Ida Louise Dildine (1846–1928) Ida is noted in a book on Binghamton's Growth and Development as having been born in Candor, NY. In the work "English Women's Review of Social and Industrial Questions," she is noted as one of the signers of a 1886 letter to Pope Leo XIII, thanking him for sanctioning women taking part in politics. In that letter she is cited as secretary of the Women's Suffrage Party of New York State. Ida 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. In 1887, at 41 years of age, she received a diploma from New York College and Hospital; she became a physician, perhaps in connection with the above activities. Spring Forest Cemetery ​ 51 Mygatt Street, Binghamton, NY 13905 Broome County Learn More

Cora Staffin (1866–1956) Cora was the Recording Secretary of the Erie County Political Equality League--an organization of Erie County women’s clubs. In 1904, there were ten women’s clubs under the umbrella of the Erie County organization. Cora attended annual conventions in 1912 and 1913. After the passage of the 19th amendment, Cora was a member of the Collins Town Election Board. She was also Noble Grand of the St. Clair Rebekah Lodge, an Odd Fellows women’s auxiliary, whose ceremony and lectures are based on women in Biblical history who exemplified the nobility and character of women. Collins Center Cemetery Section B. Lot 177 C NY-39, Collins Center, New York, 14035 Erie County Learn More

Catherine (Kate) Gleason (1865–1933) Kate was born in Rochester, New York. Her parents were Irish immigrants and ardent women rights advocates. Her mother, Ellen, was friends with Susan B. Anthony. Kate Gleason led the kind of life that Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton dreamed would come true someday as the result of their work. To begin, in 1884, she attended Cornell University, a school that opened its doors to women due to Susan B. Anthony’s efforts. Equally significant, Kate was the first woman to enroll in their Mechanical Arts engineering program. It was extremely rare for women to enter the engineering profession. According to the Society for Women Engineers, “. . . it was rare for more than one woman a year (if any) to receive an engineering degree nationwide from 1876 until 1900.” She did not graduate from Cornell, having to return home to Rochester to assist in her father’s machine shop business. However, she continued to take engineering classes at Sibley College of Engraving and the Mechanics Institute, later to become the Rochester Institute of Technology. With the winds of the women’s rights movement at her back, Kate continued to become “the first” in many areas. With her confidence, keen business acumen, and engineering knowledge, she became the company’s first global sales woman, bringing in European business. Gleason Works exists to this day as a global provider of gear-cutting equipment. It is reported that Kate was the first woman to be appointed a receiver of a company in bankruptcy. She led Ingle Machine Company of East Rochester, New York out of bankruptcy, paying off its debts in eighteen months and returning it to profitability. In 1918 she was the first woman member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Kate continued her work in roles traditionally held by men. She developed affordable housing for the working class by deploying mass production efforts and a unique concrete method that she developed. She continued her work in housing development, helping to rebuild a French village after World War 1, and starting building projects in California and South Carolina. As a fitting tribute to women’s rights, she and her father hosted a grand (and what was to be the final) birthday party for Susan B. Anthony in 1906. And in 1912 Gleason contributed $1,200 to the National Woman’s Suffrage Association. The amount was one of its largest pledges. In 1998, the Rochester Institute of Technology named its engineering school the Kate Gleason College of Engineering, the first college to name an engineering school after a woman. Riverside Cemetery ​ 2650 Lake Avenue Rochester, NY 14612 Monroe County Learn More

Katherine Bell Lewis (1848–1930) Katherine was a supporter of women's suffrage. She was a member of the Geneva, NY Political Equality Club. She was an associate of Carrie Chapman Catt and in 1903 invited her to speak at Geneva's Smith Opera House. Over 1,000 tickets were sold to the event. A newspaper article "A Sketch of the Life of Mrs. Catt" includes extensive reference to a letter that Katherine wrote to the Buffalo Commercial newspaper to address anti-suffrage sentiment. In 1908, she contributed $10,000 to the National American Women's Suffrage Association in honor of the anniversary of Susan B. Anthony's death. It was the largest contribution made up to that time to the organization. The Bell Memorial Library in Nunda, NY (her birthplace) is named after her. Mount Hope Cemetery Section F, Lot 47 1133 Mount Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620 Monroe County Learn More

Vira Boarman Whitehouse (1873–1957) The owner of the Whitehouse Leather Company, a suffragette and early proponent of birth control, Vira became interested in suffrage after the Woman Suffrage Parade of 1913 erupted into violence. She marched in the May 1913 suffrage parade in New York City and volunteered with the Women's Political Union after the parade. Six months later, Vira gave her first outdoor suffrage speech. Vira was chairman in 1913 of the publicity council of the Empire State Campaign Committee and in 1916 of the New York State Woman Suffrage Party (NYSWSP). In May 1915, Vira made cold calls to potential voters to ask their views on suffrage. This is one of the earliest examples of telephone polling. Vira was the first vice-chair of the New York City Woman Suffrage Party and a member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, organizing large suffrage parades in New York City. On September 8, 1917, she led the second New York Suffrage Campaign at Sagamore Hill, meeting with Theodore Roosevelt. Leading an incredibly successful fundraising campaign, making large donations herself and soliciting donations from New York's most prominent families—when New York State granted women the right to vote on November 6, 1917, Vira was widely credited with the win. Vira Boarman Whitehouse's husband was a member of the Men's League for Women's Suffrage. By July 1917 he was treasurer of the League. When Vira bought and managed the Whitehouse Leather Products Company, she worked to improve working conditions for women. Additionally, she served on the National Chairman of the Woman’s Action Committee for Victory and Lasting Peace. Green-Wood Cemetery Lot 1250, Section 83 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232 Kings County Learn More

Helen M. Freeborn Thornton (1862–1922) Though originally from Alleghany County, Helen Freeborn Thornton settled in Victor with her husband Charles, and was an active member of the community. She was a member of the Unity Club and the Victor Equal Suffrage Association. In February 1914, she hosted a “suffrage school” at her home that was attended by several local suffragists. The meeting focused on methods to “promote and knowledgeably answer questions about a woman’s right to vote.” Boughton Hill Cemetery Old Ground, Section C, Row 12, Lot 6, Grave 5 County Road 3 and County Road 41, Victor, NY 14564 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

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

Rosina Flanly (Flannelly, Flanelly) (1863–1937) Rosina (Rose) along with her sister, Fanny, was a member of the St. Catherine Welfare Association, a Manhattan-based Catholic organization of young women advocating for suffrage that grew out of the work of the Catholic Committee of the New York City Woman Suffrage Party. Rose and Fanny were listed in the History of Woman Suffrage: 1900-1920 among several members who "helped [promote suffrage] unceasingly by writing, speaking and in many other ways." Calvary Cemetery ​ 49-02 Laurel Hill Boulevard, Woodside, NY 11377 Queens County Learn More

Laura Arnold Murray (1793–1865) Laura is described by Victor historian Babette Huber as the town of Victor's earliest known suffragette. In August of 1848, Rochester, NY was planning a Convention for Women's Rights. Laura was elected Vice President of the committee conducting the convention. This gathering was held two weeks after the Seneca Falls convention and was reported as being well attended. Her daughter, Mary Elizabeth Murray Walling, was an active suffragette who worked closely with Susan B Anthony. Little else is know about Laura Murray's contributions but it is clear that she set a strong example for her daughter. If you know more about her, you can help us tell her story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information. Mount Hope Cemetery ​ Mount Hope Ave, Rochester, NY 14620 Monroe 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

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