# History of Woman Suffrage/Volume 3/Chapter 47

Contents
CHAPTER XLVII.
MINNESOTA.
Minnesota was formally admitted to the Union May 11, 1858. Owing to its high situation and dry atmosphere the State is a great resort for invalids, and nowhere in the world is the sun so bright, the sky so blue, or the moon and stars so clearly defined. Its early settlers were from New England; hence, the church and the school-house-monuments of civilization-were the first objects in the landscape to adorn those boundless prairies, as the red man was pushed still westward, and the white man seized his hunting-ground.
This State is also remarkable for its admirable system of free schools, in which it is said there is a larger proportion of pupils to the population than in any other of the Western States. All institutions of learning have from the beginning been open alike to boys and girls.
Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns, to whom we are indebted for this chapter, was one of the first young women to apply for admission to the Michigan University. Being denied, she finished her studies at the State Normal School, and in 1863 married Mr. O. P. Stearns, a graduate of the institution that barred its doors to her. Mr. Stearns, at the call of his country, went to the front, while his no less patriotic bride remained at home, teaching in ​the Young Ladies' Seminary at Monroe and lecturing for the benefit of the Soldiers' Aid Societies.
The war over, they removed to Minnesota in 1866, where by lectures, newspaper articles, petitions and appeals to the legislature, Mrs. Stearns has done very much to stir the women of the State to thought and action upon the question of woman's enfranchisement. She has been the leading spirit of the State Suffrage Association, as well as of the local societies of Rochester and Duluth, the two cities in which she has resided, and also vice-president of the National Association since 1876. As a member of the school-board, she has wrought beneficent changes in the schools of Duluth. She is now at the head of a movement for the establishment of a home for women needing a place of rest and training for self-help and self-protection. Mrs. Stearns has the full sympathy of her husband and family, as she had that of her mother, Mrs. Susan C. Burger, whose last years were passed in the home of her daughter at Duluth. Mrs. Stearns writes:
The advocates of suffrage in Minnesota were so few in the early days,and their homes so remote from each other, that there was little chance for coöperation, hence the history of the movement in this State consists more of personal efforts than of conventions, legislative hearings and judicial decisions. The first name worthy of note is that of Harriet E. Bishop. She was invited by Rev. Thomas Williamson, M. D., a missionary among the Dakotas, to come to his mission home and share in his labors in 1847, where she was introduced to the leading citizens of St. Paul. She was the first teacher of a public school in that settlement. She lectured on temperance, wrote for the daily papers, and preached as a regular pastor in a Baptist pulpit. She published several books, was one of the organizers of the State Suffrage Association in 1881, and in 1883 rested from her labors on earth.
The first lecture in the State on the "Rights and Wrongs of Woman," was by Mrs. Mary J. Colburn, in the village of Champlin, in 1858, the same year that Minnesota was admitted to the Union. In 1864, the State officers promised two prizes for the first and second best essays on "Minnesota as a Home for Emigrants," reserving to the examining committee the right to reject all manuscripts offered if found unworthy. The first prize was accorded to Mrs. Colburn. Most of the other competitors were men, some of them members of the learned professions. Mrs. Colburn says, in writing to a friend, "I am doing but little now on the suffrage question, for I will not stoop longer to ask of any congress or legislature for that which I know to be mine by the divine law of nature."
In 1857, Mrs. Jane Grey Swisshelm settled at St. Cloud, where she lived until 1863, editing the St. Cloud Democrat, the organ of the Republican party, and making a heroic fight for freedom and equality. In 1860 she
In 1866, at a Fourth of July celebration, Mrs. Stearns accepted an invitation to respond to the sentiment, "Our young and growing State; may she ever be an honor to her citizens." This offered her an opportunity for an off-hand woman suffrage speech, which elicited hearty cheers, and gave, as an old gentleman present said, "something fresh to think of and act upon." About this time the friends of equality began petitioning the legislature for an amendment to the constitution, striking out the word "male." Through the efforts of Mr. A. G. Spaulding—the editor of the Anoka Star—and others, these petitions were referred to a special committee which granted a hearing to Mrs. Colburn and Mrs. Stearns in 1867. Mrs. Colburn read a carefully prepared argument, and Mrs. Stearns sent a letter, both of which were ordered to be printed. In 1868 a bill was introduced proposing to submit the desired amendment, but when brought to a vote it was defeated by a majority of one.
