The History of Woman Suffrage Volume III Part 116

[503] At the close of the convention a State society was organized, with the following officers: _President_, Mrs. A. A. Haskell of Petaluma; _Vice-Presidents_, Mrs. J. W. McComb of San Francisco, Mrs. Denio of Solano, Mrs. Kingsbury of San Diego, Mrs. E. J. Hall of Los Angeles, Mrs. Eddy of Nevada, Mrs. Lewis of Sacramento, Mrs.

Kirby of Santa Cruz, Mrs. Agnes Eager of Alameda, Mrs. Watkins of Santa Clara, Mrs. L. D. Latimer of Sonoma; _Secretary_, Mrs. Minnie McKee of Santa Clara. _Board of Control_, Mrs. C. H. Spear, Mrs. C.

G. Ames, Mrs. Minnie Edwards, Mrs. Celia Curtis, Miss Laura Fowler, Mr. John A. Collins, Miss Kate Atkinson, Mrs. Pitts Stevens.

[504] Mrs. Kingsbury of San Diego, Mrs. H. F. M. Brown, Addie L.

Ballou, Paulina Roberts, Mrs. C. H. Spear, Laura Cuppy Smith, Mrs.

F. A. Logan, M. D., Mrs. C. M. Churchill, John A. Collins, and a large number of local speakers, who aided in organizing societies, or in keeping up the interest in those already formed.

[505] Chief among its contributors were Eliza W. Farnham, Sarah M.

Clark, Amanda Simonton Page, Mrs. M. D. Strong, f.a.n.n.y Green, Annie K. Fader, Eliza A. Pittsinger, Mrs. James Neal, Mrs. Elizabeth Williams.

[506] Among the many who have been active and faithful in the movement for the political rights of women, whose names should be mentioned, are: Mrs. Eliza Taylor, Mrs. O. Fuller, Elizabeth McComb, Dr. Laura P. Williams, Mrs. Dr. White, Sallie Hart, Dr. R.

H. McDonald, Hon. Frank Pixley, and many others in _San Francisco_; f.a.n.n.y Green McDougal, _Oakland_; Mrs. Phebe Benedict, _Antioch_; Mrs. Isabella Irwin, _San Rafael_; Mrs. Cynthia Palmer, Mrs. Emily Rolfe, _Nevada City_; Mrs. Elizabeth Condy, _Stockton_; Miss E. S.

Sleeper, _Mountain View_; Mrs. Laura J. Watkins, Mrs. Damon, _Santa Clara_; Mrs. Dr. Kilpatrick, _San Mateo_; Mrs. S. G. Waterhouse, Drs. Kellogg and Bearby, Mrs. M. J. Young, Mrs. E. B. Crocker, and others, _Sacramento_; Mrs. Mary Jewett, Mr. and Mrs. Howell, _Healdsburgh_; Mrs. Lattimer, _Windsor_; Mr. and Mrs. Denio, Mrs.

E. L. Hale, _Vallejo_; Mrs. J. Lewellyn, Mrs. Potter, _St. Helena_; Mr. and Mrs. J. Egglesson, _Napa_; Henry and Abigail Bush, _Martinez_; Rowena Granice Steele, _Merced_; Mrs. Jennie Phelps Purvis, Mrs. Lapham and daughter, _Modesto_.

CHAPTER LIV.

THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST.

The Long Marches Westward--Abigail Scott Duniway--Mary Olney Brown--The First Steps in Oregon--Col. C. A. Reed--Judge G. W.

Lawson--1870--The New Northwest, 1871--Campaign, Mrs. Duniway and Miss Anthony--They Address the Legislature in Washington Territory--Hon. Elwood Evans--Suffrage Society Organized at Olympia and at Portland--Before the Oregon Legislature--Donation Land Act--Hon. Samuel Corwin's Suffrage Bill--Married Woman's _Sole_ Traders' Bill--Temperance Alliance--Women Rejected--Major Williams Fights their Battles and Triumphs--Mrs. H. A.

