Wrong Side of History: The Anti-Suffragists

 By Rachel Dworkin, Archivist

2020 marks the 100^th anniversary of the passage of the 19^th Amendment, which granted American women the right to vote. Since I’ve already written about the suffrage movement here, here, and here, I thought I’d write about the movement’s dark sister: the anti-suffragists. 

It probably comes as no surprise to hear that there were many men opposed to women’s suffrage, but I was shocked (shocked!) to learn there were women opposed to gaining the vote. The Women’s Anti-Suffrage Association of Chemung County was founded by Mrs. Grace Alden Gregg for the express purpose of ensuring that the 1917 referendum to gain New York women the vote failed.  Gregg was the wife of attorney William W. Gregg, and, while she didn’t work, she was heavily involved in charity and social work through the First Presbyterian Church and the Y.W.C.A. She was joined in her fight against women’s suffrage by Mrs. M.H. Murphy, Mrs. H.H. Hallock, Mrs. W.W. Cole, Miss Helen McCann, Miss Flora Gannett, and Miss Mary Potter. Like Gregg, Murphy, Hallock, and Cole were the wives of well-to-do men and actively involved charity and social clubs.  Potter had been a schoolteacher and principal from 1873 to 1913, and regularly wrote educational articles for the Star-Gazette on various cultural and historical topics.

When the first women’s suffrage initiative appeared on the ballot in 1915, the majority of Chemung County voters were in favor, even though the referendum ultimately failed statewide. Throughout 1917, the anti-suffragists worked hard to change their minds. They took out advertisements in the local papers asking people to vote No. Mary Potter wrote a series of op-eds. They brought the famous anti-suffragist Miss Lucy Price to Elmira to speak to various men’s clubs and organizations. Every time the suffragists held a rally, the anti-suffragists held a counter rally. When the suffragists opened a booth at the Chemung County Fair, the anti-suffragists got a booth directly across from them. They even challenged suffragist leaders to a public debate which was politely declined. The Women’s Anti-Suffrage Association of Chemung County enjoyed community support, receiving $264 in donations, plus free space for meetings, free advertising on streetcars, and the use of 5 cars lent by local businessmen.

So, what were their main arguments against suffrage? Part of it was timing. In her op-eds, Potter specifically argued that the nation’s efforts should be focused on the war and that suffragists were an unpatriotic distraction. A lot of the argument against suffrage focused on traditional gender roles and a deep seated fear of change. Women, the anti-suffragists argued, were domestic angels who would be sullied by the nastiness of politics. Encouraging them to enter the public sphere could lead to the destruction of social norms which protected respectable women from rape and prostitution. Moreover, demanding the vote was tantamount to saying that the men in women’s lives were unable to properly represent women’s interests. Several anti-suffragists also claimed it was undemocratic to force the vote on those women who did not want it.  

As silly as some of those arguments seem now, the Women’s Anti-Suffrage Association of Chemung County’s campaign actually worked. On Election day, November 6, 1917, Chemung County voted No on women’s suffrage, even as the rest of the state voted yes. Despite having lost the battle, some of the local anti-suffragists refused to give up on the war. Gregg, Murphy, and Gannett represented Chemung County at the national meeting of the Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage in December 1917 in Washington, D.C. and continued to work against the national suffrage amendment. It wasn’t until the 1920s, after the passage of the 19^th Amendment, that Mrs. Grace Gregg finally bowed to the force of history and registered to vote.

Crystal Eastman

by Susan Zehnder, Education Director

Coming across a name twice in one week is a good sign to dig a little deeper, and this is how I was introduced to Crystal Eastman. Turns out not only did this woman have connections to Elmira, women’s suffrage and Mark Twain, she was among the first American women to receive a law degree. She was the first woman appointed by a New York Governor to a state legal commission dealing with employment - a group she was later elected to lead – and she was co-founder of both the National Women’s Peace Party and the American Civil Liberties Union (commonly known as the ACLU). Amazingly, she accomplished all of this before her untimely death at the age of 48.

Crystal Eastman

Crystal Eastman was born in 1881, the second of four children to Samuel Eastman and Annis Ford Eastman. The Eastmans had married after meeting as students at Oberlin College. Samuel was ordained as a Presbyterian minister, and his first assignment was to Canandaigua’s First Congregational Church.