In March, 1869, The Revolution copied from the Martin County Atlas the following:
Show us the man who from the bottom of his heart, laying aside his prejudices and speaking the unbiased truth, will not say that women should have the same rights that he himself enjoys, and we will show you a narrow-minded sycophant, a cruel, selfish tyrant, or one that has not the moral courage to battle for a principle he knows to be just. Equal rights before the law is justice to all, and the more education we give our children and ourselves, as a people, the sooner shall we have equal rights. May the glorious cause speed on.
In 1869, a suffrage society was organized in the city of Rochester, with fifty members, and another at Champlin; the homes of Mrs. Stearns and Mrs. Colburn. Petitions were again circulated and presented to the legislature early in the session of 1870. It had not then been demonstrated by Kansas, Michigan, Colorado, Nebraska and Oregon, that the votes of the ignorant classes on this question would greatly outnumber those of the intelligent. The legislature granted the prayer of the petitioners and passed a bill for the submission of an amendment, providing that the women of the State, possessing the requisite qualifications, should also be allowed to vote upon the proposition, and that their votes should be counted as legal. The governor, Hon. Horace Austin, vetoed the bill, saying it was not passed in good faith, and that the submission of the question at that time would be premature. In a private letter to Mrs. Stearns, the governor said: "Had the bill provided for the voting of the women, simply to get an expression of their wishes upon the question, without requiring their votes to be counted as legal in the adoption or rejection of it, the act would not have been vetoed, notwithstanding my second objection that it was premature."
In 1871, petitions to congress were circulated in Minnesota, asking a declaratory act to protect the women of the nation in the exercise of "the ​citizen's right to vote" under the new guarantees of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. During that year the National Woman Suffrage Association appointed Mrs. Addie Ballou its vice-president for Minnesota.
In 1872 a suffrage club was formed at Kasson. Its three originatorsentered into a solemn compact with each other that while they lived in that city there should always be an active suffrage society until the ballot for women should be obtained. Their secretary, Mrs. H. M. White, writes:
Although our club was at first called a ladies' literary society, the suspicion that its members wished to vote was soon whispered about. Our working members were for some years few in number, and our meetings far between. But our zeal never abating, we tried in later years many plans for making a weekly meeting interesting. The most successful was, that every one should bring something that had come to her notice during the week, which she should read aloud, thus furnishing topics of conversation in which all could join. This never failed to make an interesting and profitable meeting. And still later we invited speakers from other States. In our various courses of lectures, Kasson audiences have enjoyed the brave utterances of Anna Dickinson, Julia Ward Howe, Susan B. Anthony, and others. The pulpit of Kasson we have found about evenly balanced for and against us; but those claiming to be friendly generally maintained a "masterly inactivity." Our editors have always shown us much kindness by gratuitously advertising our meetings and publishing our articles. Our members were all at the first meeting after school suffrage was granted to women, and one lady was elected director for a term of three years. The next year another lady was elected. While they were members of the board, a new and beautiful school house was erected, though some men said, "nothing in the line of building could be safely done until after the women's term of office had expired." Our co-workers have always treated us with great courtesy. In this respect our labors were as pleasant as in any church work.
At a temperance convention in 1874, a woman suffrage resolution was ably defended by Mrs. Julia Ballard Nelson and Mrs. Harriet A. Hobart; Mrs. Asa Hutchinson, of beloved memory, also spoke at this meeting.
As the women in several of the States voted on educational matters, the legislature of 1875 wished to confer the same privilege upon the women of Minnesota. But instead of doing so by direct legislation, as the other States had done, they passed a resolution submitting a proposition for an amendment to the constitution to the electors of the State, as follows:
An amendment to the State constitution giving the legislature power to provide by law that any woman of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, may vote at any election held for the purpose of choosing any officers of schools; or upon any measure relating to schools; and also that any such woman shall be eligible to hold any office pertaining solely to the management of schools.
No effort was made to agitate the question, lest more should be effected in rousing the opposition than in educating the masses in the few months intervening between the passage of the bill and the election in November. Mrs. Stearns, however, as the day for the decision of the question approached, wishing to make sure of the votes of the intelligent men of the State, wrote to the editor of the Pioneer Press, the leading paper of Minnesota, begging him to urge his readers to do all in their power to secure[Pg 653] the adoption of the amendment. The request was complied with, and the editor in a private letter, thanking Mrs. Stearns, said he "had quite forgotten such an amendment had been proposed." ​the adoption of the amendment. The request was complied with, and the editor in a private letter, thanking Mrs. Stearns, said he "had quite forgotten such an amendment had been proposed."
