Women Involved in the Fight

With March being Women's History Month, and the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment coming in just two years, I've been trying to find out more about my female ancestors and their political interests.  Nine of my direct female ancestors living in 1920 were of eligible age to vote.  The oldest was Mary Roscoe at 84, my Third Great Grandmother.  My emails to local election offices have not been answered, so I don't know if any of them were registered. I can't get to court houses unless I use vacation time, so I turned to online Nebraska newspapers with high hopes. Unfortunately, the papers local to my ancestors are not online and their names didn't make the papers on a state-wide level.

Still, it has been interesting reading these old newspaper articles on the suffrage movement here.  The Nebraska Women Suffrage Association was organized in 1881 and worked for almost 40 years for the cause.  The women listed below were involved as state officers, committee members, even delegates to national events.  This is by no means a complete list, but I want to recognize and remember some of the Nebraska women who were involved in the fight.

Nebraska Herald, Plattsmouth, March 10, 1881

Mrs Ada Bittenbender, Osceola  (1848-1925)

Mrs Harriet Brooks, Omaha  (1828-1888)

Mrs Clara Bewick Colby, Beatrice  (1846-1916)

Mrs B J Thompson, Hebron

Mrs E L Warner, Roca

Mrs P Nicholas, Omaha

Mrs J S Burns, Scribner

Mrs C C Chapin, Riverton

Mrs D B Slaughter, Fullerton

Gertrude M McDowell  (1848-1922)

Mrs Russell, Tecumseh

Mrs Lizzie Abbott, Grand Island

Jennie F Holmes  (1842-1892)

Mary Smith Hayward, Chadron  (1842-1938)

Mrs Amanda J Marble, Table Rock  (1846-1910)

Mrs Getty Whitcomb Drury, Pender

Mrs J F Spirk, Wilbur

Mrs Edna Taylor, Johnson

Mrs J E Lewis, Broken Bow

Clara A Young, Broken Bow  (1855-1907)

Mrs Helen M Goff, Minden

Stella Groves Freese, Pender

Miss Laura A Gregg  (married Joseph Cannon in Arizona) (1869-?)

Mrs Emma Shuman, Nebraska City

Mrs Alice Isabel Brayton, Geneva (1847-1911)

Mrs Anna Kovanda, Tecumseh  (1857-1946)

Gertrude Hardy, Lincoln  (1871-1961)

Mary Garard Andrews, Omaha  (? - 1936)

Miss Mary H Williams, Kenesaw 

Dr Inez Philbrick, Lincoln  (1866-1966)

Mrs Edith Dumont Smith, referred to as Mrs Draper Smith, Omaha  (? - 1959)

Thank you ladies!