Samuel and Annis Eastman

Samuel Eastman had served in the Civil War, and had suffered from terrible pneumonia. His health went on to bother him throughout his life. Soon health issues forced him to resign his Canandaigua ministry, and his wife Annis took up teaching to raise money for the growing family. They had four children. Annis soon discovered a talent for speaking and was asked and accepted offers to preach at various local churches. She became an early feminist and popular speaker. Notable speeches she gave were before the Congress of Women and the National Council of Women of the United States.

In 1892, Annis became the first woman Congregational minister, and was ordained by a council headed by the Reverend Thomas K. Beecher of Elmira. The Eastmans and Beechers became lifelong friends and colleagues. When Reverend Beecher died in 1900, both Eastmans were appointed to take his place and they moved their family from Canandaigua to Elmira.

Revs. Thomas K. Beecher, Annis and Samuel Eastman

Other members of the progressive congregation included Samuel L. -also known as Mark Twain - and Livy Clemens. They knew the Eastmans so well that when Twain died, Reverend Annis Ford Eastman was asked to give the eulogy at his funeral. She wrote the eulogy, but her failing health prevented her from delivering it. Her husband spoke on her behalf.

The Eastman’s oldest child had died early from scarlet fever. Now there were three children and Crystal was their only daughter. She left Elmira to study at Vassar College, with plans to pursue advanced studies in NYC while her brother Max finished up at Williams College. 

Vassar College

The family’s financial plans required her to compromise. Her parents decided Crystal would pursue her master’s degree in sociology from Columbia, while Max took a year off. Crystal would then return to Elmira and work while Max finished his studies. Everyone agreed, and upon completing graduate school, Crystal returned to Elmira to teach high school English and history for two years.

In 1906, Crystal returned to New York City to enroll in law school at New York University. The program had recently began to admit women students, and she earned her degree in 1907. She was particularly interested in labor issues and worked on a project called the Pittsburgh Survey. This was an in-depth look at workplace injuries, employment, and unemployment issues. Her scholarship on the project brought her to the attention of the NY Governor. Governor Hughes appointed her to the New York State Commission of Employee’s Liability and Causes of Industrial Accidents, Unemployment and Lack of Farm Labor. Crystal became the first woman appointed to any state level commission in New York, and went on to be the elected Secretary of the commission. 

Following in her mother's footsteps, Crystal became active in the suffrage movement. Ironically her first contribution to the cause was to help her brother Max establish the Men's League for Women's Suffrage, and important organization that fought alongside and boosted women's rights.

Crystal married Wallace Benedict and they left New York for Milwaukee, his hometown. In Wisconsin, she campaigned for suffrage issues which went on to be soundly defeated. Within the year, she moved back alone to NYC. The couple divorced two years later.

By this time, World War I was looming. Crystal, along with other prominent activists, turned their attention away from women getting the vote to working on Peace and anti-Militarism campaigns. Concerned about the state of civil liberties for all citizens, she co-founded the National Woman’s Peace Party to defend free speech during wartime. Her advocacy work gained her international experience, and she traveled and lectured throughout Europe. She worked closely with prominent social reformers, activists and radicals of the day, including Walter Fuller who became her second husband. Walter was an Englishman, poet, anti-war activist, intellectual and editor, and together they had two children.

In 1920, when the US Government began to suppress free speech and freedom of the press, Crystal co-founded the National Civil Liberties Bureau later known as the American Civil Liberties Union. This was her most significant legacy.

Her work to protect citizens’ civil rights targeted her, and she and her husband were blacklisted by the government. Unable to find work, they fled the country to work in London, England.

In 1927, Walter had a stroke and died. Crystal returned to the US only to die six months later from inflammation of the kidneys. She was 48 years old. Crystal Eastman is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Canandaigua, NY.

Votes for Women! (Step in Time)

by Rachel Dworkin, archivist

Over this past weekend, nearly a million women across America marched across the country to commemorate the 2017 Women’s March on Washington and advocate for women’s rights.  We were supposed to join them here in Elmira, but the march was postponed due to bad weather. Come to Wisner Park next Sunday, January 27^th, to hear speeches and march to Cowels Hall at Elmira College in support of women’s rights. 

