Gerrit Smith (1797–1874) Gerrit Smith was widely known as a philanthropist and social reformer of the mid-nineteenth century. As a nationally prominent and influential abolitionist, he played a critical role in the operations of the Underground Railroad. Gerrit sold farm tracts for one dollar each to 3,000 African Americans, many of whom he had helped escape into freedom, with approximately 140,000 acres transferred between 1846 and 1850. Gerrit was also an advocate for women's rights. He was highly regarded in the early years of the movement, including being mentioned in Elizabeth Cady Stanton's address at the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848.*courtesy Gerrit R Wynkoop Peterboro Cemetery ​ Peterboro Road, Peterboro, NY 13134 Madison County Learn More

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

Gertrude Wilmarth Lash (1861–1910) Pittsford residents worked actively to win women the right to vote. The Monroe County Mail on September 19, 1901 described how at a meeting of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, Gertrude Wilmarth Lash “... spoke in the interest of the Political Equality Club, with the object of starting a club in Pittsford among members of the W.C.T.U.” The Club had its first meeting on September 6, 1902. Like so many who worked for suffrage, many of the founding members never lived to see women vote; including Gertrude, who in addition to her political work, was a mother of eight children. (courtesy of www.townofpittsford.org/19thAcentennial/ppec-founders) Pittsford Cemetery F 332 38 Washington Road, Pittsford, NY 14534 Monroe County Learn More

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) Frederick was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his oratory and anti-slavery writings. Frederick was a firm believer in the equality of all peoples, be they white, black, female, Native American, or immigrants. He was also a believer in dialogue and in making alliances across racial and ideological divides. In 1848, Frederick was the only African American to attend the Seneca Falls Convention. Elizabeth Cady Stanton asked the assembly to pass a resolution asking for women's suffrage. Many of those present opposed the idea. Frederick stood and spoke eloquently in favor of women's suffrage; he said that he could not accept the right to vote as a black man if women could not also claim that right. He suggested that the world would be a better place if women were involved in the political sphere. After Frederick's powerful words, the attendees passed the resolution. When the 15th Amendment giving Blacks the right to vote was being debated, Frederick split with the women's rights movement. He supported the amendment, which would grant suffrage to black men. Many suffragists opposed the amendment because it limited expansion of suffrage to black men; they predicted its passage would delay for decades the cause for women's right to vote. On February 20, 1895, after returning to his house from a meeting of the National Council of Women in Washington, DC, Douglass died of a heart attack at age 77. Mount Hope Cemetery Section T, Lot 26 1133 Mount Hope Ave. Rochester, NY 14620 Monroe County Learn More

Katherine Stoneman (1841–1925) Kate is best known for being the first woman lawyer in the state of New York, admitted to the bar in 1886 before being the first female graduate of Albany Law School in 1898. She was very involved with the local and state woman suffrage movement for many years and was the first woman to legally vote in Albany in 1880 when New York women were granted the right to vote in school elections. Kate was friends with Susan B. Anthony and worked alongside Lillie Devereux Blake, Mary Seymour Howell and other prominent suffrage leaders. She lived long enough to witness New York women voting in 1918 and the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1920. *courtesy alexanderstreet.com. Albany Rural Cemetery Section 56, Plot 28 Cemetery Avenue, Menands, NY 12204 Albany County Learn More

