692 results found
- Anna Babbitt Sidman
Anna Babbitt Sidman (1877–1956) Anna was an educator and an active member of the Gorham Presbyterian Church. Along with her mother, Hannah and sister-in-law, Maud, she became involved in local and county efforts to support women. Anna was a member of the Ontario County Political Equity Club. This organization of men and women discussed local issues as well as women's rights. From 1919-1920, Anna is listed as a member of the Ontario County League of Women Voters. 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
- Harriet Pratt
Harriet Pratt (1853–1938) Harriet was an educator and active in civic affairs in Manchester and the surrounding area. She was a member of the Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Church, and a lead member of the Shortsville Political Equity Club (established in 1915). They hosted the well-attended Ontario County Political Association Convention. While her exact contributions were not documented, it appears that Harriet dedicated herself to suffrage and serving her community. If you know more about her, you can help us tell her story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information. Manchester Village Cemetery 64 South Main Street, Manchester, NY 14504 Ontario County Learn More
- Eliza Miller McDonald
Eliza Miller McDonald (1845–1937) Described as a community activist and philanthropist, Eliza helped organize the Flushing Equal Franchise Association in 1909 and served as its president in 1913. By 1915 she was involved with the New York Woman Suffrage Party but left the Queens County division of the organization to form a separate Queens-based group, the Woman's Suffrage Central Campaign Committee; they also elected her its president. By 1916, the two groups had been reunited, the president of the other rival Queens organization had been voted out, and Eliza was elected to serve as the Vice President of the united Queens Borough branch. One of the most noteworthy successes of this branch that year was its “Better Baby Campaign” which recruited 4 volunteer nurses and 7 physicians and gathered over 300 children across Queens who did not otherwise have access to health care to receive free vaccinations and physicals. In 1917 she returned to serve as the branch's director. Also in 1917, Eliza worked as a member of the War Service Committee of the Woman Suffrage Party of New York City. After the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, the Women's Civic Club presented her with an engraved silver gavel, “To our beloved pioneer, Eliza MacDonald, Suffrage Victory 1920.” *courtesy of alexanderstreet.com Flushing Cemetery 163-6 46th Avenue, Flushing, NY 11358 Queens County Learn More
- Roxana Bradley Burrows
Roxana Bradley Burrows (1853–1922) Roxana assumed the presidency of the Lucy Stone Club and in 1904 was elected vice president of the Allegany County Political Equality Club, a county-wide organization devoted to the passage of woman suffrage and affiliated with the New York State Woman Suffrage Association (NYSWSA). In 1907 Roxana was elected president of the Political Equality Club and would lead the county suffrage organization until the passage of the suffrage amendment in 1917. She served as recording secretary and Chair of the Legislative Committee for NYSWSA in 1910 and 1911. Roxana became the Assembly District Leader covering all of Allegany County when the Political Equality Club reorganized into the Allegany County Woman Suffrage Party (ACWSP) before the 1915 state-wide woman suffrage referendum. In June 1917, she announced at the annual ACWSP convention that there was a chairman in each election district and an enrollment of 5,000 women in force of suffrage in the county, an impressive number given that there were a little over 40,000 inhabitants in the county at the time. Roxana was a member of the Andover Baptist Church, the Andover Hawthorne Club and active in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She also served on the Allegany County Republican General Committee from 1920 until her death. *courtesy alexanderstreet.com Valley Brook Cemetery NY-RT 417, Andover, NY 14806 Allegany County Learn More
- Lillian D. Wald
