Online Biographical Dictionary of the Woman Suffrage Movement in the United States
Alexander Street database
By Thomas Dublin and Kathryn Kish Sklar
January 15. 2022
The Online Biographical Dictionary of the Woman Suffrage Movement in the United States will eventually offer short biographies of about 3,670 grassroots women suffragists whose activism was concentrated in the period 1890-1920, but also occurred before and after those years... Written entirely by volunteers, the sketches include three groups: militants associated with the National Woman's Party, Black suffragists affiliated with a variety of local and national organizations, and mainstream suffragists affiliated with the National American Woman Suffrage Association. The sketches place women's suffrage activism within the frame of women's broader social agenda, before and after the passage of the 19th Amendment in August 1920.
State Coordinator for Rhode Island mainstream suffragists:
Dr. Elisa Miller, Associate Professor at Rhode Island College, HISTORY Chair
RI - Militant Women Suffragists - National Woman's Party
RI - Black Women Suffragists
RI - Mainstream Suffragists - National American Woman Suffrage Association
Abelson - Barus Bauer - Dowell Dunbar - Gladding
Hall - Knox Livingston Lucas - Sims Smith - Yates
Summer Residents (Newport Area)
National Woman's Party
Mildred Hawes Glines (Grant Rollins), 1895-1974 Providence NWP - National Woman's Party; Red Cross
Maria Kindberg, 1860-1921 Providence - Women's Political Equality League of Rhode Island, Congressional Union of Rhode Island, National Woman's Party
Ingeborg Kindstedt, 1865-1950 Providence - Women's Political Equality League of Rhode Island; Congressional Union of Rhode Island; National Woman's Party; International Temperance Organization for Rhode Island
Black Women Suffragists
Roberta J. Dunbar, 1868-1956 Providence NAWSA - National Association of Colored Women (NACW), League of Women Voters of Providence
Bertha G. Higgins, 1872-1944 Providence NAWSA - Rhode Island Union of Colored Women's Clubs, Providence Woman Suffrage Party, Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Party, Providence League of Women Voters
Mary E. Jackson, 1867-1923 Providence - Rhode Island Association of Colored Women's Clubs, National Association of Colored Women (NACW), Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), Alpha Suffrage Club
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NAWSA National American Woman Suffrage Association
Esther H. Abelson, 1889-1970 Pawtucket - Progressive Party, Rhode Island Suffrage Party, Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association, Woman Suffrage Party
Sara M. Algeo, 1876-1953 Providence - RI College Equal Suffrage League; RI Woman Suffrage Party; RI Woman Suffrage Association; New England Woman Suffrage Association; RI Woman's Americanization Committee; Providence League of Women Voters; National Woman's Party; NAACP; Temperance and Working Women's Club; RI Association of Collegiate Alumnae; Teacher; Political Candidate
Leila Peirce Andrews, 1868-1946 North Providence - Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Party, Rhode Island League of Women Voters
Mary M. Angell, 1838-1922 Providence - Rhode Island Women Suffrage Association, Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association, League of Women Voters - Rhode Island Women's Club, Athenaeum Librarian (biography has photo of Ratification signing Jan. 7, 1920)
Mary Borden Anthony, 1863-1947 Providence - RI Equal Suffrage Association; RI Woman Suffrage Society; RI Woman Suffrage Party; League of Women Voters; Girls' Friendly Society; National Woman's Party of Rhode Island
Agnes M. Bacon, 1876-1936 Central Falls - Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association; Chair of American Citizenship, Rhode Island League of Women Voters; Officer; National Council of Catholic Women; Director of Americanization, Rhode Island Board of Education; Providence Queen's Daughters, Catholic Women's Benevolent Legion in Pawtucket, Central Falls Teacher Association
Mary Rathbone Ballou, 1837-1926 Bristol Ferry - Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Association; Rhode Island Women's Club
Elizabeth M. Barr, 1878-1950 Providence - Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association; Rhode Island Women's Party; Librarian, Rhode State Library; League of Women Voters; Women's Republican Club of Rhode Island
Annie Howes Barus, 1854-1928 Providence - Association of Collegiate Alumnae; RI Consumers' League; RI Women's Club; RI Child Labor Committee; National Child Labor Committee; Providence School Committee; College Equal Suffrage League; RI Equal Suffrage Association; New England Woman Suffrage Association; United League of Women Voters of Rhode Island
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Nettie E. Bauer, 1873-1942 Providence - RI Woman Suffrage Party; RI Equal Suffrage Association; New England Woman Suffrage Association; Red Cross; League of Women Voters; Republican Party; Deputy Jury Commissioner of Rhode Island
Ellen M. Bolles, 1847-? Providence - Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Association; New England Woman Suffrage Association; Labor Activist
Jessie V. Budlong, 1875-1935 Providence - College Equal Suffrage League; United League of Women Voters; Rhode Island Association of Working Women's Clubs; National League of Women Workers; Consumers' League of Rhode Island; Rhode Island branch of Association of Collegiate Alumnae
Minnie Mabel Chamberlain Carpenter, 1868-1958 Providence - Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Association; Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association; United League of Women Voters; Rhode Island Republican Party; Rhode Island Girl Scouts; Rhode Island Consumers' League
