[270] Their modest home at 114 North Eleventh street has long been a hospitable retreat for reformers, where many of us identified with the suffrage movement have been most courteously entertained. Anna and Adeline Thomson after long lives of industry have been, too, the steadfast representatives of great principles in religious and political freedom, always giving freely of their means to the unpopular reforms of their day and generation.—[E. C. S.
[271] The Executive Board of the New Century Club for 1879-1880, was: President, Mrs. Eliza S. Turner; Vice-Presidents, Mrs. Emily W. Taylor, Mrs. S. C. F. Hallowell; Mrs. Henry C. Townsend, Mrs. Aubrey H. Smith; Corresponding Secretary, Miss Louise Stockton; Recording Secretary, Miss Anna C. Bliss; Treasurer, Mrs. Charlotte L. Pierce; Directors, Mrs. Susan I. Lesley, Mrs. Henry Cohen, Mrs. Huldah Justice, Miss Emily Sartain, Miss Mary Grew, Mrs. S. B. F. Greble, Mrs. M. W. Coggins, Miss Mary A. Burnham, Mrs. Ellison L. Perot, Mrs. Thomas Roberts. Others names found in its annual report as contributing to the efficiency of the club are: Mrs. Fannie B. Ames, Miss Grace Anna Lewis, Mrs. Emma J. Bartol, Mrs. E. L. Head, Miss Mary C. Coxe, Mrs. Charlotte L. Pierce, Madam Emma Seiler, Miss Amanda L. Dods, Miss Lelia Patridge, Miss Lily Ray, Miss Ella Cole, Mrs. Susan I. Lesley, Mrs. E. C. Mayer, Miss Bennett, Mlle. Frasson. The work of the club has its divisions of science, literature, art, music, entertainment, cooking, hospitalities, charities, employment for women, legal protection for working women, prisons and reformatory institutions.
[272] See [Chapter 30] for an account of this Philadelphia convention.
[273] The yeas were as follows: Messrs. Ayers, Barnes, Blackford, Boyer, Boyle, Brooks, W. C. Brown, I. B. Brown, J. L. Brown, Brosius, Burnite, Burchfield, Chadwick, Coburn, E. L. Davis, Deveney, Duggan, Eckels, Ellsworth, Emery, Fetters, Gahan, Gardner, Gavitt, Gentner, Glenn, Grier, G. W. Hall, F. Hall, A. W. Hayes, Hines, Higgins, Hoofnagle, Hulings, Hughes, Jenkins, Klein, Kavanaugh, Landis, Lafferty, Merry, B. B. Mitchell, S. N. Mitchell, Millor, Molineaux, A. H. Morgan, W. D. Morgan, J. W. Morrison, E. Morrison, Myton, McCabe, McClaran, Neill, Neeley, Nelson, Nesbit, Nicholson, Parkinson, Powell, Romig, Schwartz, Short, Sinex, Slocum, J. Smith, Sneeringer, Snodgrass, Stees, Sterett, Stewart, Stubbs, Sweeney, Trant, Vanderslice, Vaughn, Vogdes, Wayne and Ziegler—78.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
NEW JERSEY.
Women Voted in the Early Days—Deprived of the Right by Legislative Enactment in 1807—Women Demand the Restoration of Their Rights in 1868—At the Polls in Vineland and Roseville Park—Lucy Stone Agitates the Question—State Suffrage Society Organized in 1867—Conventions—A Memorial to the Legislature—Mary F. Davis—Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford—Political Science Club—Mrs. Cornelia C. Hussey—Orange Club, 1870—July 4, 1874, Mrs. Devereux Blake Gives the Oration—Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell's Letter—The Laws of New Jersey in Regard to Property and Divorce—Constitutional Commission, 1873—Trial of Rev. Isaac M. See—Women Preaching in His Pulpit—The Case Appealed—Mrs. Jones, Jailoress—Legislative Hearings.
New Jersey was the only State that, in adopting her first constitution, recognized woman's right to suffrage which she had exercised during the colonial days, and from time immemorial in the mother country. The fact that she was deprived of this right from 1807 to 1840 by a legislative enactment, while the constitution secured it,[274] proves that the power of the legislature, composed of representatives from the people, was considered at that early day to be above the State constitution. If, then, the legislature could abridge the suffrage, it must have the power to extend it, and all the women of this State should demand is an act of the legislature. They need not wait for the slow process of a constitutional amendment submitted to the popular vote. In 1868, in harmony with a general movement in many other States, the women of New Jersey began to demand the restoration of their ancient rights. The following is from The Revolution of November 19, 1868, written by Elizabeth A. Kingsbury: