Clarina Irene (Howard) Nichols, 1810-1885

Clarina Irene Howard Nichols, a newspaper editor and woman's rights leader, was born on January 25, 1810, in West Townshend, Vermont, the eldest child of Chapin and Birsha (Smith) Howard. One of the early advocates of woman's equality, she campaigned in Vermont, Kansas, and California, and is credited with the incorporation of several woman's rights provisions in the state constitution of Kansas, provisions that secured for women property rights, equal guardianship of their children, and the right to vote in school district elections. She died in Potter Valley, California, on January 11, 1885. For more detailed accounts of her life, see Dictionary of American Biography ; Notable American Woman (1607-1950); and History of Woman Suffrage, vol. I, p. 171-200. Her papers (1854-1885) have been published in eight segments in The Kansas Historical Quarterly, vol. 39-40.