West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association facts for kids

The West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association (WVESA) was a group formed on November 29, 1895. It was created at a meeting in Grafton, West Virginia. This group and its yearly meetings were a key part of the National American Woman Suffrage Association's plan. They wanted to gain support for women's voting rights in areas that had not been reached before.

The WVESA worked with other groups to win the right to vote. These included the state's Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the General Federation of Women's Clubs, and clubs linked to the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs. In 1916, they lost a vote to change the state's constitution for women's suffrage. But the WVESA strongly pushed for the federal amendment in 1920. This led to West Virginia becoming the 34th state to approve it. That fall, women in West Virginia voted for the first time. The WVESA then became the League of Women Voters of West Virginia.

Early Efforts for Women's Vote

When West Virginia became a state in 1863, women were not given the right to vote in its new constitution. In 1867, Senator Samuel Young of West Virginia tried to change this. He suggested a law to allow women to vote if they could read, write, and had paid taxes. However, his idea did not get any support.

In 1869, Senator Young wrote to a newspaper called The Revolution. He reported that he had again proposed a bill for women's suffrage. He also shared that eight out of 22 senators had voted for it. Despite these early tries, women's suffrage did not gain much support in West Virginia for many years.

Starting the WVESA Group

Florence Jessie Grove Manley (1858–1940) was the first president of WVESA.

The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) wanted to change minds in the South. West Virginia was a state they focused on. In 1895, NAWSA sent Annie L. Diggs to visit. She reported that the idea of women voting was too new to start a group.

Later that year, NAWSA's organizer Mary Garrett Hay and Rev. Henrietta G. Moore spent two weeks in West Virginia. They held many meetings, which led to new local clubs forming. Then, NAWSA called for a statewide meeting in Grafton, West Virginia, on November 25-26, 1895. At this meeting, the West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association was officially formed.

The first leaders of the WVESA were chosen:

• President: Mrs. Jessie G. Manley
• Vice-president: Mr. Harvey W. Harmer
• Corresponding secretary: Mrs. Annie Caldwell Boyd
• Recording secretary: Mrs. L.M. Fay
• Treasurer: Mrs. K.H. De Woody
• Auditors: Mrs. M. Caswell and Mrs. Louise Harden

After this meeting, Rev. Moore gave a speech in Fairmont, and a suffrage club started there. In its first month, nine local clubs joined the WVESA. By 1896, President Manley reported that the WVESA had 240 members across these clubs.

Yearly Meetings and Leaders

After the first meeting in 1895, Fairmont hosted the second WVESA convention in January 1897. Carrie Chapman Catt, a leader from NAWSA, attended and spoke. Mrs. Manley stepped down as president, and Mrs. Fannie J. Wheat was elected as the new president.

The WVESA held yearly meetings in different cities:

• April 1898 in Wheeling
• Fall 1899 in Fairmont (where Beulah Boyd Ritchie became president)
• December 1900 in Fairmont
• August 1904 in Moundsville (M. Anna Hall elected president)
• October 1905 in Fairmont (Mrs. Anne M. Southern elected president)
• October 1906 in Wheeling (Dr. Harriet B. Jones elected president)
• November 1907 in Wheeling (Mrs. May Hornbrook elected president)
• October 1908 in Fairmont
• October 1909 in Wheeling
• October 1911 in Fairmont (Mrs. Allie Haymond elected president)
• October 1913 in Wheeling (Miss Margaret McKinney elected president)
• November 1915 in Huntington (Mrs. J. Gale Ebert, then Mrs. Lenna Lowe Yost in 1916, became president)
• November 1917 in Fairmont (Mrs. John L. Ruhl elected president)
• April 1919 in Charleston

Pushing for the Federal Amendment

In late 1919, WVESA president Mrs. Ruhl chose Lenna Lowe Yost to lead a special committee. This committee worked to get the federal amendment approved. Yost organized a statewide petition drive. She also gathered an Advisory Board of 150 men and women to help with their efforts.

Yost's plan was to have activists talk one-on-one with each lawmaker. This happened during a special meeting called by Governor John J. Cornwell in February 1920. This personal approach helped overcome strong opposition. The lawmakers approved the federal amendment, and the Governor signed it on March 10, 1920.

Becoming the League of Women Voters

On September 30, 1920, the WVESA officially changed its name. It became the League of Women Voters of West Virginia. Mrs. Ruhl, who was the last president of the WVESA, was elected as the first chairman of the new group.

See also

• History of West Virginia
• Lenna Lowe Yost
• National American Woman Suffrage Association