Among the names which appear in the records of the years as chairmen of committees, in addition to many of the above, are those of Miss Helen Varick Boswell, Dr. Clara McNaughton, Miss Nettie Lovisa White, Mrs. Katharine Reed Balentine and Miss Abby T. Nicholls.
CHAPTER IX.
FLORIDA.[32]
With the removal from the State of Mrs. Ella C. Chamberlain in 1897 and no one found to take the leadership, the cause of woman suffrage, which was represented only by the one society at her home in Tampa, languished for years. In 1907 John Schnarr, a prominent business man of Orlando, circulated a petition to Congress for a Federal Suffrage Amendment which was sent down by the National Association and obtained numerous signatures. It is interesting to note that, from the beginning of the suffrage movement in Florida, men as well as women have been its active supporters.
As the years passed and the movement waxed strong throughout the country and important victories were won, the women of Florida imbibed the spirit of their day and generation. It became a frequent topic of discussion and women in various places began to realize the need of organization. On June 15, 1912, the Equal Franchise League was organized at Jacksonville in the home of Mrs. Herbert Anderson by herself and Mrs. Katherine Livingstone Eagan, with about thirty ladies present. Monthly meetings were held in a room in a large new office building given them for headquarters by the owners and forty-five members were enrolled. Mrs. Eagan, the president, soon went to Paris and her duties fell upon the vice-president, Mrs. Roselle C. Cooley; the secretary, Miss Frances Anderson, and the other officers. In the autumn two leading suffragists, who were attending the National Child Labor Convention, were invited to address the League, but neither the Board of Trade nor the Woman's Club would rent its auditorium for a suffrage meeting, so they had to open a door between their headquarters and an adjoining room and a large audience was present. The league affiliated with the National American Suffrage Association, which the next year sent a field worker to help in legislative work. In 1914 it published a special edition of The State, which was put into the hands of all the Florida members of Congress and the Legislature. Mrs. Medill McCormick, chairman of the National Congressional Committee, sent one of the national workers, Miss Lavinia Engle, to assist. This year Mr. Heard, president of the Heard National Bank, gave the league the use of a large front room on its first office floor.
On Feb. 13, 1913, the Political Equality Club of Lake Helen was formed with Mrs. S. A. Armstrong president and Mrs. Irene Adams secretary. On the 27th the Equal Suffrage League of Orlando was organized with the Rev. Mary A. Safford president, and in October the first demand for suffrage was made here. The Mayor issued a notice that all freeholders must register for the sewerage bond election by the 9th, and a few suffragists saw their opportunity. Very secretly and hurriedly, before the Mayor could get word of it and give notice that the election was meant for men only, Miss Emma Hainer and Mrs. Helen Starbuck gathered together several women who owned valuable property and they went to the city clerk's office and announced that they had come in response to the Mayor's call to register for the coming election. He referred them to the Mayor, who referred them to the Council, which referred them to the city attorney. He told them that the law did not permit women to register. This they knew, but their action caused a discussion of the question and disclosed a widespread belief that women should have the right to vote.
At a meeting of the executive board of the Orlando league in the home of Mrs. J. C. Patterson April 21 the question of forming a State Association was earnestly considered and Miss Safford was requested to prepare a "call" for this purpose. Soon afterwards she and Mrs. Starbuck were sent to Tallahassee by the league to aid the suffrage work being done in the Legislature. Here the great need of a State organization was very apparent, as legislators constantly asked, "Where are the suffragists from my district?"
During the summer through conversation with interested suffragists and correspondence with Mrs. Cooley, president of the Jacksonville league, arrangements were made for calling a convention to organize a State association at Orlando at the time of the meeting of the State Federation of Women's Clubs. This took place Nov. 4, 1913, Miss Safford was chairman, Mrs. Isabel Stanley secretary of the convention and addresses were made by women from half a dozen towns. A committee was appointed to draft a constitution and by-laws which reported at an adjourned meeting on the 6th, when they were adopted and the following officers for the State Equal Suffrage Association were elected: President, Miss Safford, Orlando; first vice-president, Mrs. C. J. Huber, Webster; second, Mrs. Ella Chamberlain, Tampa; third, Miss Caroline Brevard, Tallahassee; corresponding secretary, Miss Elizabeth Askew, Tampa; recording secretary, Miss Frances B. Anderson, Jacksonville; treasurer, Mrs. John Schnarr, Orlando; auditors, Mrs. Anna Andrus, Miami, and Mrs. J. M. Thayer, Orlando.