At this last moment the question was, what could be done to secure the largest favorable vote. Finding that it would be legal, the friends throughout the State appealed to the committees of both political parties to have "For the amendment of Article VII. relating to electors—Yes," printed upon all their tickets. This was very generally done, and thereby the most ignorant men were led to vote as they should, with the intelligent, in favor of giving women a voice in the education of the children of the State, while all who were really opposed could scratch the "yes," and substitute a "no." When election day came, November 5, 1875, the amendment was carried by a vote of 24,340 for, to 19,468 against. The following legislature passed the necessary law, and at the spring election of 1876, the women of Minnesota voted for school officers, and in several cases women were elected as directors.
I have given these details because the great wonder has been how the combined forces of ignorance and vice failed to vote down this amendment, as they always have done every other proposition for the extension of suffrage to women in this and every other State where the question has been submitted to a popular vote. I believe our success was largely, if not wholly, attributable to our studied failure to agitate the question, and the affirmative wording of all the tickets of both parties, by which our bitterest opponents forgot the question was to be voted upon, and the ignorant classes who could not, or did not read their ballots, voted unthinkingly for the measure.
In the cities the school officers are elected at the regular municipal elections usually held in the spring, while in the rural districts and smaller villages they are chosen at school meetings in the autumn. In East Minneapolis, Hon. Richard Chute, chairman of the Republican nominating convention, having, without their knowledge, secured the nomination of Mrs. Charlotte O. VanCleve and Mrs. Charlotte S. Winchell ​school directors, called a meeting of the women of the city to aid in their election. It was a large and enthusiastic gathering. Mrs. Mary C. Peckham presided, Mrs. Stearns of Duluth, and Mrs. Pillsbury, wife of the governor, made stirring speeches, after which the candidates were called upon, and responded most acceptably. When election day came, the names of Mrs. VanCleve and Mrs. Winchell received a handsome majority of the votes of their districts. A correspondent in the Ballot-Box said:
The women of Minnesota are rejoicing in the measure of justice vouchsafed them,—the right to vote and hold office in school matters. Two hundred and seventy women voted in Minneapolis, the governor's wife among others. Although it rained all day they went to the polls in great numbers.
Including both East and West Minneapolis, fully 1,000 women voted; and while the numbers in other cities and villages were not so great, they were composed of the more intelligent. In St. Charles, where Dr. Adaline Williams was elected to the school-board, some of the gentlemen requested her to resign, on the ground that she had not been properly elected. Her reply was, "If I have not been elected, I have no need to resign; and if I have been elected, I do not choose to resign." But to satisfy those who doubted, she proposed that another election should be held, which resulted in an overwhelming majority for the Doctor.
As the law says women are "eligible to any office pertaining solely to the management of schools," one might be elected as State superintendent of public instruction. There have been many women elected to the office of county superintendent, and in several counties they have been twice reëlected,and wherever women have held school offices, they have been reported as doing efficient service. Although the law provided that women might "vote at any election for the purpose of choosing any officers of schools," the attorney-general gave an opinion that it did not entitle them to vote for county superintendent; hence "an act to entitle women to vote for county superintendent of schools," was passed by the legislature of 1885.
The ladies' city school committee. Miss A. M. Henderson, chairman, secured the appointment of a committee of seven women in Minneapolis, to meet with a like number of men from each of the political parties, to select such members of the school-board as all could agree upon. Having thus aided in the nominations, women were interested in their election. In 1881 Mrs. Merrill and Miss Henderson stood at the polls all day and electioneered for their candidates. It was said that their efforts not only decided the choice of school officers, but elected a temperance alderman. In many cities of the State the temperance women exert a great influence at the polls in persuading men to vote for the best town-officers. At the special election held in Duluth for choosing school officers, one of the judges of election, and the clerks at each of the polling places have for the last two years been women who were teachers in our public schools. ​The early homestead law of Minnesota illustrates how easily men forget to bestow the same rights upon women that they carefully secure to themselves. In 1869, the "protectors of women" enacted a law which exempted a homestead from being sold for the payment of debts so long as the man who held it might live, while it allowed his widow and children to be turned out penniless and homeless. It was not until 1875 that this law was so amended that the exemption extended to the widow and fatherless children.
