Louise Meyer Van Buskirk (1845–1915) On September 6, 1902, the first meeting of the Pittsford Political Equality Club was held at the Main Street home of Louise Meyer Van Buskirk, daughter of German immigrants. The Pittsford Club members felt a strong connection to the national and global movement. The following year the Club again met in the Van Buskirk home on February 13, 1903, “on account of a desire to make the February meeting an anniversary (in so far as we could) of the 83rd birthday of “The Grand Woman” Susan B. Anthony... The day is celebrated by Suffrage Societies throughout the world, on either Saturday or Monday. In large cities and towns they were to do some fine things, raise money, &c. to help the cause so dear to Miss Anthony’s heart, and for which she has toiled through a long life of self-denial...” Cortland Rural Cemetery Section W, Lot 86 110 Tompkins Street, Cortland, NY 13045 Cortland County Learn More

Victoria Earle Smith Matthews (1861–1907) Victoria was a journalist, author, clubwoman, and social worker. She was born into enslaved status in Fort Valley, Georgia, and was largely self-taught, using the library of the house in which she worked. She was first a "sub" for reporters on the large dailies of New York City, later for other newspapers and magazines. In 1879 she married William Matthews, a coachman, and settled in Brooklyn with their one son, Lamartine. In 1892 Victoria became the first president of the Woman's Loyal Union of New York, and in 1895, with Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin and others, helped found in Boston the National Federation of Afro-American Women. She was the principal planner of the meeting in Washington, D.C., when the federation merged with the National Colored Women's League, organized by Mary Church Terrell, to become the National Association of Colored Women. Under Terrell, it's first president, Victoria served (1897-1899) as national organizer. *Courtesy of AlexanderStreet.com Maple Grove Cemetery Plot: Summit 127-15 Kew Gardens Road, Kew Gardens, NY 11415 Queens County Learn More

Annetta E. Barber, MD (1859–1945) Though born along Lake Champlain, Dr. Annetta Barber spent much of her medical career in Glens Falls, NY where she was active in local, state, and national medical associations, women’s clubs, and civic organizations. She was active in the Glens Falls Political Equality Club from 1902-1917, and was elected treasurer of the club in 1903. She also served on the Meetings and Programs committee in 1914, and on the Membership committee in 1915. Dr. Annetta presented a number of papers to the club based on some of her medical research including one titled “What the World Owes to the Scientific Discovery of Medicine and Surgery”. She was a charter member of the local Zonta branch, as well as both the Tri-County & Glens Falls Associations for the Blind. Dr. Annetta retired to and is buried in her hometown of Chazy, NY. Bio by Tisha Dolton. Riverview Cemetery ​ US Route 9, Chazy, NY 12921 Clinton 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

Leila (Lee) Vanderbilt Stott (1880–1969) Leila (Lee) was an active suffragist and educator in New York State, who was also connected to the settlement house and labor movements. She herself never married. Lee was especially active in the final few years of the push for suffrage in NY, chairing the National Woman's Party 3rd district in Albany, NY. She held meetings in Ravena and Voorheesville, NY. In October of 1917, Lee and other New York suffragists journeyed to Washington to hear a special address from President Wilson, who showed his support and passion towards women's suffrage. However, the suffragists who were present sought to push the President to work harder and to push Congress to actually grant women the right to vote. Lee was recognized on the National Roll of Honor of the National League of Women Voters in Washington D.C. as a substantial suffragist throughout the movement. Along with 72 other women, Leila Stott's name was inscribed on a bronze tablet that was placed in the national headquarters of the National League of Women Voters. *courtesy alexanderstreet.com Hudson City Cemetery Sec. B, Lot 48 Cemetery Road, Hudson, NY 12534 Columbia County Learn More

Bessie Hershey DeVault (1890–1989) As a young woman, Bessie was a participant in Ontario County suffrage activities. In 1917, it is stated that Bessie chaired the suffrage committee of the Ontario County Women's Clubs and served alongside her stepmother, Elizabeth Hershey. Gorham Cemetery ​ Route 245, Gorham, NY 14561 Ontario County Learn More

