Wisconsin Suffragists

This list is in progress.

Albee, GS

• President of the State Normal School in Oshkosh

Anneke (Annetke), Franzisca Mathilde

• Forced to leave Germany in 1848
• Friend of Carl Schurz
• Edited a women’s paper in Germany and continued upon arrival in Wisconsin
• Established a girls’ school in Milwaukee
• Served as Wisconsin delegate at one of the first national conventions in Washington, D.C. in 1869
• Died 1882

Atwater, MC

• Milwaukee
• Member, South Side Suffrage Club
• Member, WWSA

Bain, Harriet

• Kenosha artist and teacher
• Member of WWSA
• Proposed Self-Denial Day for Suffrage which was adopted nationwide

Baker, Stella

• Dexterville
• Member, Grand Rapids Society
• Member, WWSA

Bascom, Emma Curtiss

• Madison
• President of Madison Equal Suffrage Association, formed in 1878
• Served as first president of Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Association (WWSA)

Bascom, John

• Madison
• President of University of Wisconsin
• Presided at 1882 WWSA convention

Bentley, Mary W.

• Member and officer of Marathon County Association
• Member and officer of WWSA

Berger, Meta Schlichting

• Milwaukee socialist
• Worked with WWSA
• Left WWSA to join Wisconsin branch of National Woman’s Party (NWP) in 1917

Brown, Reverend Olympia – See Willis, Reverend Olympia Brown

Campbell, Vie H.

• Evansville
• Officer in WWSA 1882

Catt, Carrie Lane Chapman

• Born in Ripon
• Schoolteacher and journalist
• Became NAWSA president in 1915

Charleton, Helen Holmes

• Born July 8, 1886 in Lockport, New York
• Broadhead
• Editor of Wisconsin Citizen – official paper of WWSA

Chynoweth, Edna Phillips

• Madison
• Officer in WWSA 1882

Colby, Clara Bewick

• Born in Sun Prarie
• Valedictorian of first class of women graduates from University of Wisconsin-Madison un 1869
• Did most of her work for suffrage in Nebraska but lectured in Wisconsin with Olympia Brown

Collins, Alura – See Hollister, Alura Collins

Comstock, Nancy

• Member, WWSA
• Prohibitionist

Curtis, Alice B.

• Milwaukee Normal School teacher
• Salaried PEL recruiter during 1911-12 campaign

Derrick, Mary A.

• Brodhead

DeVoe, Emma Smith

• Worked with WWSA beginning in 1890s before moving to Washington, where she led the fight for state suffrage
• Returned to Wisconsin

Dow, Hon. JT

Dudley, Marion V.

• Milwaukee
• Served as vice president of WWSA 1882
• Speech to Senate committee on State Affairs on March 2, 1880 in support of women’s suffrage: “Gentlemen, I pray you to let my people go…to the polls.”

Eastman (Benedict), Crystal

• Born June 25, 1881, probably in New York.
• Growing up, she lived in Massachusetts and New York
• Her mother, Annis, was her first and greatest influences regarding the empowerment and liberation of women
• Vassar 1899-1903 http://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/alumni/crystal-eastman.html
• Received master’s in sociology from Columbia in 1904; received Law degree from NYU in 1907
• Helped her brother Max form Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage in 1909
• Married Wallace Benedict in 1910 and moved to his hometown of Milwaukee
• Campaign manager for unsuccessful 1912 Wisconsin women’s suffrage referendum campaign
• Returned to New York in 1913
• In 1913, traveled to Budapest for the Seventh Congress of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance
• Divorced Benedict in 1915; married British poet Walter Fuller and had two kids
• Helped found American Union Against Militarism (1914), National Woman’s Peace Party (1915), National Civil Liberties Union (in 1917; later known as the ACLU), fought for legalization of prostitution and right to birth control with Emma Goldman, was blacklisted in 1919, and moved with Fuller to London in 1922
• Returned to New York after Fuller died in 1927
• On July 8, 1928, Crystal Eastman died from Nephritis at 48 years old

Farnsworth Mears, Helen

Ford, Dr. Julia A.

Frisby, Dr. Almah J.

