A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A.L. Abbott (1833-1907) [Twin Brooks / Milbank, Grant County] and his wife Adaline served as delegates to the 1890 Grant County suffrage convention; at which, he was elected second vice-president of the county organization and appointed to the executive committee for Twin Brooks township [The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), August 8, 1890]. Austin Leroy Abbott was born in New York in 1833, raised in Michigan, served in the Civil War, and then moved from Michigan to Iowa to Minnesota before arriving to homestead in Grant County, Dakota Territory in 1879 [The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), November 17, 1905, March 15, 1907; “Austin Leroy Abbott,” Findagrave.com; E.D. Neill, History of the Minnesota Valley: Including the Explorers and Pioneers (Minneapolis, North Star Publishing Co., 1882), 997]. When he came to Grant County, he was one of the first pioneer business men, and was in real estate, money lending, and a retail merchant, while also serving a time as judge of probate for the county [Grant County Herald (Milbank SD), October 23, 1880, April 22, 1881; The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), September 23, 1892, September 29, 1893, November 1, 1895, October 1, 1897, April 12, 1901; Neill, History of the Minnesota Valley, 997]. He was also involved with the A.F. & A.M. and the Grand Army of the Republic [The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), April 20, 1894, March 22, 1895, June 15, 1900].
Adaline M. Abbott (1836-1931) [Twin Brooks / Milbank, Grant County] and her husband Austin served as delegates to the 1890 Grant County suffrage convention [The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), August 8, 1890]. Adaline M. Hougland was born in Indiana, and was involved with the Women’s Relief Corps, the Methodist church, and, during WWI, the Red Cross–she made the news for knitting 100 pairs of socks in a year [The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), September 8, 1893, January 19, 1900, July 25, 1913, August 23, 1918; “Adaline M. Abbott,” Findagrave.com].
H.T. Abbott (-1903) [Milbank, Grant County] and his wife were Milbank delegates to the Grant County Equal Suffrage Association convention on August 1, 1890, and were named to the county executive committee. H.T. Abbott was also named as a township/precinct officer for Milbank Ward 3 [The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), August 8, 1890]. Abbott was involved with the G.A.R. and served a term as a judge of election. In 1891, he ran a plant nursery business, and in 1894 was doing some stone work. He later moved to Minneapolis and then to Anamoose, N.D. where he died and was buried [The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), December 19, 1890, December 25, 1891, April 15, 1892, April 20, 1894, January 10, 1896, November 27, 1903; “H.T. Abbott,” Findagrave.com].
Mrs. H.T. Abbott () [Milbank, Grant County] and her husband were Milbank delegates to the Grant County Equal Suffrage Association convention on August 1, 1890, and were named to the county executive committee. Abbott and Mrs. G. Merritt were also named to the committee to do canvas work in the Milbank Ward 3 precinct [The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), August 8, 1890]. Mrs. Abbott’s maiden name was Tubbs, and her family was from Wisconsin [The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), May 3, 1895]. Mrs. Abbott was also involved with the W.C.T.U. and the Women’s Relief Corps [The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), September 14, 1894, January 4, 1895, January 22, 1897].
O.A. Abeel (1849-1916) [Alcester, Union County] signed on as president of a local suffrage association in Centerville (Turner Co.) in the spring of 1890 and as an auditor for the Union County Equal Suffrage Association organized by Henrietta Moore in October 1897 [The Woman’s Journal (Boston MA), April 19, 1890, p.124, Schlesinger Library, Harvard University; Tollefson to Williams, September 11, 1898, 2021-04-13-0036 to -0039, Box 6676 , Folder 10, WCTU & Suffrage Correspondence – September 1898, Folder 1, and Letter to Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt from Alice A. Tollefson, December 26, 1897, 2021-05-06-0078 to -0081, Box 6676, Folder 24, WCTU SD Equal Suffrage Association Records – 1898 Campaign, H91-74, Pickler Collection, SD State Archives; Union County Courier (Elk Point SD), October 21, 1897]. Orlin A. Abeel came to Dakota Territory in 1886, served terms as Turner County treasurer while living in Centerville/Parker, and worked as a teacher then an editor of the Alcester Union and a banker. He was also long involved with the local Republican party committees in Turner and Union Counties. His wife, Edith L., was involved with the W.C.T.U., and Orlin was the president of a law enforcement league formed in 1908 to try and enforce prohibition laws. He died in 1916 in Missouri and was buried in Alcester [Union County Courier (Elk Point SD), June 27, 1888, December 5, 1888, September 8, 1904–September 10, 1908, September 7, 1905; Turner County Herald (Hurley SD), August 21, 1890, January 8, 1891, December 15, 1892, August 16, 1894, January 16, 1896, March 24, 1904; Dakota Farmers’ Leader (Canton SD), August 3, 1894; The Citizen-Republican (Scotland SD), March 26, 1908, September 7, 1911; Mitchell Capital (SD), September 28, 1916; “Orlin A. Abeel,” Findagrave.com].
Cornelia Acker [Leola, McPherson County] was mentioned in Dorinda Reed, The Woman Suffrage Movement in South Dakota, page 122. She served as county chair during the 1918 campaign and, in her initial conversations, she reported a good response except from members of the German Russian community [Pyle to county chairs, January 28, 1918, RD07614, correspondence 1918-01, and Acker to Pyle, February 20, 1918, RD07820, correspondence 1918-02-19 to 1918-02-28, Pyle papers USD]. Searching through Google Books, it seems her husband Clive S. Acker was an attorney and town clerk.
* Irene G. Adams (1839-1931) [Webster, Day County] was vice-president and president of SD Equal Suffrage Association from 1890 to 1892. More in link.
