material. Their dependence is mutual. She supports him exactly as he supports her." (Information and quote from Strength Without Compromise, Teri Gay 2009) Easton Rural Cemetery Section 5, Row 8 Meeting House Road, Easton, NY 12154 Washington County Learn More Hannah Marble Angel (1819–1888) Hannah signed a petition to urge voting against Leslie Russell, NYS Attorney General, who opposed women's rights and whose recommendation was blocking women's rights legislation in New York State. Until the Day Dawn Cemetery Near lot 697 NY Rt-16 East Main Street, Angelica, NY 14709 Allegany County Learn More Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) Susan was the driving force behind the 19th Century women’s rights movement. She was born in 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts to Quaker parents, who believed in abolition, temperance, and the equality of men and women. Susan's work in women’s rights began in 1852, when she co-founded the Woman’s New York State Temperance Society. Their goal was to advocate for state legislation to regulate the sale of alcohol, allow women to divorce their husbands for drunkenness, and permit women the right to vote. For the next half century, Susan labored ceaselessly for women’s rights on the state, national and international levels. She founded the National Woman’s Suffrage Association and the International Women’s Council and lectured throughout the United States and lobbied lawmakers for women’s property rights, divorce laws favorable to women, and women’s suffrage. In fact, Susan drafted the language of the 19th Amendment first introduced to Congress in 1878. She voted illegally in the 1872 federal election for which she was fined $100 but did not pay. In 1906, Susan gave her last speech, where she concluded with her famous quote “Failure is Impossible.” She passed away one month later at the age of 86. It would be another fourteen years before the passage of the 19th amendment. Nonetheless, her efforts laid the foundation for its enactment. Two organizations that she founded exist today and are carrying out her legacy. The National Woman Suffrage Association became the League of Women Voters. The International Council on Women serves in a consultative capacity to the United Nations. In 1921, Susan was commemorated with a statue of her, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott, which is on display in the U.S. Capitol Building. In 1979, the Susan B. Anthony dollar was issued making it the first coin with a woman’s likeness. The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan has a sculpture honoring four spiritual heroes of the twentieth century: Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein, Mohandas Gandhi, and one woman—Susan B. Anthony. " Mount Hope Cemetery Section C, Lot 93 1133 Mount Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620 Monroe County Learn More Mary Stafford Anthony (1827–1907) The youngest surviving sister of Susan B. Anthony, Mary was an American women suffragist who played a strong role during the women's rights movement in the 19th century. Anthony was a teacher who was promoted to the position of principal; she was the first woman known to receive equal pay with males in this position in the Rochester City School District in Western New York. She grew up in a Quaker family and became involved in several suffrage and other progressive organizations, such as the New York Women's Suffrage Association, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and the National Woman Suffrage Association. Anthony founded the Women's Political Club, later renamed in 1880 as the Political Equality Club. Mount Hope Cemetery, Section C, Lot 93 Section C, Lot 93 1133 Mount Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620 Monroe County Learn More Lucy Read Anthony (1793–1880) Lucy attended the Rochester Woman's Rights convention in August 1848 and signed the Declaration of Sentiments. She supported her husband's temperance and abolitionist activism, as well as Susan's reform work and decision not to marry. Miss Anthony eulogized her mother. "My mother always said, Go and do all the good you can." Mount Hope Cemetery Section C, Lot 93 1133 Mount Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620 Monroe County Learn More Jessie Ashley (1861–1919) A devoted Socialist, suffragist, and feminist, Jessie was the daughter of a railroad magnate and descended from the Mayflower. She sought to use her resources to make the country more just. Jessie bridged worlds: she was national treasurer of the very mainstream National American Woman Suffrage Association while also an active member of the International Workers of the World (the Wobblies) - not a common combination. Jessie was a 1902 graduate of NYU Law School, and she encouraged the handful of elite women who were gaining traction in the clubby world of New York lawyers. At the same time she was devoted to labor: she was a mainstay of support for striking workers in New York and beyond, notably women striking in Lawrence & Lowell, Massachusetts to Patterson, New Jersey. Her suffrage and feminist activities began with leadership of the College Equal Suffrage League and continued with co-founding, with Margaret Sanger and Ida Rauh, the National Birth Control League in 1915. She was arrested for violating the Comstock Law distributing literature about birth control at a rally in Union Square. In her memoirs, Anarchist Emma Goldman called Jessie Ashley a “valiant rebel.” Jessie died of pneumonia in 1919 at age 57 or 58. Woodlawn Cemetery Section 70, Lawn Plot, Lot 1059 4199 Webster Avenue, Bronx, NY 10470 Bronx County Learn More Harriett Newell