Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-07-03
DR.. AN|tK'll.. ;Jjii'li JiiHi; w.
DIES At AGE Of Il
One of the Country's Famous
Women-Was Honorary Pres
ident of National American
WOman's Suffrage Association
ILL ONLY A SHORT TIME
Her Activities Were of international
ScOpe-Prominent In War Work
Many World Celebrities Were In
cIuded Among Her Friends


Philadelphia. July 2.-Dr Anna How
ard Shaw, honorary president of the
| National American Womans Suffrage
association. died at her home in Moylan,
Penn. near here. at seven O'Clock this
evening. She was Il years old
DIR. Shaw was also chairman of the
woman's committee of the Council of Ma
ltional Defense and recently was awarded
the distinguished service medal for her
work during the war
She was taken i'll in Springfield, ILL.,
and about a month ago while on a lecture
tour with former president Taft and Pres
ident Lowell of Harvard University, in
the interests of the League of Nations
Pneumonia developed and for two weeks
she was confined to her room in a Spring
field hospital. She returned to her home
about the middle of June and apparently
had entirely recovered. Last Saturday
she drove to Philadelphia in her auto
mobile and upon her return said she was
feeling fine" She was taken suddenly
i'll again yesterday with a recurrence of
the disease and grew rapidly worse until
the end.
Her secretary, Miss Lucy +. Anthony
niece of Susan b. Anthony who was
with DR.. Shaw for thirty years. and two
nieces, the Misses Lulu and Grace Greene
were at her bedside when she died.
No arrangements for the funeral have
yet been made. They probably will be
announced tomorrow
! DIR. Shaw had been prominently iden-
tilted with the woman suffrage move
ment and was president of the National
American Woman Suffrage Association
Tn N act tya1, Gov, rIa
she declined a renom iuation and was
then elected honorary president. She
had spoken in every State in the union.
before many State legislatures and com
mittees of both houses of Congress in
the interest of suffrage. She was a mem
ber of the International Woman Suffrage
Alliance, international council of women
League 10 Enforce peace and National
Society for Broader Education.
DR.. Anna Howard Shaw came from Eng
land to this country. an unkno.Yn pioneer
, sirl Of four years ana throueh her own
, efforts eventually became the president of
, the National Womens Suffrage associa-
, ton. In her sirlhood she lived with her
parents immigrant family in a Michigan
wilderness 40 miles, from a postoffice and
a hundred miles from a railroad, starting
her career as a school teacher who walked
eight miles day and received four dot
lars week Herhome was a poverty
stricken log cabin built by her fathef
who was compelled to leave his wife ana
children at the mercy of Indians and wild
animals while he earned living for them.
From her Michigan home, Dr. Shaw
went to live with one of her married sis
ters in a northern town. After studying
, at Albion College from 1872 to 1875, she was
. graduated from the Boston School of
, Theology in 1873 paying her way through
school and college by preaching and lee
turing. She suffered extreme poverty dur
ing this period, living in an attic in Bos,
ton. on account of her sex she was re-
, fused ordination by the New England con-
, ference and by the general conference OF
. the Methodist Episcopal Church. but in
the same year had the honor of being the
) first woman ordained by the Methodist
Protestant Church. In her struggles to
become a minister she fought against ridi
!, Guile, dissension and lack of the baresr
? necessities.
, After seven years service as preacher
to a small flock at East Dennis, Mass
DR.. Shaw resigned from the pulpit to take
up the fight for temperance, for suffrage
, and for social purity. Her associa ton
through her preaching with such promi-
nent women as Mary A. Livermore and
Julia Ward Howe enlarged her view OF
life and aroused enthusiasm for the cause
l of suffrage and liberty,
DR. Shaw first became a lecturer for
the Massa chusetts Womens Suffrage
asspciation, and from 1886 to 1892 was
= national superintendent of franchise
, On the resignation of DR.. Shaw's most
intimate friend Miss Susan b. Anthony
in 1900, the presidency OF the National
X Women's Suffrage association rested be-
tween Dr. Shaw and Mrs. Carrie B
. Chapman, whom Miss Anthony finally
= chose as the most experienced, while
II DR.. Shaw was made vce-president at
n large. However, In lSo4 MIS- Chapmar
@ was compelled to resign on account OF
v III health, and DR.. Shaw succeeded hel
= as president Of the National association
h from 1904 to 1915
Her administration was marked with
unpreccdented progress. The number OF
;, suffrage workers increased from 1000 tc
200 900: one campaign in ten years was
d replaced by ten in one year; the expen'
= ditures of the association increased IRON
ii SIS, 900 to $4,000 annually; the number OF
l. States with full suffrage grew from foul
@ to T. while the whole suffrage move
ment changed from an academic stage
: to a vital political force arousing the
p attention OF the entire nation.
n The year 1872 was the banner veal
o for DIR. Shaw and the cause, when Ari
zona. Kansas and oregon received full
+ suffrage. During this year DR., Shaw
# spoke in the principal cities in each o
IS these States, making four or five speeche:
a day. and travelling in any sort of &
conveyance from freight cars to automo
biles.
MANY times during her earlier career
DIR. Shaw gave proof of her courageou:
and determined nature. On one occa'
sion the free religious group of which
% she WAS pastor wished to give a dane,
q on the night of the annual church fail
n and the intrepid little preacher wa'
a ! da,l,ged to threaten the whole congrega
Il ,ion with arrest to maintain her author
= itv As a country school teacher, sh'
\ nreached her first sermon at the suggen
n tion of a friend, rehearsing it to the
~ ,rees and stones in advance.
= While in Boston Or. Shaw reached the
~ noipt where she had not cent of money
:, no, the prospect of earning any. UneX
(Continued ON page four)