Easton Political Equality Club Reenacment

This past weekend was a whirlwind of Suffrage Centennial activity for me as I participated in two events; Saturday's 1900 Suffrage Convention reenactment in Glens Falls, NY, & Sunday's Easton Political Equality Club reenactment at Easton Burton Hall in the hamlet of North Easton, NY in my home county of Washington.

The Easton Political Equality Club (hereafter referred to as "the PEC") was the first suffrage organization formed in rural Washington County, NY in 1891. Suffrage movement leaders & sisters, Susan B. & Mary S. Anthony kept close ties to the region where they spent much of their childhood. Mary was born in Battenville, a hamlet in the neighboring town of Greenwich. Both women taught school in the area for a few years, & some members of the PEC were their former students.

Chloe Sisson and Lucy P. Allen

Members of the PEC were instrumental in getting Washington County women to form other political equality clubs & getting Washington County men to vote in favor of woman suffrage on November 6, 1917.

PEC members were also key informing the Easton Library, &, upon obtaining the vote, formed the Easton Book Club which is still going strong today. Because of this tie, the PEC gave their meeting minutes & other documents to the library, allowing researchers access to a treasure trove of great primary source documentation of suffrage movement activities in our area. In 2009, local historian Teri Gay published Strength Without Compromise: Womanly Influence and Political Identity in Turn-of-the-Twentieth Century Rural Upstate New York which drew much of its focus from this collection, as did Sunday's event.

Program for the Easton PEC event 10/22/2017

Kate Dudding portrayed Chloe Sisson & Nancy Marie Payne portrayed Lucy P. Allen as they remembered twenty-six years of suffrage activism. Greenwich Town Supervisor, & descendant of a PEC member, Sarah Skiff Idleman read a brief biography of suffragist Lucy Stone, as members would have done.

L to R top only: Nancy Payne, Kate Dudding, Tisha Dolton

My contribution to the program was also in keeping with the PEC meetings of more than a century ago. I sang "America (My Country 'tis of Thee)" as they usually sang a hymn or patriotic song to begin a meeting. Likewise, I ended by leading the attendees in singing the "Star Spangled Banner", our National Anthem.

I was also the entertainment. PEC meetings usually had musical entertainment, so I was there to sing suffrage songs, & get people to sing along! They did & when some sang harmony on the chorus of "Arise! Brave Woman!" ("Battle Hymn of the Republic"), I smiled.

Arise! Brave Woman!

Lyrics: Nannie Parker, Tune: John Brown’s Body/ Battle Hymn of the Republic, 1910 

Verse 1

Arise! Arise brave woman!

There is work for you to do;

Show the world that love is wisdom

And love’s promises are true;

Break the bonds that hold you captive

For the world has need of you

As we go marching on.

 

Chorus

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!

As we go marching on.

 

Verse 2

Do you need a sound to rouse you?

Hear the little children cry;

Do you need a sight to stir you?

See the old who hopeless die.

Shall they call to you in misery

While you stand heedless by?

No, we’ll go marching on.

 

Verse 4

We will give the world fair daughters

And those daughters shall be free;

They shall stand beside their brothers

On the ground of liberty,

And the cause of right shall prosper

On the land and on the sea

As we go marching on.

 

Verse 5

Then arise! Arise brave woman!

There is work for you to do;

Show the world that love is wisdom

And love’s promises are true;

Break the bonds that hold you captive

For the world has need of you

And we’ll go marching on.

Photo of Tisha Dolton in the Post-Star, Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Vote! (Please)

You guessed it! It's my annual "Get out the Vote" plead. & I have some rough statistics to share regarding the last presidential election.