Austin, MD (1829–1891) Harriett graduated from Mary Gove Nichols American Hydropathic Institute in 1851. Because mainstream medical schools did not admit women, she and the other women physicians of the era had to seek training at such irregular institutions. Harriett and her contemporaries saw the water cure as the basis for a larger reform movement. They were attempting to expand the role of women in society and improve their status in the public sphere by bolstering their health, through hygienic regimens and reformed modes of dress that minimized restriction of movement for women. At Our Home, female patients wore an American costume that Austin designed: a tunic or shortened dress, with hem landing at the knee, worn over loose pants. It was called American costume as a rhetorical contrast with the fashionable, restrictive French costume that the dress reform movement sought to eradicate. The garments were designed to minimize restrictions on women's movement and promote health and hygiene. Green Mountain Cemetery Jackson lot 10071 Greenmount Avenue, Dansville, NY 14437 Livingston County Learn More Maude Lena Cook Babbitt (1873–1946) Maude lived in Gorham for the duration of her life. Along with additional Babbitt family members, she joined the Ontario County League of Women Voters in 1919. If you know more about her, you can help us tell her story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information. Gorham Cemetery ​ Route 245, Gorham, NY 14561 Ontario County Learn More Hannah Francisco Babbitt (1850–1931) Hannah was born in Canada. Her husband was a minister at the Gorham Presbyterian Church and Hannah was active in church affairs until her death. Hannah, along with her daughter and daughter in law, were members of the Ontario County League of Women Voters in 1919. If you know more about her, you can help us tell her story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information. Gorham Cemetery ​ Route 245, Gorham, NY 14561 Ontario County Learn More Caroline Lexow Babcock (1882–1980) From the time she graduated from Barnard College in 1904, Caroline Lexow Babcock was committed to woman's rights. She was a leader in the long campaign to extend voting rights to women, in the National Women's Party, which fought for the Equal Rights Amendment, and in peace movements. When she died at age 98 in 1980, she was wearing an ERA button. Caroline Lexow was born in 1882 in Nyack, New York; after college she became active full-time in the suffrage movement, as Executive Secretary assisting Harriot Stanton Blatch in running the Women’s Political Union, and as President of the National College Equal Suffrage League of New York. “On the day of my graduation,” she told audiences while touring as a suffrage organizer in 1909, "I became actively interested in suffrage work and a member of the League, and I expect to devote the most of my time to the cause until it wins." In 1921, Caroline was one of the members of the Women’s Peace Society who left to start the Women’s Peace Union. In that same year, she chaired a Women’s Peace March in New York City. Caroline and Elinor Byrns drafted a constitutional amendment calling for the power to declare or prepare for war to be removed from the powers of the U. S. Congress. She included the Boy Scouts among her targets, calling scouting a “kindergarten for war”. Caroline was on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Birth Control Federation of America. Her life is explored in a book published by the Historical Society of Rockland County entitled: “Ladies Lib: How Rockland Women Got the Vote” by Isabelle Keating Savell (Historical Society of Rockland County 1979). Oak Hill Cemetery ​ 140 N Highland Avenue, Nyack, NY 10960 Rockland County Learn More Elnora Monroe Babcock (1852–1934) In 1889, Elnora helped to found the Political Equality Club of Dunkirk and was voted its first president. She was later elected president of the Chautauqua County Political Equality Club. Under her leadership, the county suffrage club expanded to more than 1,400 members, making Chautauqua County the best organized county in the nation for women’s suffrage. Babcock also was noted for convincing the Chautauqua Institution’s management to “proclaim the one day a year that they devoted to discussions of political rights as Political Equality Day.” In 1894, she was instated as the New York State suffrage association’s Chairman for Press Work and in 1899 she rose to the position of Superintendent of Press Work for the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). In announcing her appointment to the national post, a NAWSA publication pointed to the “wonderful results” she had achieved in her parallel responsibilities in the “conservative state” of New York. It also extolled her “courage, persistence, consecration, tact and level-headed judgment.” *Compiled by Sara Kibbler Levant Cemetery Lot 2, 14E Falconer, New York 14733 Chautauqua County Learn More Mary Elizabeth Redfield Bagg (1823–1898) Mary was a director of the Association for the Advancement of Women; she represented New York State in this national organization and attended the 13th Annual Congress in October, 1885. Without a doubt, Mary "did the work", fighting for equality in her time. And yet her story is still untold. If you know more about Mary Elizabeth, you can help us tell her story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information. Oakwood Cemtery Sect 3 plot 21 940 Comstock Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13210 Onondaga County Learn More First Prev 1 2 3 ... 17 1 ... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 ... 17 Next Last Back to Top