Louisine Waldren Elder Havemeyer (1855–1929) Louisine was an art collector, feminist, and philanthropist. In addition to being a patron of impressionist art, she was one of the more prominent contributors to the suffrage movement in the United States. The impressionist painter Edgar Degas and feminist Alice Paul were among the renowned recipients of the benefactor's support. After her husband's death in 1907, Mrs. Havemeyer focused her attention on the women's suffrage movement. In 1912 and 1915, Louisine she lent her artistic collection to Knoedler's Gallery and organized exhibitions of her art works in New York to raise funds to support suffrage efforts. In 1913, she founded the National Woman's Party with the radical suffragist Alice Paul. Louisine became a well-known suffragist, publishing two articles about her work for the cause in Scribner's Magazine. The first, entitled "The Prison Special: Memories of a Militant," appeared in May 1922, and the other, "The Suffrage Torch: Memories of a Militant" appeared in June the same year. Louisine participated in marches down New York's famed Fifth Avenue and addressed a standing room only audience at Carnegie Hall upon the completion of a nationwide speaking tour. A famous photograph of Louisine shows her with an electric torch, similar in design to that of the Statue of Liberty, among other prominent suffragists. Her attempt to burn an effigy of President Wilson outside the White House in 1919 drew national attention. Green-Wood Cemetery ​ 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232 Kings County Learn More

Abbie Keene Mason (1861–1908) Abbie was a wife, mother and temperance reformer. In 1888, she married Rev. James E. Mason, a pastor at Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (Zion), the oldest African American church in Rochester, New York. Beyond her family life, she participated in the women's rights movement. Specifically, she was a founding member and the inaugural president of a branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.) in August of 1901. Eight women joined the chapter along with her. The majority attended Zion, which had a storied history of fighting for advancements for women and African Americans. Abolitionists and women's rights advocates, including Abbie, contributed to Zion's distinguished legacy. Abbie held W.C.T.U. meetings in Zion's basement and participated in a church conference that highlighted the achievements of Frederick Douglass. Douglass published his anti-slavery weekly, the North Star, in Zion's basement. He also led the efforts to make the original church building a stop on the Underground Railroad, which sheltered Harriet Tubman and other escaped enslaved people. Furthermore, Douglass's friend and leader of the suffrage movement, Susan B. Anthony, gave her last public speech at Zion before her death in 1906. *courtesy of alexanderstreet.com Mount Hope Cemetery NW 1/4, BB, Lot 159 1133 Mount Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620 Monroe County Learn More

Margaret McEchron Bowden (1859–1925) Political Equality Club of Glens Falls met regularly at Margaret's home from 1914-1917 as her daughter Katharine Bowden held a number of elected positions within the club. A headline from that time reads: "Equality Club’s Society Event - Mrs. H. A. Bowden Generously Donates the Use of Her Home for the Occasion". "The first society event given under the auspices of the Political Equality club took place Saturday afternoon in the home of Mrs. [Margaret] Bowden, Maple street, and proved a brilliant affair. Spring flowers were used throughout the house decorations, which were most effective. There were twenty-five tables of auction and five hundred in play... Ice Cream and cake was served. The proceeds amounted to $60, which will be used to carry on the work of the club. The members are exceedingly grateful to Mrs. Bowden, who made the party possible by loaning the use of her home for the occasion and furnishing the refreshments." Post-Star (Glens Falls, NY Warren County). May 4, 1914. P.5. Bio by Tisha Dolton. Pine View Cemetery Wah-tah-wah, Row 1C, Plot 63 21 Quaker Road, Queensbury, NY, 12804 Warren 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

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

Alice E. Goodnow (1864–1934) Alice was an active member of her community, including a dedication to women's suffrage along with her sister and brother-in-law Francis and Frank Cobb. She was also active in St. Paul's Universalist Church's many community groups. 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 13, Lot 12, Grave 5 1518 NY 444, Victor, NY 14564 Ontario County Learn More