Loughary--Progressive Legislation, 1874--Mob-Law in Jacksonville, 1879--Dr. Mary A. Thompson--Const.i.tutional Convention, 1878--Woman Suffrage Bill, 1880--Hon. W. C. Fulton--Women Enfranchised in Washington Territory, Nov. 15, 1883--Great Rejoicing, Bonfires, Ratification Meetings--Const.i.tutional Amendment Submitted in Oregon and Lost, June, 1884--Suffrage by Legislative Enactment Lost--Fourth of July Celebrated at Vancouvers--Benjamin and Mary Olney Brown--Washington Territory--Legislation in 1867-68 Favorable to Women--Mrs. Brown Attempts to Vote and is Refused--Charlotte Olney French--Women Vote at Grand Mound and Black River Precincts, 1870--Retrogressive Legislation, 1871--Abby H. Stuart in Land-Office--Hon. William H. White--Idaho and Montana.

In the spring of 1852, when the great _furor_ for going West was at its height, in the long trails of miners, merchants and farmers wending their way in ox-carts and canvas-covered wagons over the vast plains, mountains and rivers, two remarkable women, then in the flush of youth, might have been seen; one, Abigail Scott Duniway, destined to leave an indelible mark on the civilization of Oregon, and the other, Mary Olney Brown, on that of Washington territory. What ideas were revolving in these young minds in that long journey of 3,000 miles, six months in duration, it would be difficult to imagine, but the love of liberty had been infused in their dreams somewhere, either in their eastern homes from the tragic scenes of the anti-slavery conflict, or on that perilous march amidst those eternal solitudes by day and the solemn stillness of the far-off stars in the gathering darkness. That this long communion with great nature left its impress on their young hearts and sanctified their lives to the best interests of humanity at large, is clearly seen in the deeply interesting accounts they give of their endeavors to mould the governments of their respective territories on republican principles. Writing of herself and her labors, Mrs. Duniway says:

I was born in Pleasant Grove, Tazewell county, Illinois, October 22, 1834, of the traditional "poor but respectable parentage"

which has honored the advent of many a more ill.u.s.trious worker than myself. Brought up on a farm and familiar from my earliest years with the avocations of rural life, spending the early spring-times in the maple-sugar camp, the later weeks in gardening and gathering stove-wood, the summers in picking and spinning wool, and the autumns in drying apples, I found little opportunity, and that only in winter, for books or play. My father was a generous-hearted, impulsive, talented, but uneducated man; my mother was a conscientious, self-sacrificing, intelligent, but uneducated woman. Both were devotedly religious, and both believed implicitly that self-abnegation was the crowing glory of womanhood. Before I was seventeen I was employed as a district school teacher, received a first-cla.s.s certificate and taught with success, though how I became possessed of the necessary qualifications I to this day know not. I never did, could, or would study when at school.

In the spring of 1852 my father decided to emigrate to Oregon. My invalid mother expostulated in vain; she and nine of us children were stowed away in ox-wagons, where for six months we made our home, cooking food and washing dishes around camp-fires, sleeping at night in the wagons, and crossing many streams upon wagon-beds, rigged as ferryboats. When our weary line of march had reached the Black Hills of Wyoming my mother became a victim to the dreadful epidemic, cholera, that devastated the emigrant trains in that never-to-be-forgotten year, and after a few hours'

illness her weary spirit was called to the skies. We made her a grave in the solitudes of the eternal hills, and again took up our line of march, "too sad to talk, too dumb to pray." But ten weeks after, our Willie, the baby, was buried in the sands of the Burnt River mountains. Reaching Oregon in the fall with our broken household, consisting of my father and eight motherless children, I engaged in school-teaching till the following August, when I allowed the name of "Scott" to become "Duniway." Then for twenty years I devoted myself, soul and body, to the cares, toils, loves and hopes of a conscientious wife and mother. Five sons and one daughter have been born to us, all of whom are living and at home, engaged with their parents in harmonious efforts for the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women.

