Catharine was the legal advisor for the National American Woman Suffrage Association, while also serving as an auditor, and later the Vice-President. At the time of the 1912 Presidential campaign, Catharine insisted that the Republican Party would suffer the wrath of the suffragists if suffrage was not included in the platform.
Later that year, she placed an ad in the Rock Island Argus that she would pay one dollar for every one hundred signatures collected in support of Illinois suffrage. While she toiled mightily for suffrage, Catharine was quite vocal in her opposition to the "militant methods" of British suffrage leader Emmeline Pankhurst. Her efforts were successful and Illinois women gained suffrage in 1913.
Catharine was overjoyed when the Illinois Democratic state convention selected her as a 1916 delegate for Woodrow Wison, commenting, "The Democratic party has, indeed, put itself out to honor womanhood." She continued her efforts for suffrage for Illinois women in February of 1917, arguing for an amendment, against Grace Wilbur Trout, who believed that a convention alone would suffice. Unfortunately for Catharine, the constitutional convention route was chosen by the time September came. According to Free-Trader Journal, Catharine wanted to unify women in the state, so she agreed to support the constitutional convention. Catharine continued to speak in Iowa and other states in support of suffrage.
Once the League of Women Voters was founded in 1919, Catharine was involved with this organization. By 1922, she was the chair of the committee on uniform laws. According to Washington D.C.'s Evening Star, this committee advocated for several issues related to marriage and motherhood.
A 1926 article by Lillian Campbell celebrated Catharine's forty years of having success in her law practice. After mentioning some of her professional accomplishments, it notes, "She is the mother of four children, all university graduates, and two of her sons practice law with their father and mother."
Catharine continued being active in the Democratic Party, speaking at the conventions of the National Woman's Democratic Law Enforcement League in 1929 and 1931, and serving as its Second Vice President from 1929 until at least 1932. She also served her country as a member of the Committee on Cultural Relations with Latin America.
During her long career, in addition to her work in the field of law and her suffrage work, Catharine found time to advocate for temperance, to serve as legal advisor to the W.C.T.U., to write books and plays., and to participate in numerous organizations in the Chicago area.
Catharine passed away in Evanston on April 20, 1945, and was buried three days later in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery.
Catharine Waugh McCulloch was born in Ransomville, New York, on June 4, 1862. She graduated from Rockford Female Seminary, earning both a bachelor's degree and master's degree, and attended Union College of Law.
A temperance advocate from an early age, Catharine was a member of the Young Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Also passionate about suffrage, she passed out a pro-suffrage speech to counter the anti-suffrage speech that her town's Presbyterian minister was giving.
Catharine practiced law with Frank Hathorn McCulloch, a law school classmate whom she married on May 30, 1890, in Winnebago, Illinois. Their firm was known as McCulloch & McCulloch.
Catharine spoke at many events in support of suffrage. At the Cleveland convention in 1896, she and Julia Holmes Smith each presented an argument for the Democratic Party supporting suffrage.
One milestone in Catharine's legal career was on February 21, 1898, when she was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court.
By 1900, Catharine was listed as a lawyer living at 2236 Orrington Avenue in Evanston with her husband and her children, Hugh and Hathorn.
Catharine and Frank filed an argument and brief in Chicago in support of municipal suffrage for women in late May of 1906. The next year, when Catharine was elected justice of the peace for Evanston, and the first female justice of the peace in the country, she changed the marriage contract to omit the wording that a woman must obey her husband.
The McCullochs took a four-month trip to Europe during the summer of 1908 and visited several countries. By this time, their family had had expanded to include two younger children, Catharine and Frank.
Catharine spoke before the Society of Anthropology in 1909, making an argument that "woman was the originator of most of the good things in the world." After praising women from Eve on, she asked her audience to vote on woman suffrage and got a positive result.
Catharine was the legal advisor for the National American Woman Suffrage Association, while also serving as an auditor, and later the Vice-President. At the time of the 1912 Presidential campaign, Catharine insisted that the Republican Party would suffer the wrath of the suffragists if suffrage was not included in the platform.
