In 1887 the convention took place at La Porte, December 1, 2, and was addressed by Mr. Foulke, Professor Hailman and Mrs. Eudora F. Hailman, the Rev. Mr. Grant, General Packard, Mrs. J. W. Ridgway, Mrs. Rhenton, Sylvanus Grover and others. Mr. Foulke was elected president and Mrs. Haggart vice-president-at-large.[249]
Up to this time these annual meetings had been convened under the auspices of the American Woman Suffrage Association. In 1878 a strong society had been organized in Indianapolis with Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace, president, Mrs. May Wright Sewall, secretary, and 175 members. It had held numerous meetings and done a large amount of legislative and political work, but had made no State or national alliances. In May, 1887, however, it called a convention, which met in Plymouth Congregational Church, and with the assistance of Miss Susan B. Anthony a State organization was effected, auxiliary to the National Woman Suffrage Association. The officers elected were: President, Mrs. Helen M. Gougar; vice-president-at-large, Mrs. Wallace; secretary, Mrs. Ida Husted Harper; treasurer, Mrs. Juliette K. Wood; chairman executive committee, Mrs. Sewall; superintendent of press, Miss Mary E. Cardwill.
In November, under the management of this board, two days' conventions were held in each of the congressional districts of the State, at Evansville, Vincennes, Bloomington, Kokomo, Logansport, Wabash, Lafayette, South Bend, Fort Wayne, Muncie, Madison, New Albany and Terre Haute. The speakers were Miss Anthony, Mrs. Wallace, Mrs. Sewall and Mrs. Gougar, the meetings being arranged by Mrs. Harper. They were well attended, a great deal of suffrage sentiment was aroused and a balance was left in the treasury.
The annual convention took place at Indianapolis in the Grand Opera House, May 15, 16, 1888, with delegates present from every congressional district. Among the speakers were Mr. Foulke, Mrs. Annie Jenness Miller and Miss Anthony. The board of officers was re-elected.
The third convention met at Rushville, Oct. 10, 11, 1889. Miss Anthony was in attendance. By previous arrangement delegates from the American branch were present and, with unanimous consent, a union of two bodies into one State organization was effected. Although receiving a majority vote, Mrs. Sewall, Miss Cardwill and Mrs. Harper, for personal reasons, refused longer to serve. The election finally resulted: President, Mrs. Gougar; vice-president-at-large, Mrs. Wallace; secretary, Mrs. Caroline C. Hodgin; treasurer, Mrs. Hattie E. Merrill; chairman executive committee, Mrs. E. M. Seward; superintendent of press, Mrs. Georgia Wright. A resolution was adopted mourning the death of Dr. Mary F. Thomas.
State meetings were held for several years afterward, but the records of them are not available.
In 1899, the State association having been apparently defunct for a long time, a conference of the officers of the National Association was called to meet in Indianapolis, at the earnest request of Mrs. Sewall and a committee. There were present on December 7, 8, Miss Anthony, president, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large, Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, treasurer, Miss Laura Clay and Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, auditors, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the organization committee. Mrs. Sewall gave two receptions to enable the people of the city to greet them; a large one was given by Mrs. Lucy McDowell Milburn, wife of the Rev. Joseph A. Milburn, of the Second Presbyterian Church; and a luncheon at the handsome residence of Mrs. Alice Wheeler Peirce by the committee.
Business meetings were held at the Denison Hotel. The evening meetings, in Plymouth Church, were large and enthusiastic. A new State association was formed and also a new local club for Indianapolis, while the staunch and steadfast old societies of Kokomo and Tipton were aroused to new activity.[250]
At the State meeting in Indianapolis in November, 1900, the old board of officers was re-elected, except that Mrs. Mary Shank was made vice-president and Mrs. Ethel B. McMullen, treasurer.
A very considerable sentiment in favor of woman suffrage exists throughout the State and many well-known individuals advocate it, among them U. S. Senator Albert J. Beveridge and most of the Congressional delegation, State officials, judges, clergymen and prominent members of the women's clubs, but there is so slight an organization that little opportunity is afforded for public expression or action.