KENTUCKY.[278]
In October, 1886, the Association for the Advancement of Women held its annual congress in Louisville, and for the first time woman suffrage was admitted to a place on the program. It was advocated by Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney of Massachusetts and Miss Laura Clay.
The subject was much discussed for the next two years and in February, 1888, Mrs. Mary B. Clay, vice-president of the American and of the National Woman Suffrage Associations, called a convention in Frankfort. Delegates from Lexington and Richmond attended, and Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace of Indiana was present by invitation. The Hall of Representatives was granted for two evenings, the General Assembly being in session. On the first Mrs. Wallace delivered an able address and the hall was well filled, principally with members of the Legislature. On the second Mrs. Clay spoke upon the harsh laws in regard to women, and Prof. E. B. Walker on the injustice of the property laws and the advantage of giving women the ballot in municipal affairs. He was followed by Mrs. Sarah Clay Bennett, who argued that women already had a right to the ballot under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. At the conclusion of her address she asked all legislators present who were willing to give the ballot to women to stand. Seven arose and were greeted with loud applause.
When the annual meeting of the American W. S. A. convened in Cincinnati, Ohio, Nov. 20-22, 1888, Miss Laura Clay, member of its executive committee from Kentucky, issued a call to the suffragists of that State to attend this convention for the purpose of organizing a State association. Accordingly delegates from the Fayette and Kenton county societies met and organized the Kentucky Equal Rights Association. The following officers were elected: President, Miss Clay; vice-presidents, Mrs. Ellen Battelle Dietrick, Mrs. Mary B. Clay; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Eugenia B. Farmer; recording secretary, Miss Anna M. Deane; treasurer, Mrs. Isabella H. Shepard.
The second annual convention was held in the court house at Lexington, Nov. 19-21, 1889, with officers and delegates representing seven counties. The evening speakers were Mrs. Clay, Mrs. Josephine K. Henry and Joseph B. Cottrell, D. D. A committee was appointed, Mrs. Henry, chairman, to present the interests of women to the approaching General Assembly and the Constitutional Convention. (See Legislative Action for 1890.)
The next annual meeting took place in Richmond, Dec. 3, 4, 1890. Mrs. Sarah Hardin Sawyer was asked to prepare a tract on co-education, which proved of great assistance in opening the colleges to women. The evening speakers were Mrs. Shepard, Mrs. Henry and the Rev. John G. Fee, the venerable Kentucky Abolitionist.
The fourth convention was held in Louisville, Dec. 8-10, 1891, and was addressed by the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw and the Rev. Dr. C. K. J. Jones.
The fifth annual meeting convened in Richmond, Nov. 9, 10, 1892.[279] Mrs. Lida Calvert Obenchain's paper, "Why a Democratic Woman Wants the Ballot," was afterwards widely circulated as a leaflet. The evening speakers were Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby of Washington, D. C., and Dr. J. Franklin Browne.
The General Assembly of 1892 was in session most of that year and some months in 1893, as there was a vast amount of business to be done in bringing all departments of legislation into harmony with the new constitution. During all this time the State association was busy urging the rights of women; and at its sixth convention, held in Newport, Oct. 17-19, 1893, was able to report that a law had been secured granting a married woman the power to make a will and control her separate property. Among the speakers was the Rev. G. W. Bradford.
The annual meeting took place in Lexington, Oct. 24-26, 1894. The most encouraging successes of any year were reported in the extension of School Suffrage and the passage of the Married Woman's Property Rights Bill. In answer to the petition of the Fayette County society to Mayor Henry T. Duncan and the city council of Lexington to place a woman on the school board, Mrs. Wilbur R. Smith had been appointed. She was the first to hold such a position in Kentucky. Mrs. Farmer gave an address on School Suffrage, with illustrations of registration and voting, which women were to have an opportunity to apply in 1895.[280]