James C. Adams (1842-1902) [Webster, Day County] spoke for equal rights and suffrage at the South Dakota Press Association Meeting in August 1890 [Woman’s Column (Boston MA), August 9, 1890, Page 48 : From South Dakota, Emma Smith DeVoe: 1880-1890 (Scrapbook D), WSL Manuscripts, MS 171, Box 10; The Woman’s Journal (Boston MA), July 26, 1890, p.250, Schlesinger Library, Harvard University]. James was born in Virginia, came to Iowa with his parents where his father was a doctor. Having served in the Illinois 41st infantry regiment of the Union Army during the Civil War, he worked as a Republican newspaper publisher in Mississippi (where he was ushered out by KKK harassment), Iowa, and finally Webster, Dakota Territory in 1883. The Adams’ ran the Reporter and Farmer, and homesteaded a claim. His first wife Elizabeth Demon died in 1885 [Bio of son William S.D. Adams in Kingsbury, History of Dakota Territory, vol. 5 (1915), 1029-1030]. He married Irene Drake Galloway in 1887 [The Herald (Milbank SD), December 23, 1887; Bio of W.S.D. Adams in Kingsbury, vol. 5 1029-1030]. In addition to the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Grand Army of the Republic, and the Republican party, he was also active in the statehood movement and the territorial/state Press Association [Bio of W.S.D. Adams in Kingsbury, vol. 5 1029-1030; Mitchell Capital (SD), May 14, 1886, September 14, 1888; Hot Springs Star (SD), June 24, 1887, August 21, 1891; Kimball Graphic (SD), August 5, 1887; Madison Daily Leader (SD), June 11, 1890, June 17, 1892, July 29, 1892; Daily Plainsman (Huron, SD), October 13, 1890; The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), August 12, 1892]. He was appointed to chair the commission that negotiated the opening of unallotted lands on the Yankton Reservation for white settlement [Mitchell Capital (SD), March 13, 1891; Madison Daily Leader (SD), April 4, 1893]. The Adams’ moved to Iowa in 1891/1893 [Bio of W.S.D. Adams in Kingsbury, vol. 5 1029-1030].
Lillian Adams (1869-1955) [Sioux Falls] was involved with the Sioux Falls franchise league in 1916 and the League of Women Voters in 1923-1926. In 1925, she was third vice-president of the county League [Argus-Leader (Sioux Falls, SD), October 20, 1916, August 17, 1923, December 1, 1923, August 26, 1924, December 11, 1924, January 1, 1925, January 15, 1925, May 13, 1926, March 30, 1927; Huron Daily Huronite (SD), December 9, 1916]. Adams was married to Richard Adams, a live stock buyer [city directories and census records on Ancestry.com; “Lillian Adams,” Findagrave.com].
Rev. A.W. Adkinson (1851-1926) (Mitchell, Davison County) was part of an early committee to organize local suffrage campaign work in November 1889, did outreach in his county throughout the campaign, and was an attendee at the 1890 state conventions in Huron in July and Mitchell in August [Mitchell Capital (SD), November 22, 1889, August 1, 1890; Page 44 : The Convention, Emma Smith DeVoe: 1880-1890 (Scrapbook D), WSL Manuscripts, MS 171, Box 10; Wessington Springs Herald (SD), September 5, 1890; Sommer, “Dakota Resources: The Pickler Family Papers (1994), 129]. At Huron, he made the motion to create the committee that met with the state officers, ending in their resignations [The Daily Plainsman (Huron, SD), July 10, 1890]. At Mitchell, he served on the committees on courtesies and platform, and gave an address of welcome at the beginning of the convention [Includes quoted remarks, Mitchell Capital (SD), August 29, 1890; Wessington Springs Herald (SD), September 5, 1890; “Page 31 : Program from 1890 South Dakota Equal Suffrage Mass Convention,” “Page 49 : Entire Page,” “Page 50 : Entire Page,” Emma Smith DeVoe: 1880-1890 (Scrapbook D), WSL Manuscripts, MS 171, Box 10]. After the suffragists’ appearance at the state Republican convention, viewed as an insulting experience by several of the national speakers, Adkinson commented that: “On the whole the friends of equal suffrage are well satisfied with the work of the republicans. While they did not get what they asked for, they are gratified with the feeling of the majority of the delegates on that subject” [Mitchell Capital (SD), September 5, 1890].
More on the SDESA appeals to the 1890 party conventions.
Adkinson had worked in Huron until being transferred to Mitchell in 1887 [Life in Early Huron, Part 1: Churches and Religion (SD Writer’s Project, 1942), 48]. The Adkinson’s later moved to Long Beach and Los Angeles, California, where he served as the Los Angeles district presiding elder [The Record-Union (Sacramento CA), September 27, 1899; Los Angeles Herald (CA), January 24, 1905; “Rev Alvah W. Adkinson,” Findagrave.com].
Kate Luella Cassell Adkinson (1857-1935) [Mitchell, Davison County] was part of an early committee to organize local suffrage campaign work in November 1889 [Mitchell Capital (SD), November 22, 1889]. The Adkinson’s later moved to Long Beach and Los Angeles, California, where her husband served as the Los Angeles district presiding elder [The Record-Union (Sacramento CA), September 27, 1899; Los Angeles Herald (CA), January 24, 1905; “Kate Luella Cassell Adkinson,” Findagrave.com]. She was active in the Women’s Home Missionary Society and a ministers’ wives association [Los Angeles Herald (CA), March 26, 1907, September 27, 1908].
James A. Affleck [Brule County] was treasurer at the organization of a suffrage society organized after an address by Julia B. Nelson at the Methodist church in Kimball [Kimball Graphic (SD), June 6, 1890]. Affleck was an auctioneer, and a justice of the peace [Kimball Graphic (SD), March 28, 1884, April 29, 1892].
Rev. J.S. Akers () [Northville, Spink County] was described as “an earnest suffragist” who on March 14, 1890 cut his Methodist services short after his sermon to let Emma Smith DeVoe speak on suffrage to the congregation. He also signed on as president of the local suffrage organization that formed after her talk [“Page 27 : Among the Workers,” and “Page 28 : Organizations in Spink County,” Emma Smith DeVoe: 1880-1890 (Scrapbook D), WSL Manuscripts, MS 171, Box 10]. Akers later served as presiding elder for the Aberdeen district from 1892 to 1898 [Turner County Herald (Hurley SD), November 3, 1892; The State Democrat (Aberdeen SD), October 28, 1898].