In 1877, a law was passed which gave the widow an absolute title—or the same title her husband had—to one-third of all the real estate, exclusive of the homestead, and of that, it gave her the use, during her lifetime. So that now the widow has the absolute ownership, instead of the life use of one-third of whatever she and her husband may have together earned and saved. That is, should there be any real estate left, over and above the homestead, after paying all the husband's debts, she now has, not merely the difference, as heretofore, between the amount of the tax and the income on one-third, but she may avoid the tax and other costs of keeping it, by selling her third, if she prefers, and putting the money at interest. The law still puts whatever may be left of the other two-thirds, after payment of debts, into the hands of the probate judge and others, and the interest thereof, or even the principal, may go to reward them for their services, or, if falling into honest hands, it may be left for the support and education of the children.
The legislature of 1877 submitted a constitutional amendment giving women a vote on the temperance question. This seemed likely to be carried by default of agitation, as was that of school suffrage, until within a few weeks of the election, when the liquor interest combined all its forces of men and money and defeated it by a large majority. The next year the temperance people made a strong effort to get the proposition re-submitted, but to no purpose.
In 1879, acting upon the plan proposed to all the States by the National Association, we petitioned for the adoption of a joint resolution asking congress to submit to the several State legislatures an amendment to the National constitution, prohibiting the disfranchisement of woman. Mrs. Stearns and others followed up the petitions with letters to the most influential members, in which they argued that the legislatures of the States, not the rank and file of the electors, ought to decide this question; and further, that the same congress that had granted woman the privilege of pleading a case before the Supreme Court of the United States would doubtless pass a resolution submitting to the legislatures the decision of the question of her right to have her opinion on all questions counted at the ballot-box. The result was a majority of six in the Senate in favor of the resolution, while in the House there was a majority of five against it.
Since 1879, our legislature has met biënnially. In 1881 the temperance women of the State again petitioned for the right to vote on the question of licensing the sale of liquor. Failing to get that, or a prohibitory law, they became more than ever convinced of the necessity of full suffrage. ​The annual meetings of the State Union have ever since been spoken of by the press as "suffrage conventions," because they always pass resolutions making the demand.
Mr. L. Bixby, editor of the State Temperance Review, gives several columns to the temperance and suffrage societies. Mrs. Helen E. Gallinger, the editor of these departments, is a lady of great ability and earnestness. Mr. Charles H. Dubois, editor of The Spectator, gives ample space in his columns to notes of women. Miss Mary C. Le Duc is connected with The Spectator. Other journals have aided our cause, though not in so pronounced a way. Mrs. C. F. Bancroft, editor of the Mantorville Express, and Mrs. Bella French, of a county paper at Spring Valley, Mrs. Annie Mitchell, the wife of one editor and the mother of another, for many years their business associate, have all given valuable services to our cause, while pecuniarily benefiting themselves. The necessity of finding a voice when something needed to be said, and of using a pen when something needed to be written, has developed considerable talent for public speaking and writing among the women of this State.
All our State institutions are favorable to coëducation, and give equal privileges to all. The Minnesota University has been open to women since its foundation, and from 1875 to 1885 fifty-six young women were graduated with high honor to themselves and their sex. Miss Maria L. Sanford has been professor of rhetoric and elocution for many years. The faculties of the State Normal Schools are largely composed of women. Hamline University and Carlton College are conducted on principles of true equality. At Carlton Miss Margaret Evans is preceptress and teacher of modern languages. Of the Rochester High School, Miss Josephine Hegeman is principal; of Wasioga, Miss C. T. Atwood; of Eyota Union School, Miss Adell M'Kinley.
For many years Mrs. M. R. Smith was employed as State Librarian. Mrs. H. J. M'Caine for the past ten years has been librarian at St. Paul, with Miss Grace A. Spaulding as assistant. Among the engrossing and enrolling clerks of our legislature, Miss Alice Weber is the only lady's name we find, though the men holding those offices usually employ a half dozen women to assist them in copying, allowing each two-thirds of the price paid by the State, or ten cents per folio.