  • Helen Deming Sherman Pratt

    Helen Deming Sherman Pratt (1869–1923) Helen was born in Brooklyn. Her father was John Taylor Sherman, a descendant of Roger Sherman, signer of the US Constitution. She attended the Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn. In 1897 she married George DuPont Pratt, whose father, Charles Pratt one of the founders of Standard Oil. In addition to other philanthropic causes, both Helen and her husband were avid supporters of the suffrage movement. In addition to generous financial support, they frequently opened their home to fund raisers and activities promoting equality under the law. Pratt Cemetery Pratt Mausoleum Old Tappan Road, Lattingtown, NY 11560 Nassau County Learn More

  • James Lees Laidlaw

    James Lees Laidlaw (1868–1932) James married Harriet Burton Laidlaw, who was an active in women's rights. He became involved and went on to being president of the New York State Men's League for Women Suffrage from 1910 to 1920. James then went on to become president of the National Men's League. Green-Wood Cemetery Section 172, Lot 13406 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232 Kings County Learn More

  • Jeanette (Janet) S. Kilpatrick Pybus

    Jeanette (Janet) S. Kilpatrick Pybus (1864–1944) Jeanette was an individual who went by many names (Janette, Janet) in the records including "Nettie". Born in Dresden, NY she lived in Gorham for most of her adult years. Jeanette was the vice president of the Gorham Political Equity Club. She was a member of the Ontario County League of Women Voters as well as the Women's Christian Temperance Union. "Janet" is found in Gorham Cemetery buried with her first husband, W. Thomas Pybus while William S Thompson, her second husband, is buried along with his first wife. Nettie and William had been married for 40 years, so were they honoring their first spouses? Had Nettie's political activities created a wedge between them? We can only wonder. If you know more about her, you can help us tell her story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information. Gorham Cemetery ​ Rte 245, Gorham, NY 14561 Ontario County Learn More

  • Adelene Welsh Bayle

    Adelene Welsh Bayle (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. Pine View Cemetery Wah-tah-wah, 1C, 56 21 Quaker Road, Queensbury, NY 12804 Warren County Learn More

  • Harriet Tubman Davis

    Harriet Tubman Davis (1820/22–1913) Harriet was named Araminta "Minty" by her enslaved parents, Ben and Rit Ross. Nearly killed at the age of 13 by a blow to her head, Minty recovered and grew strong and determined to be free. Changing her name to Harriet upon her marriage to freeman John Tubman in 1844, she escaped five years later when her enslaver died and she was to be sold. One hundred dollars was offered for her capture. Vowing to return to bring her family and friends to freedom, she spent the next ten years making about 13 trips into Maryland to rescue them. She also gave instructions to about 70 more who found their way to freedom independently. A lifelong humanitarian and civil rights activist, she formed friendships with abolitionists, politicians, writers, and intellectuals. She knew Frederick Douglass and was close to John Brown and William Henry Seward. She was particularly close with suffragists Lucretia Coffin Mott, Martha Coffin Wright, and Susan B. Anthony. Harriet traveled to New York, Boston and Washington, D.C. to speak out in favor of women's voting rights. She described her actions during and after the Civil War, and used the sacrifices of countless women throughout modern history as evidence of women's equality to men. When the National Federation of Afro-American Women was founded in 1896, Tubman was the keynote speaker at its first meeting. Fort Hill Cemetery Section: West Lawn C Lot: 439 Grave: Unknown 19 Fort Street, Auburn, NY 13021 Cayuga County Learn More