Joujou E. Converse Colt (Mrs. LeBaron C. Colt), 1878-1952 Bristol - Bristol County Equal Suffrage League; Treasurer, Rhode Island branch of the National Women's Oversea Hospital
Alice Worden Cooper, 1880-1961 Providence - RI Woman Suffrage Party; RI Equal Suffrage Association; Italian Department for the Sprague House and Federal Hill House; RI Consumers' League (Cousin of suffragist Inez Milholland)
Grace Lillian (Mrs. John A.) Cross, 1861-1930 Providence - Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association; New England Woman Suffrage Association; Sprague House Association (Mount Pleasant Working Girls' Club); Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
Ardelia Cook Dewing, 1831-1915 Providence - RI Woman Suffrage Association (RIWSA); Providence Woman Suffrage League; New England Woman Suffrage Association
Helen Dougherty, 1880-1976 Providence - Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Party; Secretary, Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association; Socialist
Caroline Dowell, 1855-1921 Providence - Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Association; Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Party Member; Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Council
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Ettie (Mrs. George E.) Dunbar, 1869-1930 Cranston - Woman Suffrage Party, Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association, Newton Equal Suffrage League, Massachusetts Woman's Republican Club
Roberta J. Dunbar, 1868-1956 Providence - National Association of Colored Women (NACW), League of Women Voters of Providence
Margarethe Lyman Dwight, 1871-1962 Providence - RI Woman Suffrage Association; RI United League of Women Voters; RI Association for the Blind; Providence Female Charitable Society; Trustee, The Lincoln School
Sarah J. Eddy, 1851-1945 Bristol Ferry (Portsmouth) - Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Association, Painter of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Portraits
Emeline Burke Eldredge, 1853 - 1934 Bristol Ferry - Newport County Woman Suffrage League; Superintendent of Portsmouth Schools; Board member of the Portsmouth Free Public Library; Director of the Social Studio
Helen Emerson, 1889-1971 Providence - College Equal Suffrage League of Rhode Island; Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association
Florence (Mrs. Fred S.) Fenner, 1875-1937 Providence - RI Equal Suffrage Association; League of Women Voters RI; Providence LWV; Democratic Women Voters of RI; Ladies' Department of the G.A.R.; RI National Woman's Party; Woman's Christian Temperance Union of RI; Daughters of the United States Constitution of RI
Sara Loretto (Groden) Fittz, 1877-1969 Providence/Cranston - RI Equal Suffrage Association; RI Woman Suffrage Association; RI Woman Suffrage Party; United League of Women Voters of Rhode Island
Jeannette S. French, 1847-1918 Pawtucket - RI Women Suffrage Association, Pawtucket Women Suffrage League, Editor and Publisher of The Woman Citizen (RI), New England Woman Suffrage Association, Woman's Christian Temperance Union; Daughters of the Heather
Florence Garvin, 1876-1968 Pawtucket - Rhode Island College Equal Suffrage League; Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Association; New England Woman Suffrage Association
Ardelia Cook Dewing Gladding, 1857-1930 Barrington/Providence - RI Woman Suffrage Association; College Equal Suffrage League of RI; Barrington Equal Suffrage League; New England Woman Suffrage Association; National American Woman Suffrage Association; Temperance Activist
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Althea L. Hall, 1864-1934 Pawtucket - RI Woman Suffrage Association; RI Equal Suffrage Association; RI Woman Suffrage Party; Pawtucket Woman's Citizen League; Red Cross; Chair, Pawtucket LWV; United League of Women Voters of RI
Louise Hall, 1881-1966 - Paid field secretary for the Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Association and the Rhode Island College Equal Suffrage League
Amy E. Harris, 1854-1938 Providence - RI Woman Suffrage Association; Trustee, Bell Street Chapel; Member, Rhode Island Woman's Club, Sister of artist and suffragist, Sarah J. Eddy
Avis A. Hawkins, 1857-1951 Providence - Teacher; Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association; United League of Women Voters; Rhode Island State Federation of Women's Clubs, Federation of Women's Church Societies of Rhode Island; Providence Woman Christian Temperance Union
Bertha G. Higgins, 1872-1944 Providence - Rhode Island Union of Colored Women's Clubs, Providence Woman Suffrage Party, Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Party, Providence League of Women Voters
Mary Frances Wellington Homer, 1842-1913 Providence - Belmont Suffrage League, RI Woman Suffrage Association, American Peace Society, the National Council of Women, the RI Women's Club, the National Unitarian Temperance Society, the Union for Christian Work, Daughters of the American Revolution, the Sprague House Association
Helen N.B. Janes, 1854-1930 Providence - Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Association, Providence Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Rhode Island League of Women Voters, Union Settlement (a social welfare organization), Providence Mothers' Club (an organization that advocated for better conditions for mothers and children)
