The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-07-03
DR.. SHAW IS DEAD
Noted Suffrage Leader Victim
of Recurrence of Pneumonia.
Lived To See Women Victorious
in Kansas Campaign.

Media, Pa, July 3.-Dr. Anna How
ard Shaw, honorary president of the
National American Woman's Suffrage
association. is dead at her home in
Moylan. near here.
Doctor Shaw was taken ill in
Springfield, Ill, recently. but partially
recovered. Tuesday attack of
pneumonia required, to which she
succumbed last night.
She was ~ years old. was chairman
of the Yoman's committee of the
council of national defense and re-
Gently was awarded the distinguished
| service medal for her work during the
war.
Taken Ill on Speaking Tour.
She was taken i'll in Springfield. ILL.,,
several weeks ago while on lecture
\ tour with ex-President Taft and Presi-
| dent Lowell of Harvard university, in
| the interest of the league of nations.
| Pneumonia developed and for two
weeks she was confined to her room
in a Springfield hospital. She returned
| to her home about the middle of June
and apparently had recovered entire
ly. Last Saturday she drove to Phila-
| delphia in her car and upon her re-.
turn said she was feeling fine" She
| was taken suddenly. i'll again Tuesday
| grew rapidly worse until the end.
| Her secretary, Miss Lucy NJ. An
| thony "a niece of Susan B. Anthony,
| who has been with Doctor Shaw for
thirty years, and two nieces, the
Misses Lula and Grace Greene, were
| at her bedside when she died.
Headed Suffragists II Years.
Doctor Shaw long had been promi-
| nently identified with the woman suf-
frage movement and was president of
/ the National American Woman's Suf-
| frager association consecutively for
eleven years. In 1915 she declined a
| denomination and was then elected
honorary president.
DR.. Anna Howard Shaw, the great
friend of American women and their
| staunchest advocate for equal suffrage
| rights. was native of England. Com
ing to this country when 4 years old,
an unknown pioneer, thru her own eff
| forts she eventually became the head
of the National Woman's Suffrage
| Association.
1T have dedicated my life to the
cause Of equal suffrage" she declared
often in her speeches for women.
which were delivered in practically
every state in the union. And her
death came only after her dream had
been realized that an amendment to
the constitution of the United States,
granting equal suffrage rights to
women, should be adopted in Con-
gress.
Doctor Shaw visited Kansas fire.
| quently and was in the thick of the
fight which brought suffrage to the
women of Kansas, carrying the ban
ner of Susan B. Anthony.
Spent Girlhood in Wilderness.
In her girlhood she lived with her
parents in the Michigan wilderness
forty miles from a postoffice and a
hundred miles from a railroad. sta TT
ing her career as a school teacher
who walked eight miles a day and
received 81 a week. Her home was
poverty stricken log cabin built by
her father, who was compelled to
leave his wife and children at the
mercy of the Indians and wild ami
mails while he earned livelihood for
them.
The hardships of her early life
fitted Doctor Shaw for the strenuous
campaigns in later years in the cause
of suffrage. Even when she had be-
come physically feeble, Doctor Shaw
never would ride in suffrage parade.
Always she would walk
Studied for Ministry.
After studying at Albion college
from 1872 to 1875 she was graduated
from the Boston School of Theology in
1873. paying her way thru school and
college by preaching and lecturing.
During this period she lived in an at
tic in Boston. On account of her sex
the New England conference refused
to ordain her but in the same year she
had the honor Of being ordained by
the Methodist Protestant church In
her struggles to become a minister she
fought against ridicule, dissension and
a lack of the barest necessities.
After seven years service IS preach
er to a small flock at East Dennis
Mass, Doctor Shaw resigned from the
\ pulpit to take up the fight for tenn.
j | perance. for suffrage and for social
purity. Her association with such
prominent women as Mary A Liver
more and Julia Ward Howe enlarged
Il her view of life and aroused enthu-
4 l-siasm for the cause of suffrage anc
liberty.
Miss Anthony Her Closest Friend.
Doctor Shaw first became a lecturer
. for the Massachusetts Women's Suf.
frage association. and from 1886 t.
1892 was national superintendent O.
/ franchise. On the resignation of Doc
tor Shaw's most intimate friend Mis-.
Susan Is. Anthony. in 1900. the presi
| dency of the National Womens Suf
frage association rested between Doc
tor Shaw and Mrs. Carrie B. Chapman
/. whom Miss Anthony finally chose a
the more experienced, while Docto
Shaw was made vice president a
= large. However, in 1904 Mrs. Chap
: man was compelled to resign on &C
s. count of i'll health. and Doctor Shaw
q succeeded her as president of the ma
a tional association from 1904 to 1915
Her administration was marked b!
4 unprecedented progress. The number
81 of suffrage workers increased from
! seventeen thousand to 100000; ont
81 campaign in ten years was replaced
4 by ten in one year; the expenditure
Il of the association increased from SIS.
I 600 to $4,000 annually; the number
n of states with full suffrage grew from
Y four to twelve while the whole suf
y frage movement changed from al
81 academic stage to vital politica
Il ] attention of "a
n tire nation.
The year 1912 was the banner yea
q for Doctor Shaw and the cause, whel
II Arizona. Kansas and Oregon receives
q full suffrage. During this year Docto
Shaw spoke in the principal cities il
II IL 80 IL a