Later that year, she placed an ad in the Rock Island Argus that she would pay one dollar for every one hundred signatures collected in support of Illinois suffrage. While she toiled mightily for suffrage, Catharine was quite vocal in her opposition to the "militant methods" of British suffrage leader Emmeline Pankhurst. Her efforts were successful and Illinois women gained suffrage in 1913.
Catharine was overjoyed when the Illinois Democratic state convention selected her as a 1916 delegate for Woodrow Wison, commenting, "The Democratic party has, indeed, put itself out to honor womanhood." She continued her efforts for suffrage for Illinois women in February of 1917, arguing for an amendment, against Grace Wilbur Trout, who believed that a convention alone would suffice. Unfortunately for Catharine, the constitutional convention route was chosen by the time September came. According to Free-Trader Journal, Catharine wanted to unify women in the state, so she agreed to support the constitutional convention. Catharine continued to speak in Iowa and other states in support of suffrage.
Once the League of Women Voters was founded in 1919, Catharine was involved with this organization. By 1922, she was the chair of the committee on uniform laws. According to Washington D.C.'s Evening Star, this committee advocated for several issues related to marriage and motherhood.
A 1926 article by Lillian Campbell celebrated Catharine's forty years of having success in her law practice. After mentioning some of her professional accomplishments, it notes, "She is the mother of four children, all university graduates, and two of her sons practice law with their father and mother."
Catharine continued being active in the Democratic Party, speaking at the conventions of the National Woman's Democratic Law Enforcement League in 1929 and 1931, and serving as its Second Vice President from 1929 until at least 1932. She also served her country as a member of the Committee on Cultural Relations with Latin America.
During her long career, in addition to her work in the field of law and her suffrage work, Catharine found time to advocate for temperance, to serve as legal advisor to the W.C.T.U., to write books and plays., and to participate in numerous organizations in the Chicago area.
Catharine passed away in Evanston on April 20, 1945, and was buried three days later in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery.
Susan Frances Nelson Ferree was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, on January 14, 1844, and grew up in Keokuk, Iowa. She married Jerome D. Ferree in 1860 and had several children. From the 1860s to the late 1870s, the family first lived in Keokuk, Iowa, and then moved to Ottumwa, Iowa.
Her A Woman of the Century profile notes:
"Mrs. Ferree is a great lover of poetry, of which she has written much, but she excels in journalism. Some of her newspaper correspondence from Washington, D.C. is exceptionally fine. She is an untiring worker for temperance and for the advancement of woman (sic). She is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, Woman's Relief Corps, the Iowa Woman's Suffrage Association, and the local Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and a communicant of St. Mary's Episcopal Church of Ottumwa" (287).
In addition, Susan was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was one of the three Ottumwa, Iowa delegates to the DAR meeting in Washington, D.C. in 1901.
Susan and Jerome were living on Ingraham Street in Los Angeles, California, in 1910, but they moved to San Diego, California, the following year. After she did not accompany him to Arizona, the couple divorced in 1913.
Susan passed away in Monterey, California, on September 30, 1919, and her ashes were buried in the family plot in Ottumwa.
]]>Susan Frances Nelson Ferree is our Woman of the Week. Please view the link in our profile to see links related to Susan.
Susan Frances Nelson Ferree was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, on January 14, 1844, and grew up in Keokuk, Iowa. She married Jerome D. Ferree in 1860 and had several children. From the 1860s to the late 1870s, the family first lived in Keokuk, Iowa, and then moved to Ottumwa, Iowa.
Her A Woman of the Century profile notes:
"Mrs. Ferree is a great lover of poetry, of which she has written much, but she excels in journalism. Some of her newspaper correspondence from Washington, D.C. is exceptionally fine. She is an untiring worker for temperance and for the advancement of woman (sic). She is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, Woman's Relief Corps, the Iowa Woman's Suffrage Association, and the local Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and a communicant of St. Mary's Episcopal Church of Ottumwa" (287).
In addition, Susan was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was one of the three Ottumwa, Iowa delegates to the DAR meeting in Washington, D.C. in 1901.