The first woman suffrage society ever formed in Oregon, was organized in Salem, the capital of the State, in the autumn of 1870, and consisted of about a dozen members. Col. C. A. Reed was chosen president and G. W. Lawson, secretary. This little society which maintained a quiescent existence for a year or more and then disbanded without ceremony, was, in part, the basis of all subsequent work of its character in Oregon. In the winter of 1871 this society honored me with credentials to a seat in the woman suffrage convention which was to meet in San Francisco the following May. My business called me to the Golden City before the time for the convention, and a telegraphic summons compelled me to return to Oregon without meeting with the California a.s.sociation in an official way, as I had hoped. But my credentials introduced me to the San Francisco leaders, among whom Emily Pitts Stevens occupied a prominent position as editor and publisher of the _The Pioneer_, the first woman suffrage paper that appeared on the Pacific coast. Before returning to Oregon I resolved to purchase an outfit and begin the publication of a newspaper myself, as I felt that the time had come for vigorous work in my own State, and we had no journal in which the demands of women for added rights were treated with respectful consideration.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "Yours for Liberty, Abigail Scott Duniway"]

Soon after reaching my home in Albany I sold my millinery store and removed to Portland, where, on May 5, 1871, the _New Northwest_ made its appearance, and a siege of the citadels of a one-s.e.xed government began, which at this writing is going on with unabated persistency. The first issue of this journal was greeted by storms of ridicule. Everybody prophesied its early death, and my personal friends regarded the enterprise with sincere pity, believing it would speedily end in financial disaster. But the paper, in spite of opposition and burlesque, has grown and prospered.

In August, 1871, Susan B. Anthony favored Oregon and Washington territory with a visit. The fame of this veteran leader had preceded her, and she commanded a wide hearing. We traveled together over the country, visiting inland villages as well as larger towns, holding woman suffrage meetings and getting many subscribers for the _New Northwest_. During these journeyings I became quite thoroughly initiated into the movement and made my first efforts at public speaking. After a six weeks' campaign in Oregon, we went to Olympia, the capital of Washington territory, where the legislature was in session, and where, through a motion of Hon. Elwood Evans, we were invited to address the a.s.sembly in advocacy of equal rights for all the people. From Olympia we proceeded to Victoria, a border city belonging to a woman's government, where we found that the idea of the ballot for woman was even more unpopular than in the United States, though all, by strange inconsistency, were intensely loyal to their queen. After an interesting and profitable experience in the British possessions we returned to Puget Sound, stopping over on our route at the different milling towns that teem with busy life upon the evergreen sh.o.r.es of this Mediterranean of the Pacific.

At Seattle we organized an a.s.sociation[507] in which many of the leading ladies and gentlemen took a prominent part; after which we returned to Olympia, where a territorial organization was effected.[508]

Returning to Portland, we called a convention, and organized the Oregon State Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation, with Harriet W.

Williams, a venerated octogenarian, president. This estimable woman had been one of the earliest leaders of the woman suffrage movement in the State of New York, and her presence at the head of our meetings in Oregon was a source of genuine satisfaction to the friends of the cause in the new State of her adoption.

Subsequently, Mrs. Williams was compelled to resign on account of increasing infirmities, but her wise counsels are still cherished by her successors, whom she regards with motherly solicitude as she serenely awaits the final summons of the unseen messenger.

Many of those who early distinguished themselves in this connection deserve special mention because of their long-continued zeal in the work.[509] If others failed us, these were always ready to work the hardest when the fight was hottest.

And whatever might be our differences of opinion personally, we have always presented an unbroken phalanx to the foe. The original society at Salem having disbanded, its members joined the new State a.s.sociation organized at Portland, which has ever since been regarded as the nucleus of all our activities.

In September of 1872, I visited the Oregon legislature, where I went clothed by our a.s.sociation with discretionary power to do what I could to secure special legislation for the women of the State, who, with few exceptions, were at that time entirely under the dominion of the old common law. The exceptions were those fortunate women who, having come to Oregon as early as 1850 and '52, had, by virtue of a United States law, known as the Oregon Donation Land Act, become possessed of "claims," as they were called, on equal shares with their husbands, their half, or halves, of the original ground being set apart as their separate property in realty and _fee simple_. This Donation Land Act deserves especial mention, it being the first law enacted in the United States which recognized the individual personality of a married woman. It became a temporary law of congress in 1850, mainly through the efforts of Hon. Samuel R. Thurston, delegate from Oregon territory (which at that time included the whole of Washington territory), aided by the eminent Dr. Linn of Missouri, from whom one of the princ.i.p.al counties of the State of Oregon derives its name.