Agnes M. Jenks, 1870-1945 Providence - Brookline (MA) Equal Suffrage Association; Concord (MA) Equal Suffrage Association; NH Woman Suffrage Association; RI Woman Suffrage Party; RI Woman Suffrage Association; RI Equal Suffrage Association; Actress; Republican Speaker; Tax reform activist
Ann M. Jewett, 1837-1927 Providence - Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Association, New England Woman Suffrage Association, National American Woman Suffrage Association, Bell Street Chapel - married by Anna Garlin Spencer
Deborah Knox Livingston, 1876-1923 Providence - Rhode Island Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), Bangor (Maine) Suffrage Center, Rhode Island League of Women Voters
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Frances Lucas, 1873-1944 Providence - Principal, Lincoln School; Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association; Rhode Island United League of Women Voters; Women's Peace Party; Rhode Island Association of Working Women's Clubs
Clara Brownell May (Mrs. Oscar) Miller, 1866-1953 Bristol Ferry - Newport County Woman Suffrage League, Newport County Women's Republican Club
Cora Mitchel, 1847-1929 Bristol Ferry - Newport County Woman Suffrage League; New England Woman Suffrage Association
Isabelle Ahearn O'Neill, 1880-1975 Providence - Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association; teacher of elocution and physical education; stage and screen actor; first woman elected to the Rhode Island legislature
Mabel E. Orgelman, 1885-1966 Bristol - Bristol Equal Suffrage League, Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association, Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Party
Ethel W. Parks (Barlow), 1880-1972 Providence - RI Woman Suffrage Party; Member, RI Equal Suffrage Association; RI Woman Suffrage Association; League of Women Voters RI; Member, RI Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children; Providence YWCA
Helen (Mrs. George W.) Parks, 1852-1932 Providence/Watch Hill - RI Woman Suffrage Party; RI Equal Suffrage Association; RI Woman Suffrage Association; League of Women Voters RI
Louise (Mrs. Walter A.) Peck, 1856-1934 Providence - Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association; United League of Women Voters of Rhode Island; Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children; Woman's College at Brown University; Daughters of the Revolution; Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Housewives' League
Enid M. Pierce, 1874-1921 Providence - Providence Woman Suffrage Party; Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Party; Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association; Providence League of Women Voters
Alice F. Porter, 1859-1939 Providence - Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Association; Officer, North Providence and Rhode Island Woman's Christian Temperance Unions; Committee Chair, Rhode Island United League of Women Voters
Anne E. Hitchcock (Mrs. W.S.) Sims, 1875-1960 Newport - Newport County Woman's Suffrage League, Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association; Naval Wife; Girl Scouts of the USA; Red Cross; Rhode Island Civic Committee (penal reform and child labor reform)
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Anna Gardiner Smith (Mrs. Edwin C.), 1880-1962 Providence - Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association; National American Woman Suffrage Association; the Woman's Republican Club; State Federation of Woman's Clubs
Veva Etheline (Mrs. Bertram) Storrs, 1875-1950 Portsmouth - Newport County Woman Suffrage League, Current Topics Club, the Newport Girl Scouts' Council, American Red Cross
Mary Clark Sturtevant, 1843-1931 Middletown - Newport County Woman Suffrage League, Newport County Woman Suffrage League, Newport Suffrage League, Rhode Island State Committee of Woman Suffrage, Congressional Union - Berkeley Memorial Church
Rowena Peck Barnes Tingley, 1851-1919 Providence - Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Association, New England Woman's Suffrage Association, Woman's Christian Temperance Union
Henrietta von Klenze, Ph.D., 1871-1945 Providence - College Equal Suffrage League; New England Woman Suffrage Association; Congressional Union
Gertrude Edgerton Knox Wells, 1887-1977 Providence - Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association, College Suffrage League, Young Women's Christian Association, Near East Relief (aid to Armenian genocide victims in Ottoman Turkey), Rhode Island United League of Women Voters
Mary K. Wood, 1828-1902 Providence/Pawtucket - Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Association; New England Woman Suffrage Association; Women's National Loyal League (abolition); Woman's Christian Temperance Union
Sadie Wright (Mrs. Walter), 1867-1942 Newport - Newport County Woman Suffragist League; War Library Fund; Progressive Party; Newport County Women's Republican Club
Elizabeth Upham Yates, 1857-1942 Providence - Missionary; Lecturer for the Maine Woman Suffrage Association, the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union; Chair of Presidential Suffrage for NAWSA; RI Woman Suffrage Association; RI Equal Suffrage Association; New England Woman Suffrage Association; United League of Woman Voters, Candidate for Lieutenant Governor; Democratic Women's Bureau of RI; Peace Activist
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Summer Residents (Newport area)
Alva Vanderbilt Belmont NWP - Marble House
Margaret Tobin Brown NAWSA
Augusta Lewis Maverick [Gus] Kelley NWP
Margaret Lewis Morgan Norrie NAWSA
Helen Coolidge Mansfield NAWSA
Katherine Duer Mackay NAWSA
Marian Lincoln Perry NWP
Vira Boarman Whitehouse NAWSA
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