Susan and Jerome were living on Ingraham Street in Los Angeles, California, in 1910, but they moved to San Diego, California, the following year. After she did not accompany him to Arizona, the couple divorced in 1913.
Susan passed away in Monterey, California, on September 30, 1919, and her ashes were buried in the family plot in Ottumwa.
Zerelda Gray Wallace was born in Millersburg, Bourbon County, Kentucky on August 6, 1817. She was a temperance reformer, a woman suffragist, a public speaker, and an author.
Zerelda spent her youth in Millersburg and her teenage years in New Castle, Kentucky and Indianapolis, Indiana. At age nineteen, she married Indiana's Lieutenant Governor, David Wallace, and became stepmother to his sons. One of those sons was Lew Wallace, who wrote Ben Hur and used Zerelda as the model for the mother in the book. David was elected to Congress the next year, and Zerelda spent some time in Washington, DC.
She was a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, as well as the first President of Indiana's chapter, and Zerelda spoke frequently about the cause. Also very involved in the suffrage movement, Zerelda was an active participant in the Equal Suffrage Society of Indianapolis. Zerelda participated in many conventions, including the National Woman Suffrage Convention in 1880, the first International Convention of Women, the Suffrage Convention in 1887, and the Women's Council in 1888. She also lectured about women's rights. In addition, Zerelda was involved in missionary work for her church, the Central Christian Church. Her publications included A Whole Humanity (1887), Mrs. Wallace on Equal Suffrage (1890), and Suggestions of a Line of Study: For Woman Suffrage Leagues and Good Citizenship Clubs (1891).
Zerelda embarked on a lengthy lecture tour in 1891. After she became seriously ill during a lecture, Susan B. Anthony and Frances E. Willard were just two of many friends who inquired about her health. Fortunately, Zerelda recovered from this illness, as well as another in 1896.
During her later years, Zerelda lived with family members in Cataract, Indiana. She passed away on March 19, 1901.
Her husband, Reverend Jonathan Towley Crane, was a Methodist Episcopal pastor and the president of Pennington Seminary. Mary Helen was a church worker for the Methodist Episcopal Church, a temperance reformer, a journalist, and the mother of fourteen children. One of those children was the author Stephen Crane. Jonathan passed away in 1880, and three years later Mary Helen purchased a home for her family in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
Mary Helen wrote for several newspapers, including The New York Tribune and The New York World, and she was an active member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. On January 20, 1888, The New York Tribune's article about a W.C.T.U. convention in New Jersey the previous day noted:
"Mrs. M. Helen Crane, State superintendent of press work, read a paper replete with valuable suggestions on newspaper work."
Mary Helen passed away in Paterson, New Jersey, on December 7, 1891, and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Hillside, New Jersey.
Mary Helen Peck Crane, the daughter of Methodist Episcopal minister George Peck and Mary Myers Peck, was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on April 10, 1827.
Her husband, Reverend Jonathan Towley Crane, was a Methodist Episcopal pastor and the president of Pennington Seminary. Mary Helen was a church worker for the Methodist Episcopal Church, a temperance reformer, a journalist, and the mother of fourteen children. One of those children was the author Stephen Crane. Jonathan passed away in 1880, and three years later Mary Helen purchased a home for her family in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
Mary Helen wrote for several newspapers, including The New York Tribune and The New York World, and she was an active member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. On January 20, 1888, The New York Tribune's article about a W.C.T.U. convention in New Jersey the previous day noted:
"Mrs. M. Helen Crane, State superintendent of press work, read a paper replete with valuable suggestions on newspaper work."
Mary Helen passed away in Paterson, New Jersey, on December 7, 1891, and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Hillside, New Jersey.
Frances passed away on February 17, 1898, and was buried in Chicago's Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum.
]]>Frances Elizabeth Willard, whose lengthy biographical sketch lists her as an "educator, reformer and philanthropist," was one of the editors of A Woman of the Century. She was born on September 28, 1839, in Churchville, New York. Frances graduated from North-Western Female College, where she later taught and served as an administrator.