In this State the suffrage cause has had the sympathy of not a few noble women in the successful practice of the healing art; thus lending their influence for the political emancipation of their sex, while blessing the community with their medical skill. To Doctors Hood and Whetstone is due the credit of establishing the Northwestern Hospital for Women and Children, and training school for nurses, of which they are now the attend​
​ing physicians; and Dr. Hood also attends the Bethany Home, founded by the sisterhood of Bethany, for the benefit of friendless girls and women. In the town of Detroit may be seen a drug store neatly fitted up, with "Ogden's Pharmacy" over the door, and upon it, in gilt letters, "Emma K. Ogden, M. D." While the doctor practices her profession, she employs a young woman as prescription clerk. The Minnesota State Medical Society has admitted nine women to membership.
Conspicuous among evangelists in this State are Mrs. Mary C. Nind, Minneapolis, Mrs. Mary A. Shepardson, Wasioga, Mrs. Ruth Cogswell Rowell, Winona, and Rev. Eliza Tupper Wilkes, Rochester.
Thus far this chapter has been given mainly to individuals in the State, and to the home influences that have aided in creating sentiment in favor of full suffrage for woman. United with these have been other influences coming like the rays of the morning sun directly from the East where so many noble women are at work for the freedom of their sex. Among them are some of the most popular lecturers in the country.
In September, 1881, representative women from various localities met at Hastings and organized a State Woman Suffrage Association auxiliary to the National. During the first year one hundred and twenty-four members were enrolled. During the second the membership more than doubled. In October, 1882, the association held its first annual meeting. The audiences were large, and the speakers most heartily applauded. Mrs. Nelson presided. In her letter of greeting to this meeting, from which ill-health obliged her to be absent, the president urged the association to firmly adhere to the principles of the National Association. Let us not ask for an amendment to the State constitution, and thus put it in the power of ignorance and prejudice to deny the boon we seek; while we are auxiliary to the National let us work according to its plans. Mrs. Stearns was unanimously reëlected president, and her views heartily endorsed.
In the spring of '83, at the request of the State society, and with the generous consent of Mr. Bixby, the editor of the State Temperance Review, Mrs. Helen E. Gallinger commenced editing a woman suffrage column in that paper. This has been a very convenient medium of communication between the State society and the local auxiliaries which have since been organized by Mrs. L. May Wheeler, who was employed as lecturer and[Pg 658] organizer,[446] in the summer and fall of 1883. Auxiliary societies had previously been organized by Mrs. Stearns, in St. Paul and Minneapolis. The Kasson society, formed in 1872, also became auxiliary to the State. ​organizer,in the summer and fall of 1883. Auxiliary societies had previously been organized by Mrs. Stearns, in St. Paul and Minneapolis. The Kasson society, formed in 1872, also became auxiliary to the State.
During the Northwestern Industrial Exhibition, held in Minneapolis August, 1883, a woman suffrage headquarters was fitted up on the fair-grounds, in a fine large tent, made attractive by flags, banners and mottoes. The State and local societies were represented, officers and members being there to receive all who were in sympathy, to talk suffrage to opposers, to pass out good leaflets, and to exhibit copies of the Woman Suffrage History. At the annual convention this year we were honored by the presence of Julia Ward Howe and Mrs. Marianna Folsom of Iowa, and many of the clergymen of Minneapolis. Rev. E. S. Williams gave the address of welcome, and paid a beautiful tribute to the self-sacrificing leaders in this holy crusade. Mrs. Howe not only encouraged us with her able words of cheer, but she presided at the piano while her Battle Hymn of the Republic was sung, and seemed to give it new inspiration. In the course of her remarks the president said:
Should congress finally adopt that long-pending amendment in the winter of 1883-4 enfranchising women, we should still have work to do in 1885 to secure the ratification of this amendment by our State legislature. But should congress still refuse, let us be thankful that the way is opening for women to secure their freedom by the power of the legislature independent of all constitutional amendments, as there is nothing in ordinary State constitutions to prevent legislators from extending suffrage to women by legislative enactment. The constitution of the State of Minnesota simply enfranchises men, and does not even mention women; we have clearly nothing to do but to convince our legislators that they are free to give educated women full suffrage.
With this view the society adopted the following resolution:
Resolved, That we accept with joy the argument that comes to us from the east and from the west declaring suffrage amendments to State constitutions unnecessary, because the word "male," occurring as it does in most State constitutions, in no wise restrains legislatures from extending full suffrage to women, should they feel inclined to do so. Be it also
Resolved, That it therefore becomes our duty to talk with all men and women who are friendly to our cause, and ask them to examine the argument, and if it commends itself to their judgment, to give us the benefit of their convictions.