Miss Albright (Burkmere, Faulk County) was treasurer of the Burkmere suffrage club [Citing Faulk County Record, Thursday, May 22, 1890, in Faulk County Newspaper Excerpts, SD Genealogy Trails].
Rev. Edwin Hyde Alden (1836-1911) [Athol, Spink County] signed on as secretary of the Athol equal suffrage association organized at the visit of Emma Smith DeVoe on March 13, 1890, and was a speaker at the county convention held in Frankfort on the 21nd [“Page 27 : Among the Workers,” Redfield Journal (SD), March 28, 1890 in “Page 28 : Equal Suffrage Convention,” Frankfort Advocate (SD), March 17, 1890 in “Page 28 : County Convention,” and “Page 28 : Organizations in Spink County,” Emma Smith DeVoe: 1880-1890 (Scrapbook D), WSL Manuscripts, MS 171, Box 10]. Rev. E. H. Alden organized the Athol Congregational Church in 1881 and built a one-room church and a school for the community. Alden was born in 1836 in Vermont and attended seminary in Bangor, Maine. He came to Minnesota and South Dakota through the church’s Home Missionary Society, which provided pastors to serve and organize congregations in the territories. In Dakota Territory, he worked in Athol and Ree Heights, and as Indian Agent at Fort Berthold. In 1890-1891, he returned to Vermont [History of the United Church of Christ in South Dakota, 1869-1976 (1977), 122; Donald Parker, Early Churches and Towns in South Dakota (1964), 96; Daniel D. Peterson, A Chronicle of Walnut Station – Walnut Grove (2012), 1972 (includes photos); “Rev Edwin Hyde Alden,” Findagrave.com; “Robert Alden,” Wikipedia].
Laura Alderman (1852-1936) [Hurley, Turner County] was involved with the Hurley suffrage association and edited a newspaper column about suffrage in the 1890 campaign; she was elected superintendent for suffrage for her county W.C.T.U. in 1895 and 1896; she helped organize a county convention at Parker for the National American Women Suffrage Association in 1897; and she was president of the Hurley suffrage club in 1898. In 1890, her column was regularly in the Parker New Era, but she wrote to Libbie Wardall that the Herald in Hurley would only print material for a fee. Alderman’s primary occupation was running the Alderman Fruit Farm [Turner County Herald (Hurley SD), April 10, 1890, April 17, 1890, May 22, 1890, September 11, 1890, pg.1, pg.4, September 18, 1890; October 2, 1890; October 9, 1890; October 16, 1890; October 23, 1890; October 30, 1890, August 29, 1895, August 6, 1896, August 20, 1896, November 18, 1897; Dakota Ruralist, September 20, 1890, “Page 50 : Entire Page,” Emma Smith DeVoe: 1880-1890 (Scrapbook D), WSL Manuscripts, MS 171, Box 10; Letter to Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt from Julia Sterling, January 21, 1898, #2021-05-06-0046 to -0048, Box 6676, Folder 24, WCTU SD Equal Suffrage Association Records – 1898 Campaign, and Letter to Mrs. E.M. Wardall from Laura A. Alderman, August 2, 1890, #2021-01-20-0053, Box 6674, Folder 1, WCTU Suffrage Correspondence 1890: A-C, H91-74, Pickler Papers, SD State Archives].
Alderman’s primary occupation was running the Alderman Fruit Farm. Julia Sterling of Parker described her as “one of the pioneers of the state and has established her reputation for enterprise by being the proprietor and sole operator of the largest apple orchard in the state of South Dakota” [As above: Sterling to Catt, January 21, 1898, Pickler Papers].
See also my earlier post The Queen of Orchardists.
Clara D. Aldrich (1854-) [Philip, Haakon County] was elected treasurer of the Philip suffrage club organized in April 1910 after a visit by Lydia B. Johnson and hosted meetings of the local equal franchise league in the 1914 campaign as well [Bad River News (SD), April 14, 1910; Philip Weekly Review and Bad River News (SD), July 30, 1914, November 5, 1914]. She and her husband came from Canistota SD to homestead in 1906 [Hot Springs Weekly Star (SD), March 9, 1906 and others]. In Philip, she ran the Philip House hotel in 1907 and then a furniture store [Bad River News (Philip SD), December 13, 1906, February 28, 1907, October 3, 1907; Philip Weekly Review (SD), August 23, 1907; The Pioneer (Philip SD), October 25, 1917, November 22, 1917]. In 1914, she ran for school district treasurer [Philip Weekly Review and Bad River News (SD), June 11, 1914]. She was also active for a long time with the Presbyterian church’s ladies’ aid organization and with the Red Cross [Bad River News (Philip SD), September 17, 1908; Philip Weekly Review and Bad River News (SD), March 6, 1913; The Pioneer (Philip SD), October 18, 1917]. She moved back to Canistota in 1917 and in 1918 married Jameson Graham [The Pioneer (Philip SD), October 25, 1917, November 22, 1917; Philip Weekly Review (SD), May 9, 1918].
William H. Alexander () [Burdette, Hand County] signed on as treasurer of an equal suffrage association formed at Emma Smith DeVoe’s visit to Burdette in the winter of 1889 [“Page 10 : Equal Suffrage,” and “Page 10 : Enthusiastic Equal Suffrage Meeting,” Emma Smith DeVoe: 1880-1890 (Scrapbook D), WSL Manuscripts, MS 171, Box 10]. William and Anna Alexander had filed homestead and timber culture claims on 320 acres (160 acres each) in Hand County in 1890 and 1892 respectively [BLM-GLO search results, 1885 Territorial census, Ancestry.com].
Carrie Hanna Allbee (1869-) [Mellette, Spink County] was involved with the temperance movement, working with Alice Pickler and others, and spoke in 1914 at the Lake Madison Chautauqua during W.C.T.U. day on the outlook for equal suffrage in her district [Black Hills Union and Western Stock Review (Rapid City SD), October 23, 1908; Sioux City Journal (IA), April 8, 1914; Madison Daily Leader (SD), June 17, 1914].