Katherine Alexander Duer MacKay Blake (1878–1930) Katherine founded the Equal Franchise Society, an independent suffrage organization established in 1908. The Society would be a home for wealthy women who were just then becoming interested in the cause of women’s suffrage. Along with better-known Alva Belmont, Katherine made suffrage safe for prominent society women who had seen the cause as too radical, too feminist, too populist for them. Mrs. Mackay, as she was known, consulted with leading suffragists like Harriot Stanton Blatch in creating the Equal Franchise Society. Mrs. Mackay recruited a board of serious and capable suffragists (including Blatch), and began funding significant lobbying work in Albany as early as 1910, when few resources for state legislative work existed. Mrs. Mackay’s upper-crust viewpoint sometimes left her at odds with her own organization, for example when she insisted that the Albany headquarters be a suite at the posh Ten Eyck Hotel, not a storefront on State Street. She was adamantly opposed to the idea of public demonstrations, which many middle-class and upper-class suffragists feared would be seen as rabble rousing. She was deeply dismayed when the Equal Franchise Society board voted to participate in the first large New York City suffrage march, in May 1910. But to her credit, she accepted their decision and even wanted to make sure the Society showed up handsomely, though she herself refused to attend. Katherine Mackay was massively wealthy. Her lavish Long Island mansion, Harbor Hill, was designed by Stanford White and situated on 648 acres in Roslyn. She devoted time and money to the local community, renovating the public library and serving for five years on the Roslyn school board, in 1905 the first woman ever elected. She sent her daughters to public school, explaining to the newspaper: “If we wish to establish confidence in the public school system, it is necessary for the rich as well as the poor to patronize them. If we draw such caste distinctions as in the past, it is inconsistent to preach the benefits to be derived from government aid in education.” She sought a divorce in 1914 to marry a doctor she fell in love with when he treated her husband. She lost custody of her children, and was stripped of her American citizenship when she and Dr. Blake moved to Paris. After the war they returned to New York and later divorced. Katherine’s private life was extensively covered in the papers, always in a tone viciously judgmental of her. Bio by Rachel B. Tiven. Woodlawn Cemetery Prospect Plot, Sec 57 4199 Webster Avenue, Bronx, NY 10470 Bronx 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

Phebe Ann Coffin Hanaford (1829–1921) This activist leader and groundbreaking female minister said of herself, "I was born a suffragist." Phebe served in an organizational or leadership capacity in the American Equal Rights Association American (AERA), the Woman Suffrage Association, the Women's Press Club, and Sorosis, the first professional women's club in the United States. She was the first woman ordained a minister in New England, the second in the United States, and the fourth in the world. A long-time friend to Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, she preached at their funerals. Phebe wrote a total of fourteen books, one titled Lucretia The Quakeress, inspired by her cousin Lucretia Mott. She also wrote Women Of The Century, and later, an expanded version, Daughters Of America. After separating from her husband, Phebe lived for 44 years with Ellen Miles, her female companion. Orleans Cemetery ​ Route 488 and State Route 20 Ontario County Learn More

Frances (Fannie) Brunson (1871–1956) Frances was born in East Bloomfield, NY and served as a local school teacher in 1894. She was an original member of the Fortnightly Club of East Bloomfield, which was founded in 1896. Fortnightly clubs were organized to bring together women for intellectual pursuits and community service. From 1898 to 1909, Frances was the assistant editor of the Ontario County Times Journal. In 1915, she wrote a suffrage farce entitled “Sam’s Surrender,” which was performed in several Upstate NY communities to raise funds in support of suffrage work. If you know more about Frances, you can help us tell her story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information. East Bloomfield Cemetery ​ 6 Park Place, Bloomfield, NY 14469 Ontario County Learn More