Though passing the above resolutions at that time, the State Association of course waits to see what may be done, in view of this new idea, by older and stronger States whose constitutions are similar to ours. Although failing health induced Mrs. Stearns, in the fall of 1883, to resign her suffrage work into other hands, and ask to be excused from any office whatever, she has, with improving health lately accepted the presidency of an Equal Rights League in Duluth. Dr. Ripley was not present ​herself at the convention which chose her for president for the ensuing year, being then at the East, but immediately after returning, she entered upon her new duties with enthusiasm. As there was to be no legislature in 1884, there could be no petitioning, except to continue the work commenced as long ago as 1871, of petitioning congress for a sixteenth amendment. The work was carried on with vigor, and many hundreds of names obtained in a short time. Early in 1884 Mrs. L. May Wheeler continued to lecture in the interests of the suffrage cause. While so engaged she issued her "Collection of Temperance and Suffrage Melodies."
In 1884 a woman suffrage headquarters was again fitted up in Newspaper Row, on the grounds of the Northwestern Industrial Exhibition. The large tent was shared by the State W. C. T. U., and appropriately decked within and without to represent both of the State organizations and their auxiliaries. A large amount of suffrage and temperance literature was distributed among the many who were attracted by the novelty of the sight and sentiments displayed on banners and flags.
As Minneapolis had already become headquarters for the suffrage work of the State, it was thought best to again hold the annual meeting in that city. This was in October, continuing two days, and was both interesting and encouraging. Dr. Martha G. Ripley presided. Many interesting letters were read, and cheering telegrams received. Miss Marion Lowell recited "The Legend," by Mary Agnes Ticknor, and "Was he Henpecked?" by Phebe Cary, Mrs. A. M. Tyng of Austin, made a good speech, also recited a poem entitled "Jane Conquest." Mr. Lars Oure of Norway, spoke well upon the "Claims of Woman." Dr. L. W. Denton of Minneapolis, gave a very good address. Dr. Martha G. Ripley spoke on suffrage as a natural right, and in support of this view read extracts from a pamphlet entitled, "Woman Suffrage a Right, and not a Privilege," by Wm. I. Bowditch; Eliza Burt Gamble of St. Paul, read a very able paper on "Woman and the Church"; Mrs. Stearns spoke upon the new era to be inaugurated when women have the ballot. Miss Emma Harriman read a bright and entertaining paper. The fine address of the occasion was given by Rev. W. W. Satterlee, showing the nation's need of woman's vote. Judge and Mrs. Hemiup, of Minneapolis, just returned from a visit to Wyoming Territory, were present. The judge made several speeches, and was enthusiastic in his praise of the workings of woman suffrage there. He and his wife are now active members of the State and city (Minneapolis) suffrage societies. The judge is also a member of the State executive committee.
Wishing to give honor to whom honor is due, we would mention the brave young women who have formed the Christian Temperance Unions, ​the leading spirits in this grand movement in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Winona and St. Cloud. Their names will be usually found as delegates to the annual meetings of all the State Unions. The small army of noble girls who have helped to make the Good Templars' lodges attractive and worthy resorts for their brothers and friends, have done an inestimable work in elevating the moral tone of the community all over the State. They have also done their full share in petitioning congress for a sixteenth amendment, in which they have received most untiring help from the young men of the lodges. In 1884 Miss Frances Willard again visited the State, advocating the ballot as well as the Bible as an aid to temperance work. Her eloquent voice here as elsewhere woke many to serious thought on the danger of this national vice to the safety and stability of our republican institutions. It was through Miss Willard's influence, no doubt, that the friends of temperance established a department of franchise for the State, and made Mrs. E. L. Crockett its superintendent.
The women of Minnesota seem thus far to have no special calling to the legal profession. Mrs. Martha Angle Dorsett is the only woman as yet admitted to the bar. She was graduated from the law school at Des Moines, and admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Iowa in June, 1876. She was refused admission at first in Minnesota, whereupon she appealed to the legislature, which in 1877 enacted a law securing the right to women by a vote of 63 to 30 in the House, and 26 to 6 in the Senate.