Frank M. Allen (1844-1891) [Sturgis, Meade County] signed on as president of the local suffrage league formed after the visit of Emma Smith DeVoe to the Methodist church in Sturgis in May 1890 [Sturgis Advertiser (SD), May 15, 1890; and in “Page 35 : Entire Page,” and Sturgis Weekly Record (SD), May 19, 1890, “Page 36 : Entire Page,” Emma Smith DeVoe: 1880-1890 (Scrapbook D), WSL Manuscripts, MS 171, Box 10]. Born in Kentucky and a Civil War veteran and amputee, Allen had come to Deadwood in the summer of 1876 to work as agent of the Standard Oil company and later opened a merchandise business with P.E. Sparks at Central City. They opened a store in Sturgis in 1882 (or 1886). He was active in the Republican party and served on the county commission. In business, he also had interests in banks, mining corporations, railroad, and ranching companies. In 1885, he married Louise Ackerman in Boston. They moved to Hot Springs in late 1890-early 1891, potentially for his health, and Allen worked in real estate and finance [Press and Daily Dakotaian (Yankton SD), May 20, 1880; Black Hills Daily Times (Deadwood, SD), September 3, 1885; Sturgis Advertiser (SD), May 30, 1888, June 20, 1888, September 19, 1888, January 10, 1889, January 24, 1889, April 10, 1889, April 17, 1889, August 29, 1889, September 25, 1890; Hot Springs Star (SD), December 12, 1890, February 13, 1891, April 10, 1891; Black Hills Weekly Journal (Rapid City, SD), April 10, 1891; Weekly Pioneer-Times (Deadwood, SD), August 19, 1915; biographical information for Lawrence County as found in A. T. Andreas’ “Historical Atlas of Dakota”, 1884].
John Allen [Tilford, Meade County] signed on as president of the local suffrage league organized at Allen’s school house in May 1890 [Tilford, May 23, 1890, “Page 35 : Entire Page,” and The Dakota Ruralist (Aberdeen SD), June 14, 1890, “Page 37 : Entire Page,” Emma Smith DeVoe: 1880-1890 (Scrapbook D), WSL Manuscripts, MS 171, Box 10]. There was a John W. Allen who filed at 160-acre land patent around Tilford in December 1883 [4N-6E-20, northwest quarter, BLM-GLO Records]. And a John W. Allen who came to the Black Hills in 1875, working heavily in mining, being in early Rapid City, then went to Deadwood, and then the gold mines in Alaska [Tallent, Black Hills, 169].
Mrs. John Allen [Tilford, Meade County] signed on as organizer of the local suffrage league organized at Allen’s school house in May 1890 [Tilford, May 23, 1890, “Page 35 : Entire Page,” and The Dakota Ruralist (Aberdeen SD), June 14, 1890, “Page 37 : Entire Page,” Emma Smith DeVoe: 1880-1890 (Scrapbook D), WSL Manuscripts, MS 171, Box 10]. A Mrs. J.W. Allen talked during a district Farmers’ Alliance at a picnic above Canyon Lake [Black Hills Weekly Journal (Rapid City, SD), July 17, 1891].
Joseph Allen (1825-1898) [Hurley, Turner County] participated in a debate held by the equal suffrage association, speaking on the negative side (I don’t know whether by conviction, or was just assigned to the position as a member of the club) [Turner County Herald (Hurley SD), April 24, 1890]. Allen was an early “pioneer” of South Dakota who came from England with his wife Fanny and their children in 1873. He had a dry goods store but also sold farm machinery, sold real estate, made loans, etc. He served several political positions including on the town board, as county commissioner, state legislator, justice of the peace, and was active in the statehood movement [Turner County Herald (Hurley SD), September 13, 1883, January 15, 1885, February 10, 1887, June 2, 1887, May 9, 1889, October 1, 1896, May 1, 1913; Press and Daily Dakotaian (Yankton SD), May 15, 1886, April 2, 1887, October 23, 1888, January 3, 1889; Süd Dakota Nachrichten (Sioux Falls SD), April 21, 1898; Dakota Farmers’ Leader (Canton SD), April 22, 1898].
Julia G. Allen (1869-) [Brookings, Brookings County] organized an Anti-suffrage club in 1898 [Paula M. Nelson, “Home and Family First: Women and Political Culture,” in Jon K. Lauck et al. eds. The Plains Political Tradition: Essays on South Dakota Political Culture, vol. 1 (Pierre: South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2011), 141]. Her husband, Charles F. Allen, was the editor, publisher, owner of the Brookings County Press newspaper [for instance: Madison Daily Leader (SD), November 16, 1897, March 29, 1898; Mitchell Capital (SD), November 6, 1903].
Letta S. Allen [Jordan] (1886-1918) [Philip, Haakon County] hosted the equal franchise league in October 1914 [Philip Weekly Review and Bad River News (SD), October 22, 1914]. Letta Sylva Allen was born in Minnesota came to Philip with her mother and sister in 1913 for her health. She married Silas Eugene Jordan in May 1918, but in November, she passed away of influenza and pneumonia, a week and a half after her husband’s passing [Philip Weekly Review (SD), May 9, 1918; The Pioneer (Philip SD), May 9, 1918, November 14, 1918].
Mattie Allen [Hot Springs, Fall River County] signed on as secretary of the local suffrage league organized at Emma Smith DeVoe’s visit in May 1890 [Hot Springs Star (SD), May 30, 1890; Minnekahta Herald (Hot Springs SD), May 28, 1890, “Page 36 : Entire Page,” and The Dakota Ruralist (Aberdeen SD), June 14, 1890, “Page 37 : Entire Page,” Emma Smith DeVoe: 1880-1890 (Scrapbook D), WSL Manuscripts, MS 171, Box 10]. Allen and her sister Lucy Wilson were teachers [Frank D. Myers, “Eveline Allen allocates the family silverware,” Lucas Countyan blog, October 29, 2018]. Allen taught stenography and typewriting at Black Hills College [Hot Springs Star (SD), July 3, 1891].