The 2019 march will not be Elmira’s first (and hopefully not the last) women’s march. In March 1913, a group of women from the Chemung County Equal Suffrage League met at Elmira City Hall to start planning a suffrage parade. As someone who just helped to organize a women’s march, I can assure you that is a job of work and they probably should have started earlier. The group selected Frances Farrar, a local artist and teacher, to chair the parade committee. 

Frances Farrar, suffragist and chair of the planning committee

 

1913 was the summer of women’s suffrage parades throughout the state. The kick off was a march of approximately 20,000 women in New York City on May 3^rd. It was soon followed by smaller parades in Mineola, Mount Vernon, Newburgh, Albany, Utica, Rochester, Monticello, and Syracuse. The run-up to the Elmira event began with notices in state-wide suffrage publications and articles in the local paper. Participants were encouraged to sign up in advance so organizers could establish the order of march beforehand.

Elmira College students & suffragists in the Elmira parade, June 21, 1913

On Saturday, June 21^st, the ladies began to march around 3pm. They were led by nationally-renowned suffragist activist “General” Rosalie Jones. The year before, Jones had famously led over 200 women on a 13-day, 175-mile march from Manhattan to Albany. She had been involved in several of the other marches across the state that summer and went on to lead another march the following day in Binghamton. Behind Jones came a platoon of police and Foster’s Band, followed by the parade committee. Next came the Elmira College girls in their caps and gowns, followed by delegations of women dressed in Suffragist Party yellow from across the state, with large groups from Bath, Hornell, and Geneva. Some of the women wore large stars on their foreheads and carried placards with the names of states which had already granted women the vote.

"General" Rosalie Jones (1883-1978)

 

There were also a number of floats. Miss Democracy rode in the big Democratic Party float, which was covered in pro-suffrage banners featuring the Democratic donkey. The Prohibition Party manned a float as well. Members from the Women Christian Temperance Union and the Young People’s Branch of the L.T.L. drove behind in cars. The exact number of marchers was unknown, but the Elmira Telegram reported that thousands were in attendance.

 

Prohibition Party float in the Elmira parade, June 21, 1913

The parade went all through the downtown business district before ending in Wisner Park. “General” Rosalie Jones gave the closing address before the group disbanded. She later told reporters:

“Never at any other parade was more respect shown to the marchers than in this city. It was remarkable that although thousands of people were lined up along all the streets through which we marched, there was not one jeer, not one thing said to which any of the marchers could take exception. I wish to thank the people of this city for their kindness.”

Two years later in 1915, the New York held a referendum on granting women the vote. It failed statewide, but passed in Chemung County with 52% of the vote. In 1917, women’s suffrage was back on the ballot. This time it passed statewide, but failed in Chemung County.

 

Frances Squire Potter and The Ballingtons

by Erin Doane, Curator

In 1905, Little, Brown, and Company published The Ballingtons by Frances Squire Potter. The novel, a tale of love and relationships that dealt heavily with issues of finance and freedom, was well-received. Professor Zeublin of the University of Chicago’s sociology department once used it as a reference book, considering it the best handling, in fiction, of the economic dependence of women. To me, the book felt a little old fashioned (having been published over 110 years ago), but the quality of Potter’s writing and the insight into her work that I gained from learning about her personal history made it a worthwhile read. [The novel is available for free at https://books.google.com]

Minneapolis Journal Oct. 12, 1905,

available through newspapers.com

Frances Boardman Squire was born in Elmira on November 12, 1867. She was the daughter of Civil War surgeon Dr. Truman H. Squire and Grace A. Squire. She was known socially as Fanny Squire when she was growing up. She graduated from Elmira College in 1887 and is credited with writing the school’s alma mater. Four years after graduating, she married Winfield Scott Potter. There are no records of the intimate details of the couple’s private married life but I imagine there were problems. They had four children together and separated in 1899 when the youngest was just two years old.

“He looked on with scarcely concealed irritation at her devotion to their children. He told her that she was getting morbid, allowing them to absorb her duty to him.” The Ballingtons, p. 259

Portrait of Frances Squire Potter as a young woman,

courtesy of Elmira College Archives, Gannett-Tripp

Library, Elmira College, Elmira, N.Y.

