Volume IV Part 118 (1/2)

A. Stewart and Prof. S. A. Lattimore, acting president of the Rochester University.

Addresses of welcome: Miss Mary S. Anthony for the City Political Equality Club, the Rev. W. C. Gannett for the church that welcomed the first convention, Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf for the State a.s.sociation.

The committee of arrangements were Mesdames S. A. West, Amy E. T.

Searing, J. G. Maurer, S. C. Blackall, Florence D. Alexander, Mary L.

Gannett, D. L. Kittredge, Emma B. Sweet, A. B. Taylor, D. L. Johnson, F. B. Van Hoesen; Misses Jessie Post, Frances Alexander; Messrs. C. G.

Alexander and Joseph Bloss.

[379] The others who have held office since 1883 are as follows: Mary S. Anthony, Martha R. Almy, Elnora Monroe Babc.o.c.k, Henrietta M.

Banker, Ella Hawley Crossett, Hannah B. Clark, Elizabeth Burrell Curtis, Everline R. Clark, Charlotte F. Daley, Margaret H. Esselstyne, Mrs. Hannah L. Howland, Emily Howland, Isabel Howland, Cornelia K.

Hood, Maude S. Humphrey, Mary Seymour Howell, Priscilla Dudley Hackstaff, Ada M. Hall, Martha H. Henderson, Helen M. Loder, Anne F.

Miller, Jennie McAdams, Harriet May Mills, Clara Neymann, Eliza Wright Osborne, Mary J. Pearson, Helen C. Peckham, Mary Thayer Sanford, Kate Stoneman, Kate S. Thompson, Emily S. Van Biele, Emilie J. Wakeman.

[380] Aside from those elsewhere mentioned, the names which seem to occur most often in looking over the records are those of Dr. Sarah L.

Cus.h.i.+ng, Dr. Cordelia A. Greene, Zobedia Alleman, Abigail A. Allen, Kornelia T. Andrews, Amanda Alley, Mary E. Bagg, Charlotte A.

Cleveland, Ida K. Church, Susan Dixwell, Eliza B. Gifford, Esther Herman, Ella S. Hammond, Mary Bush Hitchc.o.c.k, Belle S. Holden, Mary H.

Hallowell, Emeline Hicks, Mary N. Hubbard, Marie R. Jenney, Rhody J.

Kenyon, Lucy S. Pierce, Harriet M. Rathbun, Martha J. H. Stebbins, Julia D. Sheppard, Chloe A. Sisson, Delia C. Taylor.

[381] Much of the credit for the excellent organization is due to Miss Harriet May Mills, State organizer, daughter of C. D. B. Mills of anti-slavery record. Miss Mills is a graduate of Cornell University, and is devoting her youth and education entirely to the cause of woman suffrage.

[382] The story of this canva.s.s, the largest and most systematic which ever has been made for such a purpose, is given in full in ”Record of the New York Campaign of 1894,” a pamphlet of 250 pages, issued by the State a.s.sociation in 1895, and placed in many libraries throughout the country. It is given also, with many personal touches, in the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, Chap. XLII.

[383] From treasurer's report: Emily Howland generously contributed $1,200. That staunch friend, Sarah L. Willis of Rochester gave $720.

Abby L. Pettengill of Chautauqua County, $220. Mr. and Mrs. H. S.

Greenleaf of Rochester, $200. General C. T. Christiansen of Brooklyn began the contributions of $100, of which there were eight others from our own State--Semantha V. Lapham, Ebenezer b.u.t.terick, Mrs. H. S.

Holden, Marian Skidmore, Hannah L. Howland, Cornelia H. Cary, Mr. and Mrs. James Sargent; Mrs. Louisa Southworth of Ohio.

[384] One who was a witness gives this description:

”There were no more dramatic scenes during the convention than those afforded by the presenting of the pet.i.tions. The names were enrolled on pages of uniform size and arranged in volumes, each labeled and tied with a wide yellow ribbon and bearing the card of the member who was to present it. At the opening of the sessions, when memorials were called for, he would rise and say: 'Mr. President, I have the honor to present a memorial from Mary Smith and 17,117 others (for example), residents of ---- county, asking that the word 'male' be stricken from the Const.i.tution.' Often one after another would present a bundle of pet.i.tions until it would seem as though the entire morning would be thus consumed. They were all taken by pages and heaped up on the secretary's table, where they made an imposing appearance. Later they were stacked on shelves in a large committee room.

”Mrs. Burt, the president of the W. C. T. U., brought in the pet.i.tions of her society all at once, many great rolls of paper tied with white ribbon. A colored porter took them down the aisle on a wheelbarrow.”

[385] Mesdames Cornelia K. Hood, Cornelia H. Cary, Mariana W. Chapman, Mary E. Craigie, Cora Sebury, Martha R. Almy, A. E. P. Searing, Elinor Ecob Morse, Marcia C. Powell, Helen G. Ecob, Susie M. Bain, Carrie E.

S. Twing, Clara Neymann, Selina S. Merchant, Henrietta M. Banker, Maude S. Humphrey, Mary Lewis Gannett; Dr. Sarah H. Morris; Misses Arria S. Huntington, Emily Howland, Elizabeth Burrill Curtis.

[386] A hearing, on June 14, was given to the ”Antis,” as the press dubbed the remonstrants. Their pet.i.tion against being allowed the suffrage was presented by the Hon. Elihu Root, and the speeches were made by Francis M. Scott, the Rev. Clarence A. Walworth, the Hon.

Matthew Hale and J. Newton Fiero. Letters were read from the Hon.

Abram S. Hewitt and Austin Abbott.