Truman Ames (1851-) [Elk Point, Union County] was named the auditor for the Union County Equal Suffrage Association when it was formed in October 1897, then became president in November when Abbie Bruce resigned. In December, the association met in his office and home [Union County Courier (Elk Point SD), October 21, 1897, November 11, 1897, November 25, 1897, and December 2, 1897]. Truman Ames was an abstrater and attorney from Illinois. He, his wife Nellie, and their two sons moved to Elk Point in 1892. He became active in the Republican party and became the assistant states attorney with the specific task to enforce prohibition [Union County Courier (Elk Point SD), July 29, 1892, July 21, 1893, January 17, 1895, July 18, 1895, August 29, 1895, February 27, 1896; Kimball Graphic (SD), July 20, 1895; Memorial and Biographical Record of Turner, Lincoln, Union and Clay Counties, South Dakota (Chicago: Geo. A. Ogle & CO., 1897), http://genealogytrails.com/sdak/union/bio2.html].
C.S. Amsden (1856-1943) [Madison Township, Grant County] signed on with Louis Schroeder as a township leader for the Grant County Equal Suffrage Association at their August 1890 county convention [The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), August 8, 1890]. Cassus Silas Amsden was born in Wisconsin, was an early settler in Grant County in 1878, served two terms as county school superintendent, served other township and county offices, was active in the Republican party (and briefly the Independents in the early-1890s), was a stock buyer by profession, and was a state senator from 1904 to 1928 and state representative from 1931-1932 and 1938-1942 [For instance: The Herald (Milbank SD), November 7, 1884, November 12, 1886, October 12, 1888; The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), March 4, 1892, June 10, 1892, September 23, 1892, January 20, 1899, September 19, 1902, November 18, 1904, March 23, 1906, March 12, 1909, August 4, 1911, January 19, 1917, March 15, 1918, January 17, 1919, May 10, 1922; Argus-Leader (Sioux Falls SD), January 20, 1945; “C.S. Amsden,” Wikipedia; Grant County Historical Society, 100 Years in Grant County South Dakota 1878-1978, quoted in “Cassius Silas Amsden,” Findagrave.com].
Mr. Anderson [Horse Butte] assisted Rose Bower’s campaign tour through the west-central counties [Woman’s West of the River Suffrage Number, Rapid City Daily Journal (SD), October 26, 1914].
Mrs. Anderson [Sturgis, Meade County] was named one of six vice-presidents of the Sturgis suffrage club organized at the visit of Emma Smith DeVoe in May 1890 [Sturgis Advertiser (SD), May 15, 1890; Sturgis Weekly Record (SD), May 19, 1890, “Page 36 : Entire Page,” Emma Smith DeVoe: 1880-1890 (Scrapbook D), WSL Manuscripts, MS 171, Box 10]. [Anderson is such a common name, I haven’t found anything more to pursue biographical research.]
Mrs. C. Anderson [Harmony Township, Spink County] was secretary of the Harmony township suffrage club formed during the 1890 campaign [“Page 43 : Entire Page,” Emma Smith DeVoe: 1880-1890 (Scrapbook D), WSL Manuscripts, MS 171, Box 10]. [Charles and Mary C. Anderson were listed in Harmony Township in the 1900 census.]
Mrs. Charles Anderson [Central City, Lawrence County] was treasurer of the local suffrage club organized after a speech by Emma Smith DeVoe in Central City [Deadwood Pioneer (SD), May 13, 1890, “Page 34 : Mrs. DeVoe Lectures at Central City,” Emma Smith DeVoe: 1880-1890 (Scrapbook D), WSL Manuscripts, MS 171, Box 10].
Clara Anderson (Chamberlain, Brule County) served as chair of the county campaign committee early in 1918 but would only accept chairmanship temporarily; she was also serving as chair of local efforts for the Woman’s Committee of the South Dakota Council of National Defense [Pidgeon to Pyle, March 5, 1918, RD08088, correspondence 1918-03-01 to 1918-03-11, Pyle papers USD].
Minnie Anderson (1877-1947) [Sturgis, Meade County] attended the Jane Addams lecture in Deadwood in October 1914 [Daily Deadwood Pioneer-Times (SD), October 15, 1914]. Minnie VanKoughnet of Rapid City married Albert Anderson in 1899 [Hot Springs Weekly Star (SD), September 29, 1899; Black Hills Union (Rapid City SD), September 29, 1899]. She was involved with the Presbyterian Ladies’ Aid [Black Hills Union and Western Stock Review (Rapid City SD), August 14, 1908]. Her husband, a hardware merchant, served many years on the state Board of Regents [Pierre Weekly Free Press (SD), September 12, 1907, September 16, 1915; “Albert M. Anderson,” Findagrave.com quoting Kingsbury, History of Dakota Territory, vol. 4 (1915); “Minnie Anderson,” Findagrave.com].
Ida M. Anding [McNeil] (1888-1974) [Pierre, Hughes County] was one of the women who organized the Hughes County League of Women Voters and one of eight women who became department heads at the organization of a South Dakota League of Women Voters in Huron in June 1919. As Legislative Reference librarian, she reported on the legislation passed that had particular interest for women [Schuler, Pierre since 1910, 220; The Woman Citizen 4 (August 23, 1919), 291; (September 27, 1919), 434]. Anding was chief clerk and then legislative reference librarian of the state historical department in Pierre from 1906 until 1921, when she married Dana McNeil [Pierre Weekly Free Press (SD), September 28, 1911; Rosemary Evetts, “Dakota Images: Ida Anding McNeil,” South Dakota History 11(2) (1981)]. As reference librarian, Anding had provided N.A.W.S.A. with election and legislative statistics in the winter of 1915-1916 [Ida M. Anding, legislative reference librarian, to Mary Sumner Boyd, NAWSA NY, December 7, 1915, RA07454; January 17, 1916, RA07455, RA07456, RA07457; and March 15, 1916, RA07459, RA07460, Box 1, Correspondence, 1910, April – 1916, December, Pyle Papers, USD]. In 1927, she received a commercial license for KGFX radio, having started by broadcasting to her rail conductor husband on an amateur radio. In 1962, she retired from the station and moved to Rapid City [Evetts, “Dakota Images: Ida Anding McNeil”].