In order to support her children, she took a job as a school teacher. In 1900, she joined the staff of the literature department at the University of Minnesota. In 1905, Potter had the opportunity to spend a sabbatical at Cambridge University in England where she studied English literature. She was able to bring her children overseas with her as well as her friend Mary Gray Peck. The two women had collaborated on the play Germelshausen along with Carl Schlenker in 1904. Potter dedicated The Ballingtons to Peck and in the notices of her death that appeared in the Star Gazette, it described Peck as “a member of Mrs. Potter’s family for a number of years.” In 1918, Peck gifted Elmira College a memorial window honoring Frances Squire Potter that was installed at the entrance to Alumnae Hall.

Portrait of Mary Gray Peck, courtesy of

Elmira College Archives, Gannett-Tripp

Library, Elmira College, Elmira, N.Y.

“Their regular correspondence had developed an unexpected strength and depth in their friendship. Their mental companionship had become a confirmed and eager necessity for both.” The Ballingtons, p. 260

It was while Potter was at Cambridge that she began cultivating her reputation as “one of America’s most magnetic and telling woman orators,” according to the Fort Wayne Daily News. She was attending a banquet of the Society of American Women in London when one of the speakers launched a scathing attack on Americans. Potter’s eloquent response helped propel her into a new career as a lecturer. As an extension lecturer at the University of Minnesota, she spoke on a wide range of topics including The Bible as Literature, Charles Darwin, The Italian Renaissance, Moliere and the Open Road, Women and Economics, and Theatres in Shakespeare’s Time.

Portrait of France Squire Potter

In 1909, Potter left her position at the University of Minnesota and devoted herself to women’s suffrage. She returned to New York and joined the National American Woman Suffrage Association, working as the organization’s corresponding secretary. She became an activist for women’s and labor rights as a member of the Women’s Trade Union League, the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, and the Socialist Party. In 1911, she took up the cause of  garment strikers in Chicago. She also continued working as a lecturer as a member of the staff of the University Lecturers’ Association.

Potter believed that one day men and women would meet on the same mental plane. She was quoted in an article in the Los Angeles Times, May 28, 1910 as saying, “I do not see any reason why women should not be judges, jurors, lawyers and policemen as well as school teachers. … There is to be no immediate or startling development in the movement, but it will gradually make its way. As it does so, artificial barriers between men and women will be taken down.”

Evansville Press (Indiana), July 5, 1912,

available through newspapers.com

One of the biggest sources of inequality between men and women, in Potter’s opinion, was economics. Many women were dependent on men – their fathers, brothers, or husbands – for financial support. A woman without financial means had to settle for a husband who could afford to take care of her. She believed that it was, therefore, men who had the power to pick a spouse while a woman had to settle for being picked. If women were financially independent, they would have greater say in who they married. “When more of the matrimonial arrangements are made by the women, the standards will be raised so much higher that divorce will be done away with,” she argued.

Potter explored the issues of financial dependence beautifully in The Ballingtons. She created complex, distinctive characters, both men and women, who were often at odds over money and the power that money provided to control and manipulate others. She masterfully used her skill at writing fiction to delve into the complexities of subject.

“Once or twice she gathered courage to ask Ferdinand for little sums of money, but he usually replied by inquiring what she wished, and then buying it for her himself.” The Ballingtons, p. 155

Frances Squire Potter passed away in her home in Chicago on March 25, 1914 after an extended illness. She was just 47 years old. Her body was brought back to Elmira and rests in Woodlawn Cemetery. That she had touched many people’s lives was evidenced in the numerous telegrams and wreaths that were send by friends, former colleagues, acquaintances, and civil organization in condolence to her family. Her work as an educator, author, lecturer, and activist would be sorely missed. Just days before her death, social activist Jane Addams said of her, “I cannot conceive of the death of a woman that would be a greater loss to the women of this country than the death of Mrs. Potter will be.”

Portrait of Frances Squire Potter, courtesy of

Elmira College Archives, Gannett-Tripp Library,

Elmira College, Elmira, N.Y.

“They stood motionless, listening and waiting for the beating of the heart to stop. Slower and slower came the labored breaths – there was a pause – another breath – and the wait – the wait – until the end of time, the wait.” The Ballingtons, p. 70