  • Annie Doughty

    Annie Doughty (1857–1945) Although Annie had only a grade school education, her involvement with the Women's League of the All Souls Universalist Church led her to become a political activist and leader in the Suffrage Movement. Using the academic skills she gained through the Church, she taught Suffrage History and Argument, Organization, Publicity and Press, Money Raising, and Parliamentary Law to potential women voters in Detroit. This program was so effective that it expanded to 385 schools across 25 states. In 1919, Annie became the Fourth Vice Chairman of the New York City Woman Suffrage Party, a branch of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association. Its purpose was to unite all the New York City suffrage and equality organizations. It had 500,000 members, 20 city officers, 50 borough officers, 63 leaders of assembly districts and 2,127 captains of election districts. The party was so well led and organized that it became to be known as a “political machine.” Annie was an instructor with the party’s “Suffrage School” organization that sent educators throughout the country to train women on how to organize, work with the press, raise funds, canvass voters, and handle objections. There were 385 Suffrage Schools in 25 states. She also served on a committee that interviewed candidates for public office and then publicized their stance on vital issues. This activity continues to be carried out today by the League of Women Voters. The Evergreens Cemetery ​ 1629 Bushwick Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11207 Kings County Learn More

  • Florence H. Stewart

    Florence H. Stewart (1893–1983) Florence graduated from Buffalo State Teachers College, Columbia University, and took courses at Harvard in education, psychology. She was active in founding the Ontario County League of Women Voters, and served on the Board of Ontario County Mental Health. Florence founded Lochland School for disabled children, in Geneva, and was widely recognized as a pioneer in the education of children with developmental disabilities. She remained Executive Director for over fifty years until her death in 1983. Woodlawn Cemetery Section 13, Lot 244 130 N Pearl Street, Canandaigua, NY 14424 Ontario County Learn More

  • Susan Hunt Dixwell Miller

    Susan Hunt Dixwell Miller (1845–1924) Susan began her activism as a founding member of the Banks Brigade when she was still a teenager. Founded in 1861, the Banks Brigade was a group of daughters from elite Cambridge and Boston families who met weekly to sew clothing and bandages for Union soldiers. After the Civil War, the group continued their social and charitable activities renaming the club The Bee. In 1867, Susan Dixwell married Gerrit Smith Miller, grandson of abolitionist Gerrit Smith, first cousin to Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Susan, through her social activism, was an active participant of the women's suffrage movement. Peterboro Cemetery ​ Peterboro Road, Peterboro, NY 13134 Madison County Learn More

  • Emma J. Skiff Becker

    Emma J. Skiff Becker (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. Woodlands Cemetery Possibly Sec F 75-77 7 Cemetery Avenue, Cambridge, NY 12816 Washington County Learn More

  • Elnora Monroe Babcock

    Elnora Monroe Babcock (1852–1934) In 1889, Elnora helped to found the Political Equality Club of Dunkirk and was voted its first president. She was later elected president of the Chautauqua County Political Equality Club. Under her leadership, the county suffrage club expanded to more than 1,400 members, making Chautauqua County the best organized county in the nation for women’s suffrage. Babcock also was noted for convincing the Chautauqua Institution’s management to “proclaim the one day a year that they devoted to discussions of political rights as Political Equality Day.” In 1894, she was instated as the New York State suffrage association’s Chairman for Press Work and in 1899 she rose to the position of Superintendent of Press Work for the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). In announcing her appointment to the national post, a NAWSA publication pointed to the “wonderful results” she had achieved in her parallel responsibilities in the “conservative state” of New York. It also extolled her “courage, persistence, consecration, tact and level-headed judgment.” *Compiled by Sara Kibbler Levant Cemetery Lot 2, 14E Falconer, New York 14733 Chautauqua County Learn More

  • Alice May DuBois Deal

    Alice May DuBois Deal (1872–1956) Alice was active in Ontario County in the Unity Club, the Equal Suffrage League, and the Women's Christian Temperance Union. She had been active in musical circles, as an Organist at Methodist Church for 50 years, and as a teacher beginning at the No. 8 school in Victor. Alice transferred to the high school department in 1895. 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 D, Row 7, Lot 18, Grave 3 1518 NY-444, Victor, NY 14564 Ontario County Learn More

  • Helen Miles Rogers Reid

    Helen Miles Rogers Reid (1882–1970) A distinguished woman of the 19th century in large part for her position as President of the New York Herald Tribune, Helen is featured in a book with the title Notable American Women, where we learn of her women’s suffrage involvement. She was the state treasurer for the New York suffrage campaign, raising more than half a million dollars for the passage of New York State women’s suffrage legislation in 1917. In speeches throughout her life, she advocated that women should work and be economically independent from their husbands and that men should take greater responsibility in the home and for raising their children. After her husband died in 1947, she took over the presidency of the New York Herald Tribune until 1953. She was a well-regarded individual who received accolades and honors and was an accomplished manager and role model for women when there were few women in leadership roles. Helen was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1950. An active supporter of her alma mater, she served for nine years as chairman of the board of trustees, and in 1963, she helped raise funds for a dormitory at Barnard, which was then named for her. She was a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, active in the New York Newspaper Women's Club, and was president of the Reid Foundation, an organization funded and established by her husband to give journalists fellowships to study and travel abroad. Her funeral, presided over by The Right Rev. Paul Moore Jr., the Bishop of New York, was attended by over 300 people including John Hay Whitney, who purchased The Herald Tribune, August Heckscher, the Parks Commissioner who was chief editorial writer, Mayor John Lindsay, David Rockefeller, Robert Moses, former head of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, Andrew Cordier, the president of Columbia University, and Kingman Brewster Jr., the president of Yale University. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery ​ 540 N Broadway, Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591 Westchester County Learn More

