Mary Edwards Walker, MD (1832–1919) The only woman ever awarded the Medal of Honor—the US military's highest decoration—was a gender-queer Civil War surgeon named Dr. Mary Edwards Walker. Mary was a suffragist, a veteran and POW, and a talented doctor who challenged convention in every way. Turned down in her attempts to join the Union army, Mary volunteered at first. She finally got a contract, and proved able and unflappable—but still couldn't get a formal commission. The American Medical Association tried hard to block her, both with outright sexism and more veiled critique of her training in "eclectic" or what today we'd call alternative & homeopathic medicine. In the 1850s traditional medical schools wouldn't admit women, so the distinction between credentialing & sexism was a thin line. Dr. Mary was a committed suffragist who used her public profile to advance the cause. She is the first woman known to try and vote in New York, in her hometown of Oswego. It was 1867, early in what became known as the New Departure, a strategy of voting as civil disobedience. She campaigned for dress reform for decades, before and after the war and as a longtime officer of the Dress Reform Association. She was very close to Belva Lockwood, landmark lawyer and presidential candidate, and they worked together for suffrage through the 1870s. Dr. Mary's contributions to the movement were all but erased from the historical record by Stanton and Anthony, who were threatened by her and uncomfortable with her gender-bending. She was arrested repeatedly for her clothing, and charged with disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace in both New York City and Baltimore. At that point she was still wearing long hair and a mid-calf dress over pants. By the 1870s, Walker cut her hair short and wore unambiguously male clothing for the rest of her life. She sat for photos and had portraits painted in those years—in top hat & dinner jacket, Dr. Mary wanted to be seen clearly for who she was. There are two children's books about Dr. Walker: Mary Walker Wears the Pants and Mary Wears What She Wants. But the most fitting tribute is Washington DC's Whitman-Walker Clinic, named for Walt Whitman and Mary Walker. The clinic has been serving the health and well-being of LGBTQ in Washington for more than 40 years. (Biographical info from Dr. Mary Walker: An American Radical by Sharon Harris.) Bio by Rachel B. Tiven. Rural Cemetery ​ 242 Cemetery Road, Oswego, NY 13126 Oswego County Learn More

Katherine Sophie Dreier (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. Green-Wood Cemetery Section 167, Lot 17004 500 25th St, Brooklyn, NY 11232 Kings County Learn More

Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage (1828-1918) Olivia as she liked to be called was born in Syracuse, NY to a prosperous family. Well educated, Olivia became a teacher when her father’s fortune dwindled. Early on, Olivia embraced the benefit of supporting charitable causes and education. Married to Russell Sage at the age of 41, he had the opposite view. When Olivia was widowed in 1906, she was determined to invest in positive social change. While she was not an active suffragist, Olivia lended financial support to the movement and used her public standing to speak for women’s economic emancipation as well as the right to vote. Olivia lived her philosophy, “While one woman is working for bread and butter, the other must devote her time to the amelioration of the condition of her laboring sister. This is the moral law.” In addition to her financial support of suffrage, Olivia established the Russell Sage Foundation and opened Russell Sage College in Troy, NY. She made sizable donations to many colleges in the Northeast. Olivia was a patron of E. Lillian Todd, the first woman to design airplanes. She supported the Children’s Aid Fund of NY and purchased Marsh Island in the Gulf of Mexico to establish a bird sanctuary. Olivia spent her summers in Sag Harbor, NY, and contributed the money to build a high school and a library for the town. Today her former home is the Whaling Museum. A marker outside of the museum notes her suffrage work. Oakwood Cemetery Section 3, Plot 7 940 Comstock Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13210 Onondaga County Learn More

Sarah J. Smith Tompkins Garnet (1831–1911) Sarah was an African-American educator and suffragist from New York City who was the first African-American female school principal in the New York City public school system. She led a long and distinguished career in the New York public schools, beginning as a teacher’s assistant in 1845 when she was fourteen years old and retiring as a principal in 1900. An active supporter of woman suffrage and African American civil rights, Sarah Garnet was also a businesswoman and owned a seamstress shop in Brooklyn from 1883 to 1911. In the late 1880s, she helped found the Equal Suffrage Club, a Brooklyn-based club for black women. Additionally, Sarah served as superintendent of the Suffrage Department of the National Association of Colored Women. As a member of the Equal Suffrage Club, Sarah supported the Niagara Movement, a predecessor to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1911, Sarah accompanied her sister, Susan Smith McKinney Steward, to London, England, for the first Universal Races Congress. (Contributed by Meg MacDonald) Green-Wood Cemetery Lot 29541, Section 204, Grave 3 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232 Kings County Learn More