Lillian D. Wald (1867–1940) Born to an affluent family in Cincinnati, OH and raised in Rochester, NY, Lillian was afforded many educational opportunities. Instead of marrying and continuing her comfortable lifestyle, she moved to New York City and entered the New York Hospital School of Nursing. Along with her colleague, Mary Brewster, she opened the Nurse's Settlement House on Henry Street in 1895—the start of public health nursing—offering sliding scale for payment to ensure everyone could access medical treatment. Lillian also supported the suffrage movement. She campaigned for the 1915 state referendum and was named an honorary chair of the New York State Women's Suffrage Party. A pacifist, Lillian encouraged President Wilson to mediate rather than enter World War I. She continued to support Democratic ideals and was a friend of Eleanor Roosevelt. Her last political campaign occurred in 1936 when she co chaired the Good Neighbor League. Lillian's work has had a lasting impact far beyond New York. Mount Hope Cemetery Range 3, Lot 34 Mount Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620 Monroe County Learn More
- Katherine Lincoln Brougham
Katherine Lincoln Brougham (1893–1969) Katherine became very involved with the woman suffrage movement and supported the National Woman's Party. On November 10, 1917, she was arrested and, after refusing to pay a fine, sentenced to prison in the Occoquan Workhouse. During this time, she and many others challenged the notion of inequality through participation in hunger strikes. After women won the right to vote, Katherine campaigned for Anne Martin, a candidate for the United States Senate from Nevada. She then seems to disappear from the historical record. Kenisco Cemetery 273 Lakeview Avenue, Valhalla, NY 10595 Westchester County Learn More
- Charlotte Burroughs Ray
Charlotte Burroughs Ray (1813–1891) Charlotte was a dedicated suffragist and church woman. She wholeheartedly dedicated her life to advocating on behalf of a woman's right to vote. Her mission was one that was firmly rooted in Christian theology. The archive is limited in its ability to fully capture the breadth of her contributions to Black women and their liberation. Her faith was of great importance to her and served as a prime motivator to her activism. Charlotte was a member of the American Equal Rights Association (AERA) founded in 1866. Their mission was to secure equal rights---especially the right of suffrage. Her daughter, Charlotte E. Ray, was the first female African-American lawyer in the United States. Cypress Hills Cemetery Possibly Section 2 833 Jamaica Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11208 Kings County Learn More
- Lorinda Moore Bedortha
Lorinda Moore Bedortha (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. Greenridge Cemetery Plot D-006 17 Greenridge Place, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 Saratoga County Learn More
- Portia Willis Fitzgerald
Portia Willis Fitzgerald (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. Woodlawn Cemetery Lot W 5162, Section 65 (Poplar) 4199 Webster Avenue, Bronx, NY 10470 Bronx 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
- Katharine Parker Howard Notman
Katharine Parker Howard Notman (1859–1946) Katharine was appointed 11th campaign district chairman in 1913, working under the direction of Carrie Chapman Catt. The counties in her district included Rensselaer, Saratoga, Washington, Warren, and Essex. At a Saratoga County Woman Suffrage Party convention in May 1917, held in Saratoga Spring, Mrs. Notman spoke at the luncheon. She stated that every high-profile accomplishment by a woman helped the suffrage cause. She also stated "there are plenty of things men aren't doing for us to do; ordinary womanly things which are just as important to the nation as imitating what men are doing." *courtesy alexanderstreet.com Green-Wood Cemetery Section 93, Lot 6217 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232 Kings County Learn More
- Caroline A. Bassett
Caroline A. Bassett (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. Pine Hill Cemetery Plot C-29 Cemetery Hill Road, Gowanda, NY 14070 Erie County Learn More
- Alonzo Barton Cornell
Alonzo Barton Cornell (1832–1904) Alonzo was elected governor of New York State in 1879. In his first message to the legislature, he spoke on the value of women as school officers, and on February 12, 1880, he signed a bill that secured women's right to vote in all school matters, and also made women eligible to serve as school officers. The following day, Lucy Brand of Rochester became a registered voter. While women still could not vote in all elections, Alonzo was a key figure in guaranteeing women local voting rights. Sage Chapel at Cornell University 147 Ho Plaza, Ithaca, NY 14850 Tompkins County Learn More
- Mary Thayer Sanford Crossett