Frances Alice Kellor (1873–1952) Frances attended Cornell Law School, a rarity in the late 19th century. After graduating in 1897, she became involved in the growing Progressive movement, with a special focus in immigration and crime, which were controversial topics of the era. Frances believed that crime was the product not of one's nature but of one's circumstance, pushing against the prevailing beliefs of the time that suggested immigrants - especially those from Southern and Eastern Europe - were more prone to criminality. She worked on immigration issues for New York State, and became the President of the National Americanization Committee, dedicated to instilling American ideals in immigrants as a method of reducing crime and poverty. She also focused on the plight of African Americans, increasingly moving to northern cities during the early decades of the 1900s in what has come to be called the First Great Migration. Frances attempted to create a better safety net for African Americans, and especially African American women, in the difficult transition to northern, urban living. In 1911, the organization she founded—the Inter-Municipal League for Household Research—formed with other agencies to become the National Urban League, a well-known social justice, social reform, and civil rights organization. Active in Progressive politics, Frances participated in Theodore Roosevelt's 1912 campaign for President, arguing in favor of suffrage for women. She played a similar role in Charles Evans Hughes' 1916 campaign, leading a controversial train tour in support of the candidate. By the early 1920s, she had begun working in areas of international policy. She authored a study on the League of Nations' ability to adjudicate conflict, and became heavily involved in the process of arbitration and conflict management, helping to form the American Arbitration Association (AAA), still in existence today. Later in her life, she turned away from her earlier Americanization beliefs, seeing them as paternalistic, and began to promote the concept of the 'International Human Being'. She was a labor advocate, pushing for clean workspaces and better worker treatment, and was also a transformative force in women's sports, having been involved in rowing and basketball from her time as a college student. Frances—who changed her name from Alice while in law school—is believed to have been transgender, often dressing in manners more typically male at the time; she claimed to often be shunned for her male style of dress and hair. She carried on a long, most likely romantic, relationship with the social reformer Mary Dreier, with whom she lived starting in 1905. Green-Wood Cemetery Section 167, Lot 17004 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232 Kings County Learn More

Mary Burnett Talbert (1866–1923) Mary was the only African-American woman in her graduating class from Oberlin College. She began a career in education in 1886 at Bethel University in Little Rock, Arkansas, and was named assistant principal of Little Rock's Union High School in 1887. In 1891, Mary and her husband moved to Buffalo, NY where she helped found the Niagara Movement, a precursor to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1915, Mary spoke at the Votes for Women: A Symposium by Leading Thinkers of Colored Women in Washington, D.C, and in 1922 she became the first woman to be awarded the Spingarn Medal, the highest honor by the NAACP. Throughout her life, Mary was committed to improving the social welfare of women and African-Americans. Forest Lawn Cemetery Section A, Lot 173, Space 8 1411 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14209 Erie County Learn More

Ida Augusta Craft (The Colonel) (1860–1947) Ida was born in Brooklyn, NY where she spent most of her life devoted to helping women obtain equal rights. The work she did for the women's movement mostly took place in New York City or New Jersey. She was well known for her participation in suffrage hikes, led by "General" Rosalie Jones. These events involved a group of women marching throughout the country advertising for women to have the right to vote and were seen as somewhat militant. Beginning in New York City, the first march went to Albany; a second, longer hike went through New Jersey to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., arriving just before Woodrow Wilson's inauguration in March 1913. Ida Craft was second in charge of these walks, earning the nickname "Colonel Craft." Almost everyone referred to her by this name. Sometimes when Craft marched, she was tired and in pain; however, she persevered and led the group to where they needed to go. Craft led her women to the Capitol in Washington to protest the exclusion of women from political rights. When she arrived in Washington, she would often be the guest of honor at luncheons. She was given a gold medal in 1913 for her "devotion and courage to her cause." (Bio courtesy of alexanderstreet.com) Green-Wood Cemetery Section 73 Lot 1173 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232 Kings County Learn More

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

Mary C. Larkin (–1920) Mary was a member of the Women's Political Union. That organization was founded by Harriet Stanton Blanche in 1906. It was also known as the Equality League for Self-Supporting Women. Their goal was to engage the support of women in wage-supporting occupations. During the great campaign of 1915, the Union was always looking for new ways to draw attention to the amendment. One of the ways was to gain the support of the Catholic clergy. The Saint Catherine Association of Catholic Women (founded by Sarah McPike) was a key part of the Catholic initiative. 500 Catholic women marched in the last suffrage parade in New York City in 1917. Mary was among a group of women who were cited for unceasingly writing and speaking up. Source: History of Womens Suffrage. Vol. 6. St. Agnes Cemetery of Utica ​ 601 Arthur Street, Utica, NY 13501 Oneida County Learn More