Dowsett, Wilhelmina Widemann, 1861-1929

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Wilhelmine Kekelaokalaninui Widemann Dowsett (March 28, 1861 – December 10, 1929) was a Native Hawaiian suffragist who helped organize the National Women's Equal Suffrage Association of Hawaii, the first women's suffrage club in the Territory of Hawaii in 1912. She actively campaigned for the rights of the women of Hawaii to vote prior to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920.

She was born on March 28, 1861, at Lihue, Kauai, the daughter of German immigrant and businessman Hermann A. Widemann and his Hawaiian wife Mary Kaumana Pilahiuilani. There was some disagreement about the exact royal descent of her mother after her death, although her mother's grandfather Kalawa was a retainer of the aliʻi of Kauai. Her father was a prominent politician of the Kingdom of Hawaii and a cabinet minister of the last queen Liliʻuokalani.

On April 30, 1888, she married John "Jack" McKibbin Dowsett (1862–1929), a grandson of the British Captain Samuel James Dowsett who settled in Hawaii in 1828. Their wedding at the St. Andrew's Cathedral in Honolulu was attended by members of the Hawaiian Royal Family including King Kalākaua, Queen Kapiʻolani, Princesses Liliʻuokalani and Kaʻiulani. Her husband became a successful businessman with interests in banking, fire insurance, the sugar industry and interisland steamers and became the largest shareholder of Waianae Sugar Company. He served as a Republican Senator in the Hawaii Territorial Legislature from 1905 to 1907 and served as an official on the Board of Agriculture and Foresty and the Board of Prison Inspectors. They had three children: Herbert Melville Kualii (1890–1969), Frank Llewellyn Lunalilo (1891–1962), and Alice Aileen Kekuiapoiwa Liliha (1898–1983).

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referencedIn Women making history : the 19th Amendment.
Relation Name
associatedWith National American Woman Suffrage Association corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
Lihue HI US
Honolulu HI US
Subject
Hawaiians
Suffragists
Women's suffrage
Occupation
Suffragists
Activity

Person

Birth 1861-03-28

Death 1929-12-10

Female

Americans,

Hawaiian

English

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