Mary Thayer Sanford Crossett (1853–1941) Mary lived much of her life in Rochester, NY where he was an active member of several community and political organizations, often taking on a leadership role. In 1893, she was elected as first vice president of the Political Equality Club of Rochester, working alongside her friend Mary Stafford Anthony who was the organization's secretary. She later took the position of recording secretary for the New York State Suffrage Association, continuing her service for several years. Riverside Cemetery Section L Block 1 Lot 148 2650 Lake Avenue, Rochester, NY 14612 Monroe 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
- Margaret (Maggie) Cline Hill
Margaret (Maggie) Cline Hill (1867–1932) Margaret (Maggie) Cline Hill attended the Women Right's Convention and was member of the Universalist Church and the vice president of the Ladies Aid group. Boughton Hill Cemetery Old Ground, Section B, Row 10, Lot 13, Grave 2 1518 NY-444, Victor, NY 14564 Ontario County Learn More
- Julia Morton Dodson Sheppard
Julia Morton Dodson Sheppard (1841–1912) A prominent citizen of Yates County, Julia headed her county's representation to the New York State Woman's Suffrage Association. She was a correspondent of Susan B Anthony, hosting her at the Sheppard's home during the 1894 amendment campaign. Susan B Anthony was a frequent speaker at both the residence and the Sheppard Opera House in Penn Yan owned by Julia's brother in law. On one occasion, Julia and Senator John Sheppard hosted a birthday celebration for Miss Anthony. Information taken from Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony by Ann D Gordon. Lakeview Cemetery 426 Court St, Penn Yan, NY 14527 Yates County Learn More
- Frank E. Cobb
Frank E. Cobb (1858–1941) Married to suffrage activist Francis Gertrude Goodnow, Frank himself became active in women's suffrage. His sister-in-law is also active in women's suffrage, Alice E. Goodnow. Frank owned Cobb Drug Store and was probably influential within the community. All three are buried next to each other in Boughton Hill Cemetery, Victor. If you know more about Frank, you can help us tell his story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information. Boughton Hill Cemetery Old Ground, Section D, Row 13, Lot 12, Grave 3 1518 NY-444, Victor, NY 14554 Ontario County Learn More
- Lousie Hartshorne Leeds
Lousie Hartshorne Leeds (1867–1923) Louise was a supporter of woman suffrage in N.Y. State. In February 1910, Louise attended a mass meeting in Albany put on by the New York Suffrage Association and the Equal Franchise Society. Lawmakers and prominent officials were invited to the meeting to hear arguments for woman suffrage. Louise was noted as having gone to Albany to call on lawmakers and to speak to representatives from her district regarding supporting woman suffrage. Louise was listed as serving as chairman of finance for the Empire State Committee, a suffrage campaign committee organized in November 1913 and composed of representatives from several active N.Y. societies, including the State Suffrage Association, Woman Suffrage Party of New York City, and the Equal Franchise Society. Louise was in attendance at a March 1916 ball of the New York State Suffrage Party, having taken a box for the ball at Madison Square Garden. She was also a member of the League for Political Education, founded in November 1894 with the purpose of promoting good citizenship, social justice, and general intelligence. In 1919, it is noted that the league had 4,000 members, including 700 public school teachers, and that lectures were attended mainly by women. *courtesy alexanderstreet.com Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Section 85 540 N Broadway, Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591 Westchester County Learn More
- Rhoda J. Palmer
Rhoda J. Palmer (1816–1919) The only person who signed the Declaration of Sentiments who lived long enough to vote in 1918, Rhoda lived in a progressive household. Her father was an anti-slavery activist. She remembered “slaves coming to our home and then they would be sent on to another abolitionist, and so on, until they reached Lake Ontario.” She also recalled hearing a speech by the famous abolitionist Sojourner Truth. Rhoda, along with her father, was in attendance at the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls in July of 1848. She was one of the signers of the Declaration of Sentiments. New York State enacted a women’s suffrage law before passage of the Federal Amendment which granted women the vote. Because of the New York law, Rhoda Palmer realized a long-held dream and voted in November, 1918, at the age of 102. Quaker Cemetery Nine Foot Road, Waterloo, NY 13165 Seneca County Learn More