• Member, WWSA
• Medical doctor in Milwaukee

Gale, Zona

• Born in Portage on August 26, 1874
• University of Wisconsin-Madison student 1891 to 1895; received her masters from UW in 1901
• Member of WWSA
• Left WWSA in 1917 for NWP because of her pacifist views
• Writer who won a Pulitzer Prize for the stage adaptation of Miss Lulu Bett
• Died of pneumonia on December 27, 1938

Goodell, Lavinia

Gray, Almedia B.

• Schofield
• Member and officer, WWSA

Griswold, Hattie Tyngh

• Columbus poet
• Served as second president of the WWSA 1884-1885

Gudden, Sophie

• Grand Rapids
• Journalist and writer
• WWSA Chair of Press Committee
• Chiefly responsible for supplying German press with suffrage literature in Wisconsin
• Left WWSA for NWP with outbreak of WWI

Hamilton, Marion V.

• Waukesha
• Served as president of Waukesha Woman Suffrage Club?
• Served as an officer in WWSA

Hollister, Alura Collins

• Mukwonago
• Journalist who signed her own name to her work when many others used pseudonyms or initials
• 1884 – elected a vice president in WWSA
• Wrote full suffrage and school suffrage bills in 1884
• Known as the “lady lobbyist” for WWSA

Hooper, Jessie Jack

• Oshkosh
• One of the most active women in suffrage cause for 30+ years
• Elected a NAWSA national director in March 1919
• Became first president of Wisconsin League of Women Voters in 1920

Horton, Carrie

• President of Colored Suffrage League of Milwaukee, thought to be the first African American club dedicated to women’s suffrage in the country.

James, Ada

• Richland Center
• Lifelong suffrage worker and active in WWSA
• Split from NAWSA to become a member of PEL
• Her parents and aunt and uncle were all active in the suffrage movement
• Father, David H. James, and uncle, NL James, both Wisconsin legislators and introduced suffrage bills
• Joined Wisconsin branch of NWP in 1917

James, David G.

• Richland Center
• Wisconsin state senator
• Father of Ada James
• Took first train to DC on June 10, 1919, to receive official certification that Wisconsin’s ratification of amendment was the first

James, Laura Briggs

• Richland Center
• Founded and elected a vice president of WWSA in 1882

James, Sarah

• Oshkosh

Jastrow, Rachel Szold

• Born 1865, died 1926 in Baltimore, MD.
• Moved to Madison, WI in 1888 with husband, Joseph Jastrow.
• Member of NAWSA and WWSA.
• Acted as liaison from WWSA to state legislature.
• Acted as spokesperson and delivered speeches from the back of an open vehicle.

Jordan, Charlotte

• Kenosha
• Member of WWSA.

Judd, Mabel

• Lancaster

King, Angie

• Janesville lawyer.

Koppke, Georgiana J.

• Baraboo

La Follette, Belle Case

• First woman graduate of University of Wisconsin Law School

Lake, Lucinda

• Juda

Luther, Jessie

• Madison

Mason, Eveleen L.

• Member, WWSA and NAWSA

McCreery, Maud Leonard

• Green Bay
• Joined Wisconsin branch of NWP in 1917

Munro, Dr. Sarah

• Member and officer of WWSA
• Practicing physician in Milwaukee

Neubecker, Meda

• Waukesha

Nyb, FM

Olin, Helen R.

• Madison
• UW graduate
• Husband John.

Olin, John M.

• Madison lawyer
• University of Wisconsin Law School graduate
• Champion of prohibition and suffrage
• Husband of Helen

Patchin, Hanna

• New London
• Member, WWSA

Pearce, Mary G.

• Milwaukee
• Member, WWSA

Peckham, Lila

• Milwaukee lawyer
• Speaker at third state convention in March 1870
• Died young

Perkins, Nora

• Milwaukee

Pomeroy, Jennie M.

• Member, Grand Rapids Society and WWSA

Quackenbush, Susan Miller

• Born Februrary 23, 1881 in Milo, New York
• Moved to Portage with her husband by 1910
• Chaired WWSA Education Committee
• Wrote Social Forces booklet in 1913
• Died at age 40 in Chicago and buried in New York

Richards, Sarah A.