First, let me mention the sign incident at the Susan B. Anthony Childhood House in Battenville. As I stated in a previous post on this blog, we should be very careful when trying to put words in the mouths of historical figures. It is one thing to debate about it, but their words and deeds should be viewed in the proper historical context, not superimposed upon today's political climate. I have my own ideas of what "Aunt Susan," her sister Mary, & the other suffragists would say based on my own understanding of history. My views are shared by others, & still more would disagree. Plus government employees and government agencies are not supposed to publicly favor any certain candidate. (The exception being that elected officials can endorse certain candidates as you know.)

BUT... The one thing that Susan B. Anthony would want us to do is VOTE!

In the 2008 Presidential Election between Barack Obama & John McCain 2,447 ballots were cast in the Town of Greenwich. McCain received 1,075 votes to Obama's 1,326 votes. Of the remaining 46 votes 26 were for Ralph Nader.

Using the statistics from the 2000 census, there were 4,896 residents in the Town of Greenwich. 25.9% were under the age of 18 in 2000. That means that 8 years prior there were roughly 3,628 potential voters here. That means about 1,180 people in our town did not vote. That's nearly 1/3 of the population in our town did not vote. (View results for yourself here.)

I would love to see greater voter turnout in this 2012 Presidential Election year. 100% is probably to "pie in the sky," but 75% would be amazing!

Sample Town of Greenwich ballot courtesy of the Washington County Board of Elections.

Other samples of local ballots can be found here.

Polling places can be found here.

If you are unfamiliar with all of the candidates please check out the local races in the Greenwich Journal & Salem Press or the Post-Star.

She was an Anti-WHAT?

If you haven't figured it out I am rather partial to the Woman's Suffrage Movement in the US. It is my favorite time period. I don't know which came first, my love of all things suffrage, or the knowledge that Susan B. Anthony (& her younger suffragist sister Mary) grew up in Greenwich, but I've been hooked for about 25 years.

In 8th grade, I wrote a paper on Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to graduate from medical school in the US. I could probably credit Mrs. Heighton, my social studies teacher, for laying the groundwork. I even took a history class in college (Western Civ) with her husband.

What I didn't know, until I started reading more about Chester A. Arthur, was that his sister, Mary was an ANTI-SUFFRAGIST! Can you believe it? & I'm going to write about her!

Mary Arthur was born in Union Village (Greenwich), NY on July 5, 1841. She was the ninth and final child of the Reverend William Arthur & his wife Malvina. She attended the Emma Willard Seminary in Troy, NY. http://www.emmawillard.org/

Mary Arthur McElroy as White House hostess

On July 16, 1861, Mary Arthur married Albany insurance man John McElroy. They had four children. They were married 54 years.

Vice President-elect Arthur's wife Ellen (Nell) died in January 1880, months before her husband was chosen as the running mate for James A. Garfield, the Republican nominee for president. With the assassination of President Garfield, Arthur became the reluctant president, on September 19, 1881, still grieving the loss of his beloved wife. As a widower, Arthur had no one to serve as hostess for the many dinner parties. His sister Mary agreed to travel from Albany, NY to Washington D.C. & stayed at the White House during the social season, to act as hostess. Her eldest daughter, May & Arthur's daughter Ellen assisted.

Mary died in Atlantic City, NJ on January 8, 1917 at the age of 75. She is buried in Albany Rural Cemetery.

& here is the shocker. Mary Arthur McElroy belonged to the Albany Association Opposed to Women's Suffrage.

The organized antisuffrage movement had among its flock the sitting lady of the White House, Mary Arthur McElroy, member of the Albany Association Opposed to Women's Suffrage. A woman "of a decisive manner when giving orders... she knew exactly what she wanted, and how she wanted it done; and she never hesitated to express her wishes clearly."*

It's mentioned in her obituary from the Albany Times Union as well.

Anti-Suffrage propaganda^

* Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. First Ladies: The Saga of the President's Wives and Their Power 1789-1961. New York: William Morrow and Co. 1990. (pp 246)

^ Jewish Women's Archive, "Resource Information for Pamphlet distributed by the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage," (January 26, 2012).