My first experience in the capitol was particularly trying. I spent two days among my acquaintances in Salem in a vain attempt to find a woman who was ready or willing to accompany me to the state-house. All were anxious that I should go, but each was afraid to offend her husband, or make herself conspicuous, by going herself. Finally, when I had despaired of securing company, and had nerved myself to go alone, Mary P. Sawtelle, who afterwards became a physician, and now resides in San Francisco where she has a lucrative practice, volunteered to stand by me, and together we entered the dominion hitherto considered sacred to the aristocracy of s.e.x, and took seats in the lobby, our hearts beating audibly. Hon. Joseph Engle, perceiving the innovation and knowing me personally, at once arose, and, after a complimentary speech in which he was pleased to recognize my position as a journalist, moved that I be invited to a seat within the bar and provided with table and stationery as were other members of the profession. The motion carried, with only two or three dissenting votes; and the way was open from that time forward for women to compete with men on equal terms for all minor positions in both branches of the legislature--a privilege they have not been slow to avail themselves of, scores of them thronging the capitol in these later years, and holding valuable clerkships, many of them sneering the while at the efforts of those who opened the way for them to be there at all.

Hon. Samuel Corwin introduced a woman suffrage bill in the House of Representatives early in the session; and while it was pending, I was invited to make an appeal in its behalf, of which I remember very little, so frightened and astonished was I, except that once I inadvertently alluded to a gentleman by his name instead of his county, whereupon, being called to order, I blushed and begged pardon, but put myself at ease by informing the gentlemen that in all the bygone years while they had been studying parliamentary rules, I had been rocking the cradle.

One member who had made a vehement speech against the bill, in which he had declared that no respectable woman in his county desired the elective franchise, became particularly incensed, as was natural, upon my exhibiting a woman suffrage pet.i.tion signed by the women he had misrepresented, and headed, _mirabile dictu_, by the name of his own wife! The so-called representative of women lost his temper, and gave vent to some inelegant expletives, for which he was promptly reprimanded by the chair.

This offender has since been many times a candidate for office, but the ladies of his district have always secured his defeat.

The woman suffrage bill received an unexpectedly large vote at this session, and was favored in 1874 by a still larger one, when it was ably championed by Hon. C. A. Reed, the before named ex-president of the first woman suffrage society in the State.

In 1872 the Senate, the House concurring, pa.s.sed a Married Woman's Sole Trader bill, under the able leadership of Hon. J. N.

Dolph, who has since distinguished himself as our champion in the Senate of the United States. This bill has ever since enabled any woman engaged in business on her own account to register the fact in the office of the county clerk, and thereby secure her tools, furniture, or stock in trade against the liability of seizure by her husband's creditors.

Perhaps I cannot better ill.u.s.trate the general feeling of opposition to women having a place in public affairs at that time, than by describing the scenes in the State Temperance Alliance in February of that year, when somebody placed my name in nomination as chairman of an important committee. The presiding officer was seized with a sudden deafness when the nomination was made, and the Alliance was convulsed with merriment. Ladies on all sides buzzed about me, and urged me to resent the insult in the name of womanhood. And, as none of them were at that time public speakers, I felt obliged to rise and speak for myself.

"Mr. President," I exclaimed, "by what right do you refuse to recognize women when their names are called? Are men the only lawful members of this Alliance? And if so, is it not better for the women delegates to go home?"

"Mr. President: The committees are now full!" shouted an excited voter. Somebody, doubtless in ridicule, then nominated me as vice-president-at-large, which was carried amid uproarious merriment. I took my seat, half frightened and wholly indignant; and the deliberations of the sovereign voters were undisturbed for several hours thereafter by word or sign from women. At last they got to discussing a bill for a prohibitory liquor law, and the heat of debate ran high. During the excitement somebody carried a note to the presiding officer, who read it, smiled, colored, and rising, said: "We are hearing nothing from the ladies, and yet they const.i.tute a large majority of this Alliance. Mrs. Duniway, will you not favor us with a speech?"