  • Mary Elizabeth Eato

    Mary Elizabeth Eato (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. Cypress Hills Cemetery ​ 833 Jamaica Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11208 Kings County Learn More

  • Asenath Carver Coolidge

    Asenath Carver Coolidge (1830–1915) Asenath was a well known author who lived in Watertown, NY, serving as a representative to New York State Woman Suffrage Association. She applied her writing skills to drafting letters in support of or against those running for office, and she promoted women continuing to be able to vote in their local school elections. Hillside Cemetery ​ 12 Maple Avenue, Antwerp, NY 13608 Jefferson County Learn More

  • Lucretia Dillingham Holbrook

    Lucretia Dillingham Holbrook (1847–1929) Lucretia was an active member of the Phelps Equality Club on Executive Committee, and a delegate representing the Phelps Political Club at the county convention. If you know more about her, you can help us tell her story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information. Resthaven Cemetery (AKA Phelps Village Cemetery) ​ 10 Resthaven Drive, Phelps, NY 14532 Ontario Learn More

  • Vida Milholland

    Vida Milholland (1888–1952) Vida contributed far more to gaining suffrage for American women than has been recognized. She joined her more famous sister, Inez, at Vassar as a co-conspirator against the college's anti-feminist President James Taylor. After Inez's death, Vida gave up her singing career and threw herself into suffrage work. She had a fine voice and sang at suffrage meetings. She joined the picketing of the White House. One of the most common banners one sees in photos is one showing the last words of Inez before she collapsed in Los Angeles: "How Long, Mr. President, Must Women Wait for Liberty." Vida was one of the first to be arrested for picketing, on July 4, 1917. She served three days in the District of Columbia Jail, during which time she sang every night for the benefit of her fellow prisoners.In 1919 she toured the United States as part of the "Prison Special" tour of NWP speakers and sang at all the meetings. After suffrage was won in 1920, Vida worked on peace issues with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She had a partner in this work, Peg Hamilton. With other well-known female couples, they were an early lobbying group not only for peace but for same-sex partnerships. *courtesy SuffragistMemorial.org Lewis (Center) Cemetery Pines: Go to the top of the hill 933 Fox Run Road, Elizabethtown, NY 12932 Essex County Learn More

  • Katharine Bowden Cunningham

    Katharine Bowden Cunningham (1890–1972) At just 23 years old, Katharine reforms the dormant Political Equality Club of Glens Falls in 1914, and is elected President. She is then elected Vice Leader of Warren County Suffrage under Susan M. Bain, former president and co-founder of the original PECGF. In 1915, Katherine was vice president, and served on the finance committee. Meetings were often held at the Bowden family home on Maple Street, where her mother, Margaret McEchron Bowden was also active in the cause. Under Katharine’s leadership, the club participated in the June 1914 Suffrage Parade in Albany. “The Political Equality Club of Glens Falls had the largest delegation in line in the big suffrage procession in Albany Saturday. The local suffragettes led by Miss Catharine Bowden, president of the club, made a fine showing. More than 500 women marched in the parade, the first of its kind in the Capital district, and later a mass meeting was held in Odd Fellows’ hall, during which addresses were delivered by Mrs. [Gertrude] Brown, president of the New York Suffragette [sic] association; Miss Elsie Lincoln Vandergift, of Colorado, Mrs. [Harriet Burton] Laidlaw, George Foster Peabody, James Less Laidlaw, president of the National Men’s League; and Miss Florence Roberts. Mrs. Katherine H. Gavit presided.” Post-Star (Glens Falls, NY Warren County). June 8, 1914. P.5. Bio by Tisha Dolton. Pine View Cemetery Wah-tah-wah, Row 1C, Plot 64 21 Quaker Road, Queensbury, NY, 12804 Warren 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

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