In some of the larger cities and towns the literary, musical and dramatic taste of our women is evidenced by societies and clubs for mutual improvement. Many are attending classes for the study of natural history, classic literature, social science, etc. There is an art club in Minneapolis, composed wholly of artists, both ladies and gentlemen, which meets every week, the members making sketches from life. Miss Julie C. Gauthier had on exhibition at the New Orleans Exposition, a full-length portrait, true to life, of a colored man, "Pony," a veteran wood-sawer of St. Paul, which received very complimentary notices from art critics of that city, as well as from the press generally.
In the Business Colleges of Mr. Curtis at St. Paul and Minneapolis, many women are teachers, and many more are educated as shorthand reporters, telegraphers, and book-keepers. These have no difficulty in finding places after completing their college course. Nearly fifty young women are employed in the principal towns of the State as telegraphers alone. Miss Mary M. Cary has been employed for seven years as operator and station agent at Wayzata, for the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba R. R. Her services are highly valued, as well they may be, for during her absence from the station two men are required to do her work. By her talents and industry she has acquired a thorough education for herself, besides educating her two younger sisters. Mrs. Anna B. Underwood of Lake City, has for many years been secretary of a firm conducting a large nursery of fruit trees, plants and flowers. Her husband being one of the ​partners, she has taken a large share of the general management. The orchard yields a profit of over $1,000 a year.
From the list of names to be found in the Appendix, we see that Minnesota is remarkable for its galaxy of superior women actively engaged as speakers and writersin many reforms, as well as in the trades and professions, and in varied employments. One of the great advantages of pioneer life is the necessity to man of woman's help in all the emergencies of these new conditions in which their forces and capacities are called into requisition. She thus acquires a degree of self-reliance, courage and independence, that would never be called out in older civilizations, and commands a degree of respect from the men at her side that can only be learned in their mutual dependence.
* ↑ The names of the young women who applied for admission to the classical course of the Michigan State University, in 1858, were Sarah Burger, Clara Norton, Ellen F. Thompson, Ada A. Alvord, Rose Anderson, Helen White, Amanda Kieff, Lizzie Baker, Nellie Baker, Anna Lathrop, Carrie Felch, Mary Becker, Adeline Ladd and Harriet Patton.
* ↑ See Appendix, Chapter XLVII., note A.
* ↑ For further account of Mrs. Swisshelm's patriotic work in Minnesota see her "Reminiscences of Half a Century": Janson, McClurg & Co., Chicago, Ill.
* ↑ The three women were, Mrs. Almira W. Anthony (whose husband was a cousin of Susan B. Anthony), Mrs. Mary Powell Wheeler and Mrs. Hattie M. White.
* ↑ In a volume of Minnesota biography, Mrs. VanCleve is reported as a woman of great force of character, strong in her convictions of what is right, and fearless in following the dictates of her conscience. She was one of the original founders of the Sisterhood of Bethany, a society for the reformation of unfortunate women, and has held the position of president since its formation. Through the medium of lectures and social influence, she has enlisted the sympathy of a large number of the community. She has served faithfully as a member of the East Minneapolis board of education, and has always improved every opportunity to advocate the right of suffrage for women. She is a member of the State Suffrage Society, and has been for many years honorary vice-president for this State, of the National Suffrage Association. The following interesting fact is told of her, on the authority of Major-General R. W. Johnson. It was given in an address delivered by that gentleman before the old settlers' association of Hennepin county, at a reunion in the city of Minneapolis: Many years ago a soldier at Fort Snelling received an injury to his feet, and mortification ensued. Amputation became necessary and the case could not be postponed until a surgeon could be sent for, because there was none nearer than the post-surgeon at Prairie du Chien. No gentleman in the garrison was willing to undertake so difficult an operation. Equal to any emergency, Mrs. VanCleve, on hearing of the case, resolved to make the attempt. She performed the operation skillfully, and saved the soldier's life.
* ↑ Mrs. Charlotte S. Winchell was a graduate of Albion College, Michigan, and came to this State in 1873, with her husband, Prof. Newton H. Winchell, widely known as Minnesota's State geologist. Mrs. Winchell has always been an advocate of suffrage for woman, and cheerfully accepted the position on the school board, serving as clerk. She took an active part in the nominations and elections of school officers. She was chairman of the committee for introducing temperance text books into the schools, secretary of the Woman's Board of Foreign Missions, a member of the State and City Suffrage Societies, and of the Association for the Advancement of Women.
* ↑ See Appendix, Chapter XLVII., Note F.