Elmina Anscomb Powell (1853–1934) Elmina “Mina” lived at 27 Monroe Avenue and was one of the founding members of the Pittsford Political Equality Club. The Club was one part of a decades-long movement to establish women’s right to vote. If you know more about Elmina, you can help us tell her story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information. Pittsford Cemetery A 65 38 Washington Road, Pittsford, NY 14534 Monroe County Learn More

Lucy Susannah Sweet Barber (1833–1901) Lucy came from the small rural community of Alfred and voted in the general election on November 3, 1886, as well as another time in the 1880s. This was a sensational story across the USA because Lucy was arrested, spent a night in jail, and had a trial and other court proceedings. In celebration of her vote, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony held a banquet in her honor in New York City at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Lucy did not attend this event, although all of her expenses would have been paid for, citing too much work to do at home. Alfred Rural Cemetery Lot 51 Cemetery Road, Alfred Station, NY 14803 ​ 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

Eva Francis Curtiss Tousey (1856–1934) From Rochester Times-Union, Tuesday, February 6, 1934: "Mrs. Tousey was born in Rochester more than 75 years ago and lived her entire life in this city and Pittsford. She was a member of the Irondequoit Chapter, Daughters of American Revolution; of the Rochester Colony of New England Women; Past Matrons Association of Northfield Chapter and was active in Reunion Group 8 School. For many years she taught 20th Century Women's Bible Class in the Presbyterian Church at Pittsford." Evan was a charter member of the Pittsford Political Equality Club, which was organized September 6, 1902 in Pittsford, NY. Pittsford Cemetery G 582 38 Washington Road, Pittsford, NY 14534 Monroe County Learn More

Emily DuBois Butterworth (1859–1937) Emily was an active member of the suffrage movement. She won a first prize for the best parade hat from the Women's Political Union in 1913 and served as the treasurer of the Co-operative Service League for Woman Suffrage in New York City. She was arrested with two dozen other suffragists of the National Woman's Party on November 10, 1917 during a picketing of the White House. Charged with obstructing traffic, the women were tried and convicted. When Emily, like the others, refused to pay the fine, she was sentenced to thirty days in the Occoquan Workhouse. The arrival of this group of prisoners on November 14 precipitated the infamous Night of Terror. According to Inez Haynes Irwin's account, Emily, for some capricious reason, was taken away from the rest, and placed in a part of the jail where there were only men. They told her that she was alone with the men, and that they could do what they pleased with her. Her Night of Terror was doubly terrifying with this menace hanging over her. No doubt in part due to this harassment as well as the poor conditions, Emily, along with two others in poor health, was released early. Emily was involved in civic work in addition to suffrage work. She was a member of the Woman's Municipal League, which was an organization involved in improving the city of New York as well as providing charity for the poor and less fortunate. Married to an Englishman, Henry Butterworth, the couple lived in Manhattan with her companion, Cora Weeks, who was also a member in the suffrage movement. (Courtesy alexanderstreet.com) Woodlawn Cemetery Elm Plot, Section 38 4199 Webster Avenue, Bronx, NY 10470 Bronx 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

Eleanore Meyers (Myers) Jewett (1890–1967) A prolific writer with a fascination for the medieval period, Eleanore was a member of several womens' clubs involved in suffrage. She completed a Masters Degree in Medieval Comparative Literature at Columbia, and received a Newbery Honor in 1947 for her mystery story The Hidden Treasure of Glaston. Eleanore left a small but solid contribution to both the women's suffrage movement and the field of children's literature. Woodlawn Cemetery Section: 5 Lot: 142 130 N Pearl Street, Canandaigua, NY 14424 Ontario County Learn More