Delia A. Phillips (1928–1920) Delia’s place in history was first told in 1918 in the Daily News of Batavia with the headline, “Woman Aged 91 Voted in Le Roy.” Delia received the honor of voting first even though she was joined by fifty-seven other women for the first vote in Le Roy at the Municipal Building. It is assumed she was the leading woman to cast her vote due to her age and standing in the community. Delia joined the Presbyterian Church when she moved to Le Roy at the age of 61, teaching Sunday school there as well. She was active in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union co-leading the evangelistic and Sabbath observances. Her gravestone lists her name and years of birth and death. It doesn’t indicate her place in Le Roy history. The historical marker in Le Roy now fills in that gap. If you know more about Delia, you can help us tell her story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information. Old Baptist Cemetery (aka Old Briggs Cemetery) ​ 2719 Plank Road, Lima, NY 14485 Livingston County Learn More

Phoebe Hathaway (1819–1902) Phoebe was a member of a Quaker family with deep roots in the Farmington community. As Quakers they were staunch abolitionists; family homes were stops on the Underground Railroad. Phoebe was an organizer of the Cazenovia Convention on Antislavery where Frederick Douglass spoke. She was the first president of the Western New York Female Antislavery Society. In addition, she helped establish a Bird's Nest school in her town to educate black women. Being raised in the Quaker belief where men and women were thought to be equal — where women had a “voice” — plus being surrounded by strong-willed, ambitious and hard-working family members and reformers, it is of little wonder how Phoebe’s life was influenced and how she gained the confidence and freedom to pursue her interests. Upon her father’s death, Phoebe inherited property in her own name. In 1857 Phoebe suffered a stroke limiting her mobility. She continued to write in support of the issues she cared about; temperance, abolition and women's rights. Evidence of her life's work is found in her letters to and from Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Emily Howland. Phoebe's will stated that if she died without descendants 'it is my wish that a fund shall be expended for the education of such needy women.' North Farmington Friends Cemetery ​ 250 Sheldon Road, Farmington, NY 14425 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

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

Rhoda DeGarmo (1799–1873) Rhoda and her husband Elias were Quakers involved with the Farmington Quarterly meeting that in 1836 sought to make men's and women's meetings more equal. In 1842, she joined the WNY Anti-Slavery Society when it was founded and was active in its annual fairs to support the cause. The DeGarmos were neighbors of the Daniel and Lucy Anthony family in Gates, NY, and members of a group that met regularly on Sundays at the Anthony's farm to discuss reform issues. They were also active on the Underground Railroad, providing refuge for freedom seekers en route to Canada. In 1848, Rhoda was chosen as one of the organizers for the Adjourned Woman's Rights Convention held in Rochester that August two weeks after the Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls. It was she along with Amy Post and Sarah Fish who decided to nominate a woman, Abigail Bush, to preside at the convention in opposition to the opinion of Elizabeth C. Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Rhoda was selected as one of several vice-presidents of the NYS Woman's Temperance Society in 1852. In 1872, she was one of the women including Susan B. Anthony, who succeeded in both registering and casting their votes in Rochester. Mount Hope Cemetery NE 1/4, Range 2, Lot 152 1133 Mount Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620 Monroe County Learn More

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

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

Mary Coolidge (1845/6–1922) Mary was "an enthusiastic temperance and suffrage worker" who was President of the Political Equality Club of Phelps and the Civics Club of Clifton Springs. She hosted many civic gatherings for women and attended the State Convention in Geneva. Mary was also active in Clifton Springs Grange and worked with the local orphan asylum. Sauquoit Valley Cemetery ​ 2585–2581 County Rd 20, Sauquoit, NY 13456 Oneida County Learn More

Elizabeth Oakes Prince Smith (1806–1893) Elizabeth was a poet, fiction writer and women's rights activist. Born in Maine, Elizabeth had dreams of attending college and starting a school. Under pressure from her mother, she married young. Her husband was a publisher who supported her writing career. In 1850, Elizabeth attended the National Women's Rights Convention in Worcester. This motivated her to leave fiction writing for essays on women's need for economic opportunity, higher education and voting. Her work was published in Horace Greeley's New York Tribune. Elizabeth was a candidate for president of the National Women's Rights Association at their 1852 convention in Syracuse. Her selection was opposed when she appeared in a dress showing her neck and bare arms. Elizabeth continued to attend conventions, write and lecture in the following years. Interest in her work waned after her death but saw a resurgence in the 1970s as advocacy for women's rights welcomed new generations. Lakeview Cemetery ​ 270–242 W Main Street (Montauk Highway), Patchogue, NY 11772 Suffolk County Learn More