I haven’t done research in these files yet, but wanted to share that the SD State Archives’ Audio Collection has material from McNeil: “Radio Broadcast and Interview with Ida McNeil,” H2009-064.
Bonnie F. Andrews [Brookings/Sisseton] was an “enthusiastic suffragist” who spoke with Mrs. Olmstead at a union meeting of the Brookings suffrage campaign committee [Letter from Cecily J. Tinsley to Jane Breeden, Feb. 19, 1910, RD06590, correspondence 1910, Breeden papers USD; Page 4, Bulletin – votes for women, c1910, RA08427, Pyle Papers USD]. Andrews was an English instructor at the agricultural college at Brookings, served as county superintendent of schools for Roberts County, and later taught also at Drake University in Des Moines [Sisseton Weekly Standard (SD), December 5, 1913, January 2, 1914, image 5, image 8, October 23, 1914, November 6, 1914; The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), June 30, 1916].
Lizzie A. Andrews (c.1860-) [Brookings/Sisseton] was elected first vice-president for the Brookings Equal Suffrage Association organized in March 1890 and was a member of the Brookings suffrage club in the 1898 campaign [Brookings County Sentinel (SD), March 28, 1890; Semi-Weekly Register (Brookings SD), November 4, 1898]. The mother of Bonnie Andrews above, Lizzie Andrews was born in Illinois c.1860 and married to attorney/judge James Oliver Andrews. In Brookings and Sisseton, she was involved with Sunday School associations, the Order of the Eastern Star, Presbyterian Ladies’ Aid, and women’s clubs esp. the Zenith Club in Sisseton in 1910-1914. In 1911-1914, she was deputy for her daughter while Bonnie served as county superintendent of schools. When Bonnie termed out, Lizzie ran for superintendent and planned to have Bonnie as deputy to continue her work, circumventing the term limit, but the Andrews’ lost the election [Brookings County Sentinel (SD), December 28, 1888, August 30, 1889, December 20, 1889; Brookings Register (SD), November 24, 1893, August 24, 1894, December 19, 1907; [Semi-] Weekly Register (Brookings SD), May 17, 1898, July 26, 1900; Sisseton Weekly Standard (SD), January 27, 1905, February 3, 1905, December 22, 1905, April 24, 1908, April 2, 1909, September 30, 1910, October 7, 1910, March 3, 1911, January 2, 1914, image 5, image 8, January 16, 1914, March 13, 1914, May 22, 1914, November 6, 1914, December 19, 1919, July 1, 1921; The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), September 27, 1907].
Mae Andrews [Sturgis, Meade County] was a successful candidate for appointment as bill clerk for the S.D. House of Representatives in the January 1919 session — “Now that the state has voted equal suffrage to all legal residents, one of the new voters, Miss May Andrews, of Sturgis, is classed as a candidate for bill clerk of the house at the coming session.” Andrews was one of the first three women to have appointments working for the state legislature in South Dakota (the others being Marguerite Karcher Sahr and Grace Hanson) [Madison Daily Leader (SD), November 29, 1918 (quote), December 27, 1918; The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), January 10, 1919; Custer Weekly Chronicle (SD), January 18, 1919; The Woman Citizen 3 (February 15, 1919), 784]. I haven’t found anything else for her in newspapers, Ancestry.com, or Google (Books).
Amelia Ann Andrus (1845-1931) [Warner/Aberdeen, Brown County] was president of the suffrage association organized at the Methodist church in Warner by Emma Smith DeVoe in the summer of 1890 [“Page 44 : Entire Page,” and Warner Sun (SD), July 25, 1890, “Page 47 : Entire Page,” Emma Smith DeVoe: 1880-1890 (Scrapbook D), WSL Manuscripts, MS 171, Box 10]. Amelia Curdy married Henry Clay Andrus in 1867 in Highland, Michigan. They homestead in Brown County in the 1880s. Andrus was active in the Baptist church, the Century Club (a woman’s club), and the Women’s Relief Corps [Milford Times (MI), November 19, 1887; The State Democrat (Aberdeen SD), December 15, 1899; The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), September 27, 1907; Aberdeen Democrat (SD), June 5, 1908; Journal of the Twenty-First Annual Convention of the Department of South Dakota Woman’s Relief Corps held at Canton, South Dakota, June 28th, 29th, and 30th, 1904 (Aberdeen SD: News Printing Co., 1904), 3 and 8].
Ira L. Angle (1863-) [Chappelle/Highmore, Hyde County] signed on to be secretary of the Chappelle Township equal suffrage club organized after Emma Smith DeVoe‘s visit in the winter of early 1890 [Highmore Herald (SD), “Page 05 : It Looks as if Women Will Get to Vote in Dakota,” Emma Smith DeVoe: 1880-1890 (Scrapbook D), WSL Manuscripts, MS 171, Box 10]. Ira and Melva Angle eventually moved into Highmore where Ira served as county superintendent of schools [John B. Perkins, History of Hyde County, South Dakota: From Its Organization to the Present Time (1908), 47–49; 1900 Census, Ancestry.com].
Mary Antelman (1854-) [Milbank, Grant County] was one of the delegates for the city of Milbank to the Grant County E.S.A. meeting at the Methodist church on August 1, 1890 [The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), August 8, 1890]. Antelman was married to Otto W. Antelman, and she was active in the Women’s Relief Corps, the Rebekahs, and the Methodist ladies’ group [The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), December 25, 1891, March 31, 1893, August 3, 1894, January 21, 1898, January 13, 1899]. In 1902, the Antelman’s moved away, going to Wisconsin and then California [The Herald-Advance (Milbank SD), September 5, 1902, August 18, 1905, November 28, 1913].
