Usually, family stories are passed down by family members. Sometimes you find your family stories in old newspapers.
I read digital newspapers every day. Mostly old newspapers – from the Elmira Gazette in 1835 to the current day Star-Gazette. A few years ago, I found a snippet in the Star-Gazette about my grandma’s involvement in the women’s suffrage movement in New York City. I asked my then-still-living father, Robert Janowski, about the story about his mother, and he had never heard of it.
I forgot about this episode until this week. What could I learn? There must be some truth.
The Star-Gazette’s March 24, 1917, snippet reported that my grandma, Loretta Worner, Violet Smith, Anna Lice and Emma Carl went to New York City to attend the National Convention of Women Suffragettes on Saturday, March 24, 1917. My grandma would have been 17. She would marry my grandfather ten years later. The Star-Gazette did not follow up on the event in the days that followed, but many other newspapers did. Bingo! I found my answer.
A big suffrage rally was held at Aeolian Hall, West 43rd Street, on Tuesday, March 27. Those present included Mrs. John Hays Hammond, Mrs. John Henry Hammond, Mrs. F. Louis Slade, and Mrs. William Prendergast. According to the New York Herald’s social column on March 25, 1917, “[A] large delegation of Ohio and Indiana women living in New York were also present.”
My grandma was originally from Ohio, and she must have been affiliated with them. The speaker at the convention was Mrs. Felix T. McWhirter of Indiana, who spoke on “New Suffrage Victories.”
The New-York Tribune’s article on March 28, 1917, mentioned the Aeolian Hall rally. The new suffrage slogan was “Thirty Weeks from Tonight.” It was the battle cry for 1,000 in attendance. The rally opened the 1917 election campaign in New York State. Despite a terrible storm outside, the women crowded the hall and applauded enthusiastically.
Speaker Miss Mary Garrett Hay told them to “ignore rain and wind and summer heat from that moment on, until the thirty weeks were ended and Election Day crowned their efforts with victory.” The women celebrated recent victories in Ohio and Indiana. Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton said, “Never be afraid to ask for anything. Sometimes, by asking for a whole lot, you shock them, so they give it to you. That’s what we did.”
The New York Times, on the same day, wrote “Suffrage Fight Renewed.” The big rally hoped to push the United States to adopt the 19th Amendment before entering World War I. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt said, “The present war has demonstrated that not one of the belligerent nations could have accomplished what it has done without the aid of women. We ask that American women be given the vote as a war measure.”
I searched the Star-Gazette for more information about the women’s return to Elmira. While I didn’t find any more mention, I did find a notice that my husband’s grandmother was leading a weekly meeting called “Suffrage Study” in her home. He didn’t know that about his grandma either.
— Elmira city historian Diane Janowski writes a biweekly column.
This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Was my grandma an Elmira suffragette? City historian investigates
Reporting by Diane Janowski, Special to the Star-Gazette / Elmira Star-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