I was taken wholly by surprise, but sprang to my feet and said: "Mr. President: I have always wondered what it was that consumed so much time in men's conventions. I hope gentlemen will pardon the criticism, but you talk too much, and too many of you try to talk at once. My head is aching from the roar and din of your noisy orators. Gentlemen, what does it all amount to? You are talking about prohibition, but you overestimate your political strength. Disastrous failures attend upon all your endeavors to conquer existing evils by the votes of men alone. Give women the legal power to combat intemperance, and they will soon be able to prove that they do not like drunken husbands any better than men like drunken wives. Make women _free_. Give them the power the ballot gives to you, and the control of their own earnings which rightfully belong to them, and every woman will be able to settle this prohibition business in her own home and on her own account.

Men will not tolerate drunkenness in their wives; and women will not tolerate it in husbands unless compelled to."

A prominent clergyman arose, and said: "Mr. President: I charge the sins of the world upon the mothers of men. There are twenty thousand fallen women in New York--two millions of them in America. We cannot afford to let this element vote." Before I was aware of what I was doing I was on my feet again. Shaking my finger at the clergymen, I exclaimed: "How _dare_ you make such charges against the mothers of men? You tell us of two millions of fallen women who, you say, would vote for drunkenness; but what say you, sir, to the twenty millions of fallen men--all voters--whose patronage alone enables fallen women to live? Would you disfranchise them, sir? I p.r.o.nounce your charge a libel upon womanhood, and I know that if we were voters you would not _dare_ to utter it."

A gentleman from Michigan--Mr. Curtis--called me to order, saying my remarks were personal. "You, sir, sat still and didn't call this man to order while he stood up and insulted all womanhood!"

I exclaimed, vehemently. "Prohibition is the question before the house," said the gentleman, "and the lady should confine herself to the resolution." "That is what I am doing, sir. I am talking about prohibition, and the only way possible to make it succeed."

The chair sustained me amid cries of "good!" "good!" but I had become too thoroughly self-conscious by this time to be able to say anything further, and, with a bow to the chairman whom I had before forgotten to address, I tremblingly took my seat.

A resolution was pa.s.sed, after a long and stormy debate, declaring it the duty of the legislature to empower women to vote on all questions connected with the liquor traffic; and I, as its author, was chosen a committee to present the same for consideration at the coming legislative session. Woman suffrage gained a new impetus all over the Northwest through this victory.

Everybody congratulated its advocates, and the good minister who had unwittingly caused the commotion seized the first opportunity to explain that he had always been an advocate of the cause. I was by this time so thoroughly advertised by the abuse of the press that I had no difficulty in securing large audiences in all parts of the Pacific Northwest.

I was chosen in April, 1872, as delegate to the annual meeting of the National a.s.sociation, held in New York the following month.

Horace Greeley received the nomination for the presidency at the Cincinnati Liberal Republican Convention while I was on the way; and when I reached New York I at first threw what influence I had in the a.s.sociation in favor of the great editor. But Miss Anthony, who knew Mr. Greeley better than I did, caused me to be appointed chairman of a committee to interview the reputed statesman and officially report the result at the evening session. Miss Anthony and Mrs. Jane Graham Jones of Chicago were the other members of this committee. We obtained the desired interview, of which it only needs to be said that it became my humiliating duty to ask pardon in the evening for the speech in advocacy of the ill.u.s.trious candidate which in my ignorance I had made in the morning. That Mr. Greeley owed his defeat in part to the opposition of women in that memorable campaign, I have never doubted. But he builded better than he knew in earlier years, for he planted many a tree of liberty that shall live through the ages to come, overshadowing in a measure his failure to recognize the divine right of political equality for woman in his later days.

The first annual convention of the Oregon State a.s.sociation met in Portland, February 9, 1873. Many ladies and several gentlemen[510] of more or less local prominence a.s.sisted at this convention, but we were able to prevail upon but one gentleman, Col. C. A. Reed of Salem, to occupy the platform with us. This convention received favorable notice from the respectable press of the State, and was largely attended by the best elements of the city and country. Delegates were chosen to attend the forthcoming State Temperance Alliance which held its second annual meeting February 20, and to which a dozen of us went bearing credentials. It was evident from the first that trouble was brewing. The enemy had had a whole year to prepare an ambuscade of which our party had no suspicion. A Committee on Credentials was appointed with instructions to rule the woman suffrage delegation out of the Alliance as a "disturbing element." Hon J. Quinn Thornton was chairman of that committee.