Abbie Anthony [Sioux Falls, Minnehaha County] joined a local suffrage club in December 1890 and later became auditor for the Sioux Falls suffrage association organized in July 1897 [Letter to Mrs. Wardall from Mrs. Ida A. Davis, December 14, 1890, #2021-03-30-0101, 1890 Campaign Folder 3, Box 6675, Folder 28, H91-74, Pickler Papers, SD State Archives, Pierre; Argus-Leader (Sioux Falls, SD), July 2, 1897]. Anthony was born in Massachusetts and married Edwin A. Anthony, who had a confectionary company [1900 census and 1900-1904 city directories, via Ancestry.com].
Mary Appleby (1843-1923) [Turner County] gave one of the talks at the county suffrage convention held in Parker on November 22-23, 1897. Her talk was “Does the working woman need it?” [Turner County Herald (Hurley SD), November 18, 1897]. Mary L. Wells was married to Civil War veteran Alfred W. Appleby, and they came to Dakota Territory in the late-19th century. She was also involved in the W.C.T.U., and her husband was active in the Populist (People’s Party) in the 1890s [Turner County Herald (Hurley SD), September 13, 1888, September 13, 1894, July 9, 1896, August 6, 1896, October 29, 1896, May 12, 1898; “Mary L. Wells Appleby,” and “Alfred William Appleby,” Findagrave.com].
Rev. R.J. Atcheson [Gregory, Gregory County] assisted with arranging meetings during Rose Bower’s campaign tour through west-central South Dakota [Woman’s West of the River Suffrage Number, Rapid City Daily Journal (SD), October 26, 1914].
Alice Atchison () [Oelrichs, Fall River County] signed on as chorister for the suffrage association formed after the visit of Emma Smith DeVoe in May 1890 [The Dakota Ruralist (Aberdeen SD), June 14, 1890, “Page 37 : Entire Page,” Emma Smith DeVoe: 1880-1890 (Scrapbook D), WSL Manuscripts, MS 171, Box 10]. Speculative biographical information: Searching for Atchison + Oelrichs in newspapers gave me the name Norman Atchison in Oelrichs having a livery [Hot Springs star., January 10, 1890] — after moving to Hot Springs in 1891, Norman’s father-in-law from Oelrichs was Cyrus Wilson [Hot Springs star., May 22, 1891; Hot Springs weekly star., December 14, 1894]– Norman ran a bottling works in Hot Springs, and had been an early settler in Rapid City [Hot Springs weekly star., February 18, 1898, July 8, 1898, January 13, 1899] — that his wife helped built the business [Hot Springs weekly star., April 7, 1899] — a genealogy site online mentioned a “Mrs. Norman Atchison (nee Alice Wilson)” in Omaha NE the daughter of Civil War veteran Cyrus Wilson — there are a Norman and Alice Atcheson on Findagrave.com buried in Omaha… The only Nebraska newspapers results in Chronicling America were for Alice Atchison being involved in the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic. For instance, [Omaha daily bee., January 17, 1910]. I assume this is her...
J.W. Atkins [Sioux Falls, Minnehaha County]. The Linwood Ladies’ Aid society met at the Atkins home to organize a suffrage club [Argus-Leader (Sioux Falls, SD), September 19, 1914].
Harry P. Atwater (1871-1943) [Sturgis, Meade County], as mayor of Sturgis, made the introduction at a suffrage meeting during Catherine Waugh McCullough’s campaign tour [Woman’s West of the River Suffrage Number, Rapid City Daily Journal (SD), October 26, 1914]. Atwater was a lawyer, later becoming alderman and mayor [Kingsbury, History of Dakota Territory, Vol. 4 (1915), 1218; “Harry P Atwater,” Find-a-grave.com].
Rev. W.D. Atwater (1840-1918) [Sturgis / Central City] spoke during suffrage discussion at the Farmers Alliance district convention in the Black Hills in April 1890, was president of a local suffrage club in Central City that was organized after a lecture by Emma Smith DeVoe in May 1890, and was vice-president-at-large during the organization of a Lawrence County suffrage association at the Methodist Church in Deadwood in August 1890 [Black Hills Union (Rapid City SD), April 11, 1890; Deadwood Pioneer (SD), May 13, 1890, “Page 34 : Mrs. DeVoe Lectures at Central City,” and The Dakota Ruralist (Aberdeen SD), June 14, 1890, “Page 37 : Entire Page,” Emma Smith DeVoe: 1880-1890 (Scrapbook D), WSL Manuscripts, MS 171, Box 10; Daily Deadwood Pioneer-Times (SD), August 9, 1890; Queen City Mail (Spearfish SD), August 13, 1890]. Wesley Deloyd Atwater was a Methodist minister who was appointed to various church around the Black Hills from the time he arrived in Central City from Wisconsin in 1883 until at least the early 1910s [“Black Hills Mission,” Sixty-fifth Annual Report of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church (New York: January 1884), 217; for example Sturgis Advertiser (SD), July 19, 1887; Saturday News (Watertown SD), April 7, 1911]. He was involved with the farmers’ alliance movement and was a trustee of Black Hills college in Hot Springs [Sturgis Advertiser (SD), April 10, 1890; Hot Springs Weekly Star (SD), December 14, 1894, March 9, 1900]. He was the father of Harry P. Atwater (above), and sometime before his death, in 1918, he moved to Greenwood, California [“Rev Welsey Deloyd Atwater,” Findagrave.com].
