Woman's Suffrage Association of Dayton and Montgomery County

The years of the progressive era, from 1900 to 1917, were about to include many political, economic and social reforms in American life. The "Woman Suffrage" movement was one of these reforms, for progressives viewed it as a "viable means of achieving significant social reform". The term is applied to the right of a woman to vote for candidates for "public office and on all public questions, and to serve as elected government officials".

In the United States, the first great political movement in which women played a leading role after the American Revolution was the Abolitionist movement of the first half of the 19th century. Prominent women such as Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Stanton organized in 1848 the first Woman's Rights Convention which opened at Seneca Falls, New York, and held its concluding sessions at Rochester, New York. This and succeeding conventions over the next decade received the support of many prominent males such as Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, and witnessed the development of the celebrated collaboration between Mrs. Stanton and Susan Bronwell Anthony. Their joint leadership of the struggle for Woman Suffrage contributed greatly to the furtherance of the movement.

In Ohio, the suffrage movement developed slowly despite the fact that many prominent leaders such as Tom L. Johnson, Mayor of Cleveland, Samuel M. Jones, Mayor of Toledo, Washington Gladder, pastor of the first Congressional Church in Columbus, and John H. Patterson in Dayton, all had worked very hard to endorse woman suffrage during the progressive era. Ohio women first organized in April of 1850, at the second Woman's Rights Convention held in Salem, Ohio, where several resolutions were passed to have woman's rights incorporated into a new Constitution for Ohio. But the Constitutional Convention included no provisions for woman's rights, and with the coming of the Civil War, people's interests and priorities changed. After the Civil War, however, the Ohio State Woman's Suffrage Association was organized with Mrs. Frances M. Casement, from Cleveland, Ohio serving as the first president. In 1889, Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton from Portage County, Ohio, was elected as president of the State Woman Suffrage Association; she traveled throughout the state, helped organize fifteen local suffrage groups, including Dayton, and aided many other communities through correspondence.

In Dayton, a Woman's Suffrage Association was first formed January 12, 1869, in the county court house. Judge Samuel Boltin was elected president. The life of this organization was short, however. The last recorded minutes were April 4, 1871. In 1887, Dayton Equal Rights Association with Dr. Madge Dickson as president was formed. The organization adopted the Woman's Journal and the Woman's Tribune as their major reading material. However, Daytonians were unenthusiastic and after one year, this organization also failed. Apparently, Dayton women of that day were just as indifferent toward woman suffrage as other women in Ohio and the USA.

On June 11, 1912, many women met in Dayton YMCA to secure "the suffrage amendment to the Ohio Constitution". A suffragist from Boston by the name of Mrs. Mary Gay, came to Dayton to help organize a suffrage association. During this meeting Mrs. Oscar F. Davisson, wife of a prominent lawyer, was elected as president of the Woman's Suffrage Party of Montgomery County and remained in office until 1920 with the ratification of the 19th amendment. Mrs. Davisson was very highly respected, not only by Daytonians, but also by Mrs. Upton, who trusted her in many instances with secrets that she didn't reveal to the other members of the Executive Committee.

Many women from Dayton's upper class served in the Executive Committee, such as Mrs. James Robert and Mrs. Valentine Winters. Miss Electra C. Doren, daughter of the editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer, worked for the Dayton Public Library from 1880 until 1905, and in 1905 she became director of the library at Western Reserve University in Cleveland. She returned to Dayton after the flood of 1913 to help rebuild the library and stayed until the end of her life. She is credited with acquiring much of the present collection.

The Woman's Suffrage Party of Montgomery County had its headquarters at the Victoria Theater building in Dayton and met regularly; it had many committees to share the work and responsibility. Many speakers from all over the US were invited to speak in Dayton by Mrs. Davisson. The campaign efforts of 1912, however, failed; on September 3, only 24 out of 88 counties approved the Woman's Suffrage Amendment 23. Opposition came not only from the liquor and saloon interests and recalcitrant foreigners, but also from apathetic or outwardly antagonistic women. Many upper class voters were also opposed.

On October 2, 1912, the organization changed its name to "Woman's Suffrage Association of Dayton and Montgomery County". Mr. J. Patterson offered office space in the Schwind Building in downtown Dayton. Very little is known from late 1912 through most of 1913, probably because of the Great Flood of 1913. The campaign of 1914 for a new suffrage amendment to the Constitution met with the same fate as in 1912. The same reasons given for the defeat in 1912 applied in 1914 as well, except that the liquor interests were much more active in opposing equal suffrage in 1914. They reasoned that woman suffrage would give the prohibitionists even greater political power in their campaign to outlaw liquor.

In 1916, the electorate of Cleveland approved a suffrage amendment to the city charter, which allowed women to vote in all municipal elections and hold any municipal office. Subsequently, women obtained suffrage in Lakewood and Columbus. In 1917 there were high hopes that the Ohio legislature would pass a bill, introduced by Rep. James A. Reynolds, that would grant women suffrage for presidential elections.

The House of Representatives passed the Reynolds Bill by 72 to 50, but Montgomery County representatives, all Democrats, voted against it. Immediately after Senate passage of the Reynolds Bill, petitions were organized for a referendum on a new statute-to-be. Governor Cox signed the measure into law on Feb. 21, 1917. Suffragists took their case to the Ohio Supreme Court, but failed to stop the referendum, which on November 6, 1917, struck down the Reynolds Bill.