Helen Z. M. Rodgers (1876–1960) One of the first women to graduate from Buffalo Law School, Helen was also the first woman to argue before the Appeals Court, in addition to serving as the president of the Woman Workers Suffrage League and Vice Chairman of the Woman Suffrage Party of Erie County in 1917. Forest Lawn Cemetery Section 9, Lot 294, Space 9 1411 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14209 Erie County Learn More

Alberta Hill Smith (1889–1952) Alberta was secretary to the Women's Political Union, which was once known as the Equality League for Self-Supporting Women. It merged with the Congressional Union and later became the National Woman's Party under Alice Paul. Alberta was audacious in her beliefs. She rode on horseback in the Woman Suffrage Parade in Washington, D.C., March 3, 1913. The parade was the brainchild of Alice Paul and marked the first significant public event that re-energized the suffrage movement. Over five thousand women marched in that parade. Alberta is well known because her wedding was headline news. By itself that was not surprising. Both she and her husband were involved in politics. She worked on Woodrow Wilson’s presidential campaign in 1912. Her husband was secretary to the Secretary of the Navy. After the ceremony, the officiating priest asked if she planned to obey. With good humor and a gracious bow she said "no". The New York Tribune headline read, “Alberta Hill, Suffrage Bride, Laughs Refusal to ‘Obey Him.’” Moravian Cemetery ​ 2205 Richmond Road, New Dorp, New York 10306-2557 Richmond 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

Elizabeth Dilts Blake (1845–1930) Elizabeth, known as "Libbie", was described as a very capable woman, interested at all times in the welfare of the community in which she lived. “Mrs. Blake, who is president of the Women’s Suffrage Society, says there is no law against voting, now, (and) that no inspector can find a statute against receiving the vote of any woman (who) will present one.” Neapolitan Record, 8/19/1885 Rose Ridge Cemetery ​ 8344 County Road 33 (West Hollow Road), Naples, NY 14512 Ontario County Learn More

Isabel Howland (1859–1942) Isabel was born into a family active in the abolition and suffrage movements. By her early 20s she was corresponding secretary of the Association for the Advancement of Women and active with the New York State Woman Suffrage Association, and communicated with key people including Susan B. Anthony, Carrie Chapman Catt, William Lloyd Garrison, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Booker T. Washington, and Julia Ward Howe. In 1891 Isabel was a founding member of the Sherwood Equal Rights Association, (in what is now known as Aurora, rather than Sherwood NY) a chapter of the national Equal Rights Association. She helped to found the Sherwood Political Equality Club, a woman's suffrage group, which met in her parents' home. She served as treasurer of New York State Woman Suffrage Association’s important conventions, including the 1897 convention in Geneva, NY and the 1895 convention in Newburg, NY where the New York Times reported she was one of the “prominent” suffragists in attendance. In the 1910s Isabel served as an officer of NYSWSA during her Cornell University classmate Harriet May Mills’ tenure as president. Because of its importance, well after her passing, the entire hamlet where her family lived, known as the Sherwood Equal Rights Historic District, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places (in 2008). One of the parcels that has been restored is Opendore, Isabel's former estate. Howland Cemetery ​ 1180-1202 Sherwood Road, Aurora, NY 13026 Cayuga County Learn More

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

Harriot Eaton Stanton Blatch (1856–1940) Harriot was the daughter of lawyer, abolitionist, and NYS Senator Henry Brewster Stanton and of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, one of the pre-eminent leaders in the women's rights movement. She was active in women's groups and social reform organizations in England, where she lived with her husband until 1902. Credited with revitalizing the American women's suffrage movement upon her return to New York, Harriot established the Equality League of Self-Supporting Women, later renamed the Women's Political Union (WPU). The WPU stressed the involvement of working women in the suffrage movement and connected women's rights with trade unionism. Under her leadership the WPU held many outside forums and organized the first of many suffrage parades in 1910. They also testified at legislative hearings, lobbied, and oversaw polling activities. Harriot was also active in other peace and social justice movements and was a strong advocate for legislation regarding workers' and children's rights. Woodlawn Cemetery Lake Plot Sec. 48 4199 Webster Avenue, Bronx, NY 10470 Bronx County Learn More