Rachel M. Ross Austin (1838-1904) [Vermillion, Clay County] was on a list of individuals who contributed to the national fund “to obtain a portrait bust of Susan B. Anthony, to be placed in the Gallery of Eminent Women at the World’s Fair, in Chicago, in 1893.” In 1894, Austin made the suffrage department report to the school of methods meeting that the W.C.T.U. held at the Lake Madison Chautauqua. In the 1898 campaign, “she managed the campaign in this county, and brought to the standard of the equal suffragists far more support than the advocates of the movement had anticipated.” For instance, in February 1898, she wrote to Carrie Chapman Catt that they had been holding monthly meetings and Austin had hosted at her home a parlor meeting with Della Robinson King of Scotland SD as visiting speaker. She also hosted Political Equality Club meetings in August-December 1898. She also planned to write letters to all school teachers in the area, distribute suffrage literature, and have a schoolhouse campaign. In February 1900, she hosted an event in honor of Susan B. Anthony’s 90th birthday, and “the double parlors were filled with enthusiastic admirers of the noted suffragist.” In June 1900, her house hosted a suffrage club meeting followed by a WCTU special meeting. Upon her death in 1904, she was president of the local suffrage league in Vermillion [The Woman’s Journal (Boston MA), December 6, 1890, p.392, Schlesinger Library, Harvard University; Madison Daily Leader (SD), July 11, 1894; Vermillion Plain Talk (SD), August 12, 1898, p.5, p.11, November 3, 1898, November 10, 1898, February 22, 1900, June 21, 1900, March 10, 1904; The Dakota Republican (Vermillion SD), December 29, 1898; Letter to Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt from Mrs. H.J. Austin, February 3, 1898, 2021-05-06-0049, Box 6676, Folder 24, WCTU SD Equal Suffrage Association Records – 1898 Campaign, H91-74, Pickler Papers, SD State Archives; Doane Robinson, History of South Dakota, vol. 2 (Indianapolis: B.F. Bowen & Co., 1904), 1090 (quote)]. Rachel Ross was born in Warren, Ohio in 1838, where she later graduated from high school. In 1867, she came to Dakota Territory with her widowed mother and in 1868, she taught for at least one term at the settlement’s school (came to be known as “the old log schoolhouse”). In 1870, she married Horace J. Austin, a government surveyor. Austin was also a founding member of a W.C.T.U. union (one of the first in the territory) in 1879 and the First Baptist Church in Vermillion, she worked with the Cemetery Improvement Association and the County Fair Association (as a stockholder), and she was elected in 1903 to the school board. Upon her death in March 1904, the mayor proclaimed that all businesses and schools would close for her funeral hour, and her funeral was attended by all city teachers, W.C.T.U. members, and O.E.S. members. She was interred at Bluff View Cemetery. The Austins’ home has become the Austin-Whittemore House Museum, listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and managed by the Clay County Historical Society — “All of Mrs. Austin’s public and private benefactions originated in her own home and radiated from that home out into the community” [Brookings Register (SD), June 23, 1893; Madison Daily Leader (SD), August 4, 1896, March 11, 1904; Kimball Graphic (SD), August 8, 1896; Custer Weekly Chronicle (SD), March 19, 1904; Robinson, History of South Dakota, 1088–1091 (full biographies for Horace and Rachel, quote); Vermillion Plain Talk (SD), March 10, 1904; “Rachel R Ross Austin,” Findagrave.com; “Looking Back: New Names Chosen for Grade Schools,” Vermillion Plain Talk (SD), March 10, 2017].
About the mayor closing businesses for her funeral:
“Respect for prominent men is often thus shown by city authorities and by people in general, but by some peculiar and unaccounted for code of social ethics it is seldom that a woman is paid the tribute of respect that was given the deceased Mrs. Austin.”
Pierre Weekly Free Press (SD), March 10, 1904.
A.H. Avery (1870-1950) [Ordway / Woonsocket] wrote to The Woman’s Journal in April 1890 with enthusiasm about a recent suffrage meeting held there to organize a suffrage club for the campaign — “Times are hard in Dakota, and all friends of the cause in the entire nation should help in this struggle. An efficient board of management, located at Huron, will do the utmost possible. Such meetings should be held in every community in the State. If this can be done, Dakota will solve the problem. To this end let us hope and work. A. H. Avery.” [The Woman’s Journal (Boston MA), April 19, 1890, p.123, Schlesinger Library, Harvard University]. Avery was born in Wisconsin and came to Dakota Territory to teach. He taught at Ordway (or Ashland?) and at the high school in Woonsocket, during which time he was also active with the S.D. Education Association and county teacher institutes. He was also involved with the Good Templars organization. He was married twice, his first wife named Grace R., and his second Grace Dunham, a teacher he married in 1899. In c.1902, the Averys moved to Spencer, Iowa, where he continued to work in education and also entered politics, with terms as mayor and state representative [Madison Daily Leader (SD), June 16, 1891, July 6, 1892; Dakota Farmers’ Leader (Canton SD), January 3, 1896; Mitchell Capital (SD), June 30, 1893, June 8, 1894, December 10, 1897, May 5, 1899, December 8, 1899; The State Democrat (Aberdeen SD), December 8, 1899; Brookings Weekly Register (SD), July 18, 1901, July 31, 1902; Turner County Herald (Hurley SD), June 12, 1902, June 1, 1905; 1900 census, Woonsocket; “Amplias Hale AH Avery,” Findagrave.com].
Henley H. Ayers (1826-1910) [Gettysburg, Potter County] signed on to be vice-president of the Gettysburg equal suffrage club organized after Emma Smith DeVoe‘s visit in May 1890 [“Page 29 : Gettysburg,” Emma Smith DeVoe: 1880-1890 (Scrapbook D), WSL Manuscripts, MS 171, Box 10; The Dakota Ruralist, May 3, 1890, “Page 34 : Entire Page,” Emma Smith DeVoe: 1880-1890 (Scrapbook D), WSL Manuscripts, MS 171, Box 10]. Ayers had come to Potter County early in its history with his second wife Minerva. They helped found the Methodist church there, and they claimed a land patent in April 1888 [Henley H Ayres land patent, BLM-GLO, 13 Apr 1888; “Henley Hartley Ayres,” Findagrave.com; “Found! Henley Hartley Ayres (1826-1910),” (July 16, 2012) Gulde-Ayres Family History].
Lizzie Ayers [Mitchell, Davison County] was one of two auditors named for the Davison County Equal Suffrage club in 1897 [The Mitchell Capital (SD), November 19, 1897].
History in South Dakota 