Maude Cyril Nagle Schmidt (1873 –1947) Maude was a leading voice of the Herkimer County Suffrage Convention back in 1917. She was elected leader of the county organization and was heavily involved with the activities of the Ilion Suffrage Study Club. Always civic minded she became the first woman leader of the Herkimer County Republican Committee along with memberships in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Red Cross, and Ilion Historical Club. She is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Muriel Cornelia Zoller, wife of Supreme Court Justice Abram Zolier, Herkimer. Maude is included in a Herkimer County Historical Society documentary which is included in a link here under "Learn More". Armory Hill Cemetery (AKA German Flatts Cemetery, Ilion Cemetery) Section 3, Lot 5 Benedict Avenue, Ilion, NY 13357 Herkimer County Learn More

Susan B. Anthony Didn't Do It Alone. WOMEN AND THE VOTE NEW YORK STATE provides a growing suffragist directory and gravesite map to help you explore New York's rich and influential suffragist history. You'll find famous individuals and those you've never heard of whose grassroots efforts resulted in passage of milestone legislation including the 19th Amendment (1920), the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)—proposed in 1923—remains one state shy of ratification to this day. On Election Day, we hope you’ll cast your vote and then visit suffragists gravesites in your community wearing your “I Voted” sticker to show your gratitude for their tireless work. When you do, ask yourself how the past and the fragility of suffrage inspires you to honor Susan B. Anthony's call to continue the work for a just and equitable society for all. Do you know of a suffragist? The National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House is proud to be the new home of Women and the Vote New York State. We invite you to click the Add a Suffragist button above to submit a candidate for vetting. Remember, the suffragist must be buried in the state for inclusion in our growing database. Inspired by the Indigenous way of life. Long before Europeans set foot in what is now New York state, the Haudenosaunee considered women sacred. They created space for women to walk alongside men and share equally the burdens and the blessings of carrying forth a community. For EuroAmerican women who legally had no voice, no rights, and belonged to their fathers or husbands, this Indigenous model of democracy inspired dreams of freedom and equality. ​ Some early suffragists in Upstate New York, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Matilda Joslyn Gage, and Lucretia Mott, befriended their Haudenosaunee neighbors. Witnessing democracy based on equity, not power over another, shaped the women's thinking and inspired their writings throughout the suffrage movement.

Susan Brandeis Gilbert (1893–1975) Susan was educated at Boston’s Winsor School, Bryn Mawr College (B.A., 1915), and the University of Chicago Law School (LL.B., 1919). In 1916, Susan worked for woman suffrage in Boston. New York City became her home in 1921. Admitted to the New York bar in 1921, no law firm would hire her because she was a woman, an event Susan Gilbert remembered all her life. Susan was the second woman member of the New York State Board of Regents appointed by Governor Herbert Lehman, serving in that post from 1935 to 1949. She was also an active member of the Bar Association of New York City, Hadassah, the Women’s City Club and the Democratic Party. When Brandeis University was founded in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1949, Susan and Jacob Gilbert were deeply involved in its development. She became the honorary national president of its National Women’s Committee, was made fellow of the university in 1952, and was awarded a doctor of humane letters in 1963. Union Field Cemetery ​ 82–11 Cypress Avenue, Ridgewood, NY 11385 Queens County Learn More

Ethel Cuff Black (1890–1977) Ethel was one of the founders of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. She was elected the sorority’s first vice president and attended the Deltas’ first public event, the Woman Suffrage Parade in Washington, D.C., in March 1913. Prominent suffragist Mary Church Terrell lobbied on behalf of the Deltas to win them a place in the parade, where they were the only African American organization represented. At Howard University, Ethel was chairwoman of the collegiate chapter of the YWCA. During college, she was also the vice-president of Alpha Kappa Alpha, but later voted to reorganize the sorority and formed Delta Sigma Theta with twenty-one other women. Due to illness she graduated Howard in 1915. Ethel was notably the first African-American teacher in Rochester, NY. Cypress Hills Cemetery ​ 833 Jamaica Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11208 Kings County Learn More