She became very active in the temperance movement and served as president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). In addition, Frances was a leader of the National Woman's Council. She was a frequent lecturer and prolific writer, publishing books and contributing to numerous periodicals.
During her very productive life, Frances Willard touched many lives, including those of Julia A. Ames, Matilda B. Carse, Jennie Casseday, Mary Helen Peck Crane, Sarah Doan La Fetra, Zerelda Gray Wallace, and Mary A. Brayton Woodbridge.
Frances passed away on February 17, 1898, and was buried in Chicago's Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum.
Also interested in writing for children, Emma penned “Pieces to Speak.” Lee and Shepard of Boston published this book which received praise from The Morning Call of San Francisco. Similarly, The New Haven Daily Morning Carrier Journal gave a positive review to Emma's The Gregory Guards, another book for young people, calling it: "A story of reaping good by doing good, bright and entertaining and full of life, incident and good sense."
Through her work with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Emma was affiliated with Mary H. Hunt. Speaking of her extensive research related to temperance, Benedict's A Woman of the Century profile notes: "There is probably no other person more familiar than she with the whole subject of the nature and effects of alcohol on the human system" (74). She and Hunt exerted a great deal of effort preparing teaching manuals on the topic.
Emma married C. Frederick Transeau in Boston on November 28, 1895. In 1900, she was living in Westwood, Massachusetts, and working as a journalist. During the first decades of the new century, Emma continued her crusade against alcohol by writing articles, non-fiction books, and temperance fiction. In addition, Emma was an officer of the Scientific Temperance Federation. Beginning in 1923, she wrote the “What the Current Magazines are Saying about Prohibition and Law Enforcement” column in The American Issue. Emma published her last book, Knotty Problems Regarding Moderate Drinking, in 1935. She passed away in Boston two years later and was buried in Clifton Park Baptist Cemetery, Clifton Park, New York.
]]>Emma Lee Benedict, born on November 16, 1857, was a native of Clifton Park, New York. She was an editor, educator, author, public speaker, and temperance reformer. Passionate about education from a young age, Emma was a graduate of the State Normal School at Albany and the City University of New York. In addition to teaching, Benedict edited “The New York School Journal.”
Also interested in writing for children, Emma penned “Pieces to Speak.” Lee and Shepard of Boston published this book which received praise from The Morning Call of San Francisco. Similarly, The New Haven Daily Morning Carrier Journal gave a positive review to Emma's The Gregory Guards, another book for young people, calling it: "A story of reaping good by doing good, bright and entertaining and full of life, incident and good sense."
Through her work with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Emma was affiliated with Mary H. Hunt. Speaking of her extensive research related to temperance, Benedict's A Woman of the Century profile notes: "There is probably no other person more familiar than she with the whole subject of the nature and effects of alcohol on the human system" (74). She and Hunt exerted a great deal of effort preparing teaching manuals on the topic.
Emma married C. Frederick Transeau in Boston on November 28, 1895. In 1900, she was living in Westwood, Massachusetts, and working as a journalist. During the first decades of the new century, Emma continued her crusade against alcohol by writing articles, non-fiction books, and temperance fiction. In addition, Emma was an officer of the Scientific Temperance Federation. Beginning in 1923, she wrote the “What the Current Magazines are Saying about Prohibition and Law Enforcement” column in The American Issue. Emma published her last book, Knotty Problems Regarding Moderate Drinking, in 1935. She passed away in Boston two years later and was buried in Clifton Park Baptist Cemetery, Clifton Park, New York.
Some of those organizations were the Texas Woman's Press Association, the Industrial Union, and the Texas Equal Rights Association.
During her career, she also clerked for her husband, merchant Joseph Wilkes Dabbs, presented at conferences, and wrote for the National Economist.
Ellen found time for all of these activities while also being a wife and mother.
]]>Ellen Lawson Dabbs, M.D. knew from personal experience how important it was for women to get an education and have a profession, so she accepted leadership positions in various organizations, knowing that her voice would be heard on women's rights and other key issues well beyond Texas.
Some of those organizations were the Texas Woman's Press Association, the Industrial Union, and the Texas Equal Rights Association.
