Severance, Caroline M. Seymour (Caroline Maria Seymour), 1820-1914

Caroline Maria Seymour Severance, suffragist, reformer, and social activist, was born in Canadaigua, New York, in January 1820. In 1840 she married Theodoric Severance. The Severances first lived in Cleveland, Ohio, but moved to Boston in 1855. In 1868, Caroline Severance founded the New England Women's Club, the first women's club in the United States earning her the name "Mother of Clubs." The Severances moved to Los Angeles in 1875 where she continued her various reform work including Unitarianism, the development of kindergarten programs, socialism, suffrage, women's clubs, and women's rights. In 1911, when women won the right to vote in California, Caroline Severance was reportedly the first woman to register to vote. She died in Los Angeles in 1914 at the age of 94.

From the description of Papers of Caroline Maria Seymour Severance, 1830-1980 (bulk) 1860-1914. (Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens). WorldCat record id: 122565228

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