The women in Dayton and generally in Ohio were little discouraged, however, because the national movement was gaining success. Women of Dayton worked very hard for the State Association to help make money through their "White Elephant" sales and help terminate the debt of the state organization.

In 1918 the 19th amendment or so-called Susan B. Anthony Amendment had appeared before the House of Representatives and was passed by an exact two-thirds majority; however, Ohio's Representative Louis Gard voted against the bill. Later that year, the amendment failed by two votes to gain the required two-thirds majority in the Senate. But on June 4, 1919, on the third try, the Anthony Amendment was finally passed by the Senate. On June 16, 1919, the Ohio General Assembly ratified the 19th amendment by a vote of 74 to 5. On the same day, the Ohio Senate also ratified by a 27 to 3 vote. Both Houses also passed a presidential suffrage bill, again introduced by James A. Reynolds, which would ensure that Ohio women could vote in the 1920 presidential election even if the Anthony amendment was not ratified by the required thirty six states by then. The Montgomery County delegation in the Ohio General Assembly had several new faces as a result of the 1918 state elections, and these generally voted for ratification and for the Reynolds Facts Bill. But the fight was not over. On September 30, 1919, the Ohio Supreme Court decided that a referendum on the ratification of an amendment to the Federal Constitution was valid. But this was appealed to the US Supreme Court, which on June 19, 1920, ruled that there could be no state referendum on federal amendments.

Finally, on August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th amendment. Women's suffrage had become law.

The League of Women Voters, essentially an organization devoted to political education, was introduced by Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the American Woman Suffrage Association at the convention of the National American Woman's Suffrage Association in St. Louis, March 24-29, 1919. Formal organization of the National League of Women Voters took place in Chicago on February 14, 1920, in conjunction with the Victory Convention of the National American Woman's Suffrage Association. Ms. Catt conducted the first national citizenship school right after the convention and many such schools were held everywhere in the nation. The organization also conducted a nationwide campaign calling for an international disarmament conference by President Warren G. Harding.

The local League of Dayton came into existence in 1921, under the name of "Women Voters of Dayton and Montgomery County". It followed the organization of the National League in 1920, as part of the great movement undertaken by the women of Dayton, including Mrs. O. F. Davisson, who had been working for suffrage in order to equip the newly enfranchised women to use a ballot intelligently. The first President of this organization was Mrs. N. M. Stanley(1920-32), and Mrs. Davisson was first Vice President with field secretary Miss. Charlotte Mary Conover, daughter of Mrs. Charlotte Reeve Conover. Mrs. Stanley who had been active in the suffrage movement, later became president of the Ohio League of Women Voters and during World War I headed the women's division of the Liberty Loan campaign in Ohio. People referred to her as "the real moving spirit in the suffrage cause."

The organization was strictly non-partisan and open to women from all parties. The stated goals of this organization were to promote education in citizenship, public welfare, efficiency in government and international co-operation to prevent war. The local group worked steadily toward these goals, carrying out the policies adopted by the National League of Women Voters and co-operating with all the other local leagues in Ohio as an integral part of the Ohio League of Women Voters. In 1921, the League of Colored Women Voters was organized and Mrs. Bertie Ellis of Homestead Ave. was chairman.

In Dayton, the League of Women Voters was involved in a number of programs and studies such as citizenship schools, county reorganization projects, city budget surveys, relief surveys, consumer projects, questionnaires, lecture series, trained personnel projects and radio projects. One of the best known speakers the League brought to Dayton was Judge Florence E. Allen, the first woman to win a place on the state supreme bench; she came to Dayton April 21, 1923, and spoke against war. Also, Ms. Carrie Chapman Catt came to Dayton February 3, 1925, and spoke for peace.

Among the monthly bulletins the Dayton League of Women Voters published were the Dayton Voter (1957-1962), the Dayton Woman Citizen (1922-1955), the Dayton Woman Voter (1955-1957), and the Voter (1969-present).

On April 20-29, 1922, the 3rd Annual National Convention and Pan American Conference took place in Baltimore, attended by 1200 women representing 22 countries of the Western hemisphere. The conference was called by Mrs. Maud Wood Park, president of the National League of Women Voters, to consider questions pertaining to education, child welfare, and the status of women since the passage of the 19th amendment Officers of the Dayton branch of the League of Women Voters who attended by invitation of President Harding were: Mrs. N. M. Stanley, Mrs. Oliver D. Houck, Miss Charlotte Mary Conover, Miss Ella M. Haas, and Mrs. Joseph H. Crane.

Radio programs sponsored by the League were broadcast regularly over several area stations, including WSMK, WLW, WHIO, and WING. These were designed to increase public interest in voter issues and in various civic projects.

The active participation of women from the Dayton/Montgomery County area in both the Woman's Suffrage movement and the League of Women Voters is attested to by the enormous amount of material in both of the collections. Together they form a valuable record of a continuing story of the progress of our female citizens toward full participation in the political life of our city, our state, and our nation.

From the guide to the Woman's Suffrage Association and League of Women Voters, 1867-1998, (Dayton Metro Library)