* ↑ The officers of the Minnesota State W. C. T. U. are: President, Mrs. H. A. Hobart; Vice-Presidents, Mrs. Mary A. Shepardson, Mrs. E. J. Holley, Mrs. R. C. C. Gale, Mrs. H. C. May, Mrs. L. M. Wylie; Recording Secretary, Mrs. D. S. Haywood; Corresponding Secretaries, Mrs. E. S. Wright, Miss M. E. Mclntyre; Treasurer, Miss A. M. Henderson. Editor W. C. T. U. department of Temperance Review, Mrs. Helen E. Gallinger.
* ↑ See Appendix, Chapter XLVII., Note C.
* ↑ During the same decade 138 young men were graduated from the different departments of the University.
* ↑ For names of graduates and professors, see Appendix, Chapter XLVII., Note D.
* ↑ See Appendix, Chapter XLVII., Note F.
* ↑ Miss Anna Dickinson, Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Howe, Miss Alice Fletcher, Miss Frances Willard, Mrs. Wittenmeyer, Mrs. Sarah B. Chase, M. D. In the years 1875-6, Mrs. Stanton favored our State with a series of lectures that awakened much interest. In 1878-9, Miss Anthony came, and spoke in the principal cities. From Iowa came Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, Matilda Fletcher, and Marianna Folsom, and from Missouri, Miss Phœbe Couzins.
* ↑ President, Sarah Burger Stearns; Vice-President, Julia Bullard Nelson; Recording Secretary, Mrs. C. Smith; Treasurer, Mrs. H. J. Moffit; Executive Committee, Mrs. Minnie Reed, Mrs. L. H. Clark, Mrs. R. Coons; Corresponding Sec'y, Mrs. Laura Howe Carpenter. The following were the charter members: Mrs. Harriet E. Bishop, Mrs. Martha Luly, St. Paul; Mrs. A. T. Anderson, Mrs. H. J. Moffit, Mrs. C. Smith, Minneapolis; Mrs. Harriet A. Hobart, Julia Bullard Nelson, Mrs. R. Coons, Red Wing; Sarah Burger Stearns, Duluth; Mrs. L. C. Clarke, Worthington; Mrs. L. G. Finen, Albert Lea; Mrs. K. E. Webster, Mrs. Minnie Reed, Mrs. M. A. VanHoesen, Hastings.
* ↑ Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. Hobart, Mr. Satterlee, Mrs. Charlotte O. Van Cleve, Mrs. Laura Howe Carpenter, Mrs. Viola Fuller Miner.
* ↑ The societies organized were at Wayzata, Farmington, Red Wing, Mantorille, Excelsior, Rochford, Lake City, Shakopee, and Jordan: committees for suffrage work were also formed in the following places: Anoka, Armstrong, Blakely, Brooklyn Center, Champlin, Frontenac, Long Prairie, Long Lake, and Wabashaw.
* ↑ Rev. W. W. Satterlee, Rev. H. M. Simmons, Rev. F. J. Wagner, whose church we occupied, and others. The speakers at this convention were Mr. and Mrs. Dubois, Mrs. Wheeler, Mrs. Elliott, Mrs. Hobart, Mrs. Carpenter, Miss Harriman. Letters were received from Mrs. Devereux Blake, Dr. Clemence Lozier, Rev. J. B. Tuttle, H. B. Blackwell, Lucy Stone and Col. T. W. Higginson
* ↑ The officers elected at this convention were: President, Martha G. Ripley, M. D., Minneapolis; Vice-President, Mrs. Lizzie Manson, Shakopee; Recording Secretary, Mary T. Emery, M. D., St. Paul; Corresponding Secretary, Emma Harriman, Minneapolis; Treasurer, Mrs. Helen E. Gallinger, Minneapolis; Executive Committee, Mrs. S. K. Crawford, Anoka; Mrs. M. A. Warner, Hamline; Mrs. F. G. Gould, Excelsior; Rev. E. S. Williams, Prof. W. A. Carpenter, Mrs. A. T. Anderson and Mrs. Laura Howe Carpenter, Minneapolis.
* ↑ From John G. Whittier, Mrs. Julia B. Nelson (teaching school in Tennessee) and Henry B. Blackwell.
* ↑ Miss Carrie Holbrook, Miss Eva McIntyre, Miss Harriman.
* ↑ See Appendix, Chapter XLVII., Note F.
* ↑ See Appendix, Chapter XLVII., Note G.