The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-12-21
Iowa Women
Amelia jerks Bloomer.
By Rich'a. B. B. Wood.

By Rich'G. B. B. Wood.
A few Sundays ago in The Gate
City there was story on the women
of Iowa in which the early days of
the suffrage movement was inferen-
italy referred to in brief sketch #
the life Of Mrs. Margaret w. Camp
bell. prominent adopted daughter
OF Iowa; a gifted and early worker In
the cause in the state whose labors
and fame became as extended as the
national boundary.
We have all heard of the Bloomer
costume, but many people, no doubt
are not aware that the name of that
sensational female costume came
from an adopted daughter Of Iowa In
the early days of it's statehood.
Mrs. Amelia jerks Boomer, Is the
woman from which this much agitated
costume took Its name and through
her 1t became the talk OF the town"
She was woman, fair of face, and
manners attractive. She was not
really the originator OF the Bloomer
costume. This honor If it may be so
called rested with Elizabeth Smith
Miller. daughter of that well remem-
bersd pioneer philanthropist Gerrett
Smith OF New York, OF whom it may
he said that even his faults leaned to
virtues side.
Mrs. Bloomer, was born in Cort-
land county, New York, May 81, 1918.
She was educated in the common
schools OF her native state; bright
girl of active mind, she began to
teach at the age of seventeen years.
She was one of the pioneers In the
advocacy of the cause of woman suf-
frage, and was associated in thu
cause by such shining lights as Susan
B, Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton
and Abbey Kelley. She was an ac-
complished writer and a convincing
speaker Her special topics were
temperance and woman suffrage and
for many years she lectured on these
reforms. She established a paper
which was the special advocate of the
" iuSlQiSS cSpOuS0u.
1t was in 1851, when the venerable
men of today were barefooted boys,
that Elizabeth Smith Miller invent
ed the new style Of costume referred
to above. It is described as "a skirt
reaching a little below the knees,
with wide Turkish trousers gathered
at the ankle" Elizabeth Cady Stan
ton is said to have been the second
woman to appear in the costume and
Mrs. Bloomer is said to have been
the third. She began to advocate it's
adoption in her paper and from this
fact the impression went out that she
was the originator Of the new dress.
Thousands of new subscribers were
brought to her paper by the notori ETY.
1t gained in its advocacy of the adop-
ton of the novel dress. The writer
during the civil war saw DR.. Mary
Walker, nearly every day in the spring
of 1866, adorned in a similar costume,
going to and from her business. DR..
Walkers costume favored more the
dress of man. If memory is cor
rect, DR.. Walkers coat-skirt was
probably a little longer and more
like a mans coat, while the trousers
were not of the wide Turkish kind
gathered at the ankle. but were pat
termed very much after the style of
mems trousers. She wore her cos
tune without the slightest show OF
brazen abandon, hut very modestly.
In 1856 Mr.. and Mrs. Boomer re-
moved to Iowa, settling at Council
Bluffs, where Mrs. Bloomer continued
to advocate woman's suffrage and
prohibition as a lecturer In October,
1871, she was chosen president of the
Iowa Woman's Suffrage Association at
It's second annual session. She died
at Council Bluffs on the s0th of De-
cember, 1894, and the anniversary of
the death of this prominent Iowa
woman Is only few days in the
future.