During her career, she also clerked for her husband, merchant Joseph Wilkes Dabbs, presented at conferences, and wrote for the National Economist.
Ellen found time for all of these activities while also being a wife and mother.
Julia passed away in Boston on December 12, 1891, after having become very ill while participating in a convention. She was just thirty-one years old. Julia was buried in Riverview Cemetery in Streator, Illinois. The year after "Yolande's" death, The Woman's Temperance Publishing Association published A Young Woman Journalist: A Memorial Tribute to Julia A. Ames.
]]>Julia A. Ames, a gifted editor, orator, and temperance reformer, was born in Odell, Illinois, on October 14, 1860. She graduated from Streator High School, Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, and the Chicago School of Oratory.
Julia spent much of her life in the Chicago area. During her early efforts for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Julia worked closely with Levancia Holcomb Plumb. Frances Elizabeth Willard and Matilda B. Carse are just two other people in Julia's personal network. Matilda B. Carse gave Julia the nickname "Yolande," after she noted Julia's similarity to the heroine of an 1883 novel by William Black (A Young Woman Journalist, 39).
In addition to her efforts on behalf of temperance reform, Ames wrote for the Chicago Inter-Ocean and edited the Union Signal. She was a member of, and later the president of, the Woman's Temperance Publishing Circle of King's Daughters.
Julia passed away in Boston on December 12, 1891, after having become very ill while participating in a convention. She was just thirty-one years old. Julia was buried in Riverview Cemetery in Streator, Illinois. The year after "Yolande's" death, The Woman's Temperance Publishing Association published A Young Woman Journalist: A Memorial Tribute to Julia A. Ames.
During the early years of the Flower Mission, Jennie was contacted by the Harper Brothers, successful New York publishers, to write about her Flower Mission for Harper's Young People. Responding to the publishers, Jennie wrote:
"The mission of flowers has such possibilities, such deep meaning, so much cheer and brightness for the sick, the aged, the poor, the shut-ins, and for the missionaries themselves, that I find my heart bounding with gladness at tne new avenue you have opened for its enlargement"(Duncan, 22).
Word spread about Jennie's mission, and Frances Willard asked Jennie to be the founder of the WCTU's National Flower Mission. Her National and Annual Flower Mission Day, an event on her birthday, June 9, which resulted in flowers in the cells of prisoners throughout the country, continued even after Jennie's death on February 8, 1893.
In addition, Jennie organized the Shut-In Band, a community of people who, like her, were invalids, and provided a way for them to communicate through the periodical Open Window.
She also supported the Louisville Training School for Nurses and the Rest Cottage "for tired girls and women who have to support themselves" (161), and established a Louisville chapter of the Order of King's Daughters (Duncan, 43).
Jennie Casseday, who was born in Louisville, Kentucky on June 9, 1840, was injured as a young woman. As a result, she was bedridden for most of her life. Determined to brighten the lives of others in her situation, she created the Louisville Flower Mission.
During the early years of the Flower Mission, Jennie was contacted by the Harper Brothers, successful New York publishers, to write about her Flower Mission for Harper's Young People. Responding to the publishers, Jennie wrote:
"The mission of flowers has such possibilities, such deep meaning, so much cheer and brightness for the sick, the aged, the poor, the shut-ins, and for the missionaries themselves, that I find my heart bounding with gladness at tne new avenue you have opened for its enlargement"(Duncan, 22).
Word spread about Jennie's mission, and Frances Willard asked Jennie to be the founder of the WCTU's National Flower Mission. Her National and Annual Flower Mission Day, an event on her birthday, June 9, which resulted in flowers in the cells of prisoners throughout the country, continued even after Jennie's death on February 8, 1893.
In addition, Jennie organized the Shut-In Band, a community of people who, like her, were invalids, and provided a way for them to communicate through the periodical Open Window.
She also supported the Louisville Training School for Nurses and the Rest Cottage "for tired girls and women who have to support themselves" (161), and established a Louisville chapter of the Order of King's Daughters (Duncan, 43).