Ella Cunningham (1878–1945) Ella was an African American activist who worked for black women's suffrage in the early twentieth century. She was especially active in 1917, when suffragists in New York State organized to pressure the state's voters to pass a women's suffrage amendment. Born in South Carolina, Ella spent her adult life in New York City. She married at 19, but it ended in divorce. Despite her busy family and work life, as a domestic servant and laundress, Ella made time for political activism. She had no formal education; still she was literate and was determined to help black women gain the right to vote. During World War I, Ella and other African Americans in New York City contributed $350 to the war fund for the Colored Men's division of the YMCA; remarkable considering her own income. At this same time, Ella was a member of the Colored Women's Suffrage Club of New York, participating in a statewide suffrage convention in August of 1917. The New York Age wrote an article about the event, which met in Saratoga in hopes of garnering support for a suffrage amendment, which was on the November ballot in New York State. Women—black and white—traveled together to Saratoga. While suffragists had separate organizations, for this meeting, they united as affiliates of the New York City Woman Suffrage Party. The governor of New York and the mayor of New York City also attended the meeting. A reporter for The New York Age wrote that woman suffrage is one of the vital issues of the day to be given serious consideration. The State Suffrage party now has one million women enrolled under its banners. The state convention was significant for black women in particular. While black and white women united to garner support for women's suffrage, black women had long been treated as inferiors to their white counterparts. Some black women openly demanded equal treatment, nonetheless, they supported the New York Woman Suffrage Party because it was their best opportunity to gain the right to vote. The efforts of Ella and the other members of the Colored Women's Suffrage Club of New York City paid off. After hosting and attending meetings, sending postcards, knocking on strangers' doors, and even finding transportation for male allies to get to the polls on Election Day, Black women suffragists succeeded as New York voters made women's suffrage the state law in November 1917 three years before the Nineteenth Amendment required all states to grant women the right to vote. Ella continued to live in New York City with her adult children and worked the same jobs that she had before she won the right to vote. But she experienced a significant difference: she was able to—and did—vote. (Bio courtesy Alexanderstreet.com) Holy Cross Cemetery St. Augustine, System: CEM, Section: AUGU, Row: 23, Plot: 42 3620 Tilden Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11203 Kings County Learn More

Sarah Hall Bonesteele (1873 –1957) Originally from Massachusetts, Sarah entered MIT as one of first females accepted there; she had at one time also been a tutor for Helen Keller. Sarah was active in community groups and had spoken on politics to the Victor Equal Suffrage Association. If you know more about her, you can help us tell her story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information. Riverside Cemetery Section N, Lot 106 2650 Lake Avenue, Rochester, NY 14612 Monroe County Learn More

Rosalie Gardiner Jones (1883–1978) Rosalie was an Oyster Bay socialite and suffragist known as "General Jones." She exemplified both her ideology of doing the work and leading her "soldiers of the suffragette movement" by organizing numerous women marches and individual efforts to raise awareness on women's voting issues. Her suffrage marches and wagon trips included a protest march from New York City to Albany, another through Ohio, numerous tours through Long Island in a yellow "Votes for Women" wagon, and a New York to Boston wagon trip and march. General Jones's most publicized march—from New York City to Washington, D.C.—ended on March 3, 1913, the day before the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson. Her small band of suffrage "Pilgrims" joined the "Women's Rights Procession," which included 9 bands and 26 floats, and at least 5,000 marchers parading down Pennsylvania Avenue, led by women from countries that had enacted woman suffrage. This protest is not only known as the most effective demonstration for women's voting but also was instrumental in shifting the debate into a national issue, one that would need to be resolved by a constitutional amendment rather than state referenda. *courtesy alexanderstreet.com St. John Espiscopal Church Ashes scattered outside mother's tomb, hillside cemetery above the church. Route 25A Laurel Hollow, Syosset, NY 11724 Suffolk County Learn More