In his report he declared all delegations to be satisfactory (including those from the penitentiary) except the women whom he styled "setting hens," "belligerent females," etc., after which he subsided with pompous gravity. All eyes were turned upon me, and I felt as I fancy a general must when the success or failure of an army in battle depends upon his word. "Mr. President," I exclaimed, as soon as I could get the floor, "I move to so amend the report of the committee as to admit the suffrage delegation."

The motion was seconded by a half-dozen voices. Then followed a scene which beggars description. It was pandemonium broken loose.

When I arose again to address the chair that worthy ordered my arrest by the sergeant-at-arms, saying: "Take that crazy woman out of the house and take care of her." The officer came forward in discharge of his duty, but he quailed before my uplifted pencil, and several gentlemen stepped into the aisle and began drawing off their coats to defend me, among them a veteran minister of the gospel. I smiled and bowed my thanks, and as n.o.body could hear a word amid the uproar I complacently took my seat while the officer skulked away, crestfallen. All that day and evening, and until one o'clock the next afternoon, a noisy rabble of self-styled temperance men sought to prevent bringing the question to a square and honorable vote. Major George Williams, a brave man who had lost a limb in fighting for his country, at last succeeded in wearying the chairman into a semblance of duty. The result was a triumph for the advocates of suffrage. A recess was then taken, during which my hand was so often and enthusiastically shaken that my shoulder was severely lamed. The first thing in order after resuming business was my report as Legislative Committee. I advanced to the platform amid deafening cheers and, as soon as I could make myself heard, said, in substance, that the legislature had decided that it was an insult to womanhood to grant women the right to vote on intemperance and debar them from voting on all honorable questions. I then offered a fair and unequivocal woman suffrage resolution, which was triumphantly carried. The disappointed minority seceded from the Alliance and set up a "Union" for themselves; but their confederacy did not live long, and its few followers finally returned to their _alma mater_ and gave us no further trouble.

Woman suffrage a.s.sociations were formed in several counties during the year 1874. Our strength was now much increased by the able a.s.sistance of Mrs. H. A. Loughary, who suddenly took her place in the front rank as a platform speaker. The editorial work of the _New Northwest_ received a valuable auxiliary in June of this year in the person of Catharine A. Coburn, a lady of rare journalistic ability, who held her position five years, when my sons, W. S., H. R. and W. C. Duniway, having completed their school duties and attained their majority, were admitted to partnership in the business. Mrs. Coburn now holds a situation on the editorial staff of the _Daily Oregonian_.

In the autumn of 1876 I was absent at the Centennial Exposition, whither I had gone in the summer in response to an invitation from the National Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation to "Come over into Macedonia and help." The work for equal rights made favorable headway in the legislature of Oregon that year through the influence of a convention held at Salem under the able leadership of Mrs. H. A. Loughary and Dr. Mary A. Thompson.

In June, 1878, a convention met in Walla Walla, Washington territory, for the purpose of forming a const.i.tution for the proposed new State of Washington, and in compliance with the invitation of many prominent women of the territory I visited the convention and was permitted to present a memorial in person, praying that the word "male" be omitted from the fundamental law of the incubating State. But my plea (like that of Abigail Adams a century before) failed of success, through a close vote however--it stood 8 to 7--and men went on as before, saying, as they did in the beginning: "Women do not wish to vote. If they desire the ballot let them ask for it." In September of that year I was again at my post in the Oregon legislature circulating the _New Northwest_ among the law-makers, and doing what else I could to keep the cause before them in a manner to enlist their confidence and command their respect. An opportunity was given me at this session to make an extended argument upon const.i.tutional liberty before a joint convention of the two Houses, which occupied an hour in delivery and was accorded profound attention.

I was much opposed to the growing desire of the legislature to shirk its responsibility upon the voters at large by submitting a proposed const.i.tutional amendment to them when the const.i.tution nowhere prohibits women from voting, and I labored to show that all we need is a declaratory act extending to us the franchise under the existing fundamental law. Dr. Mary A. Thompson followed in a brief speech and was courteously received. The Married Woman's Property bill, pa.s.sed in 1874, received some necessary amendments at this session, and an act ent.i.tling women to vote upon school questions and making them eligible to school offices, was pa.s.sed by a triumphant majority.