• WWSA member and organizer
• Former Schofield schoolteacher
• Served as WWSA “office manager” in Milwaukee
• Wrote suffrage directory and brief history of WI movement 1884

Robinson, Emma

• Kenosha
• Pharmacist
• Member of WWSA

Rogers, Jane

• Milwaukee teacher for 15 years
• Member of WWSA

Ross, Dr. Laura J. – See Wolcott, Dr. Laura J. Ross

Sercombe, Dr. H. Frances

• Hospital physician
• Member WWSA

Stearns, Lutie

• Schoolteacher
• Organized Wisconsin Library Association in 1894
• Served as president of WWSA

Strathearn, Sophie

• Kaukauna

Turner, Jennie Willing McMullin

• Born January 4, 1885 near Hymera, Indiana

von Bruenchenheim, Minnie

• Milwaukee

Wagner, Mary Swain

• Born 1864 in Poughkeepsie, NY
• Never married and no children
• Attended University of Minnesota and Vassar College
• Vocations included teacher, writer, insurance agent, artist, lobbyist
• Worked in Wisconsin during 1911 and 1912 on 1912 women’s suffrage referendum campaign
• Helped Ada James establish the Political Equality League (PEL) in April 1911 as a more radical alternative to the WWSA
• Created a Milwaukee, WI-based group, American Suffragists, but it lasted only two years, after which Wagner returned to Poughkeepsie, NY
• Wagner opened an inn, The Wagner Inn, near Vassar with her savings of $300, which she ran until her death on August 12, 1937
• She wrote a book about the inn entitled, The Inner Life of an Inn, as well as a book of poetry, and illustrated them both

Wentworth, Frances McDonnell

• Born July 2, 1831, in New York City
• Married October 4, 1852, to John Theodore Wentworth; John died in 1893
• The couple had four children
• From New York, moved to Chicago, IL, Lake Geneva, WI, and Elkhorn, WI, before settling in Racine, WI, where Frances Wentworth lived until her death on March 21, 1921
• In June 1908, Wentworth became treasurer of the Racine branch of WWSA; she was also involved in the temperance movement and her local Presbyterian church

Willis, Dr. Gwendolen Brown

• Born November 15, 1876 in Connecticut
• Daughter of Rev. Olympia Brown Willis
• Milwaukee-Downer College

Willis, Reverend Olympia Brown

• Born in Michigan, January 1835
• Influenced by reformer mother and became a teacher at 15 years old
• Graduated Antioch College in 1860
• Ordained as Universalist minister in 1863
• Became pastor at Church of the Good Shepherd in Racine, WI in 1878
• Served as an officer of WWSA 1882, president in 1885
• Resigned position in 1887 and worked for suffrage as president of WWSA from 1887 until 1912
• Joined Wisconsin branch of NWP in 1917
• Took part in NWP picketing in DC on March 4, 1918, when she was in her 80s

Wilson, Eliza

• Menomonee

Winton, Theodora – See Youmans, Theodora Winton

Witter, Mrs. Isaac

• Grand Rapids
• Musician
• Member of WWSA

Wolcott, Dr. Laura Ross

• First woman physician in Milwaukee and third woman in the US to get a medical degree
• Founder and first president of Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Association (WWSA)

Wright, Edna

• From Milwaukee
• Employed by NAWSA
• Spent three months in Wisconsin in 1918 to promote ratification

Youmans, Theodora Winton

• b. 1863, d. 1932
• Became a journalist in the 1880s and was the first woman reporter for the Waukesha Freeman
• Beginning in 1888 with a printing of a letter by Alura Collins Hollister, would write and print women’s news as others hadn’t
• 1889 married Henry Mott Youmans, editor of the Waukesha Freeman, and became an editor of the paper in 1890
• Active in clubs; NAWSA member and supporter
• Became president of WI Woman Suffrage Assn in 1913 (after it merged with the Political Equality League)
• Upon the opening of a special session of Congress in 1919, traveled to DC to help lobby for passage
• Became vice president of WI League of Women Voters in 1920

This is not a comprehensive list; names may be added at any time. Information derived from the Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Directory (1885), the Woman’s Suffrage Movement, and McBride, Genevieve G. On Wisconsin Women: Working for Their Rights from Settlement to Suffrage (1994).