Right to Vote - Check, Run for Office - Check

In my last post, I wrote about my nana and her mother gaining the right to vote. Since then, I have been introduced to a new ancestor on my dad’s side who went beyond casting a vote. Eusebia Krise born 1884 in Altoona, lived most of her life in the New York City area. Eusebia was 35 years old, single, working as a clerk for a furniture store in New York City when she gained the right to vote in 1920.

Eusebia's Candidate Photo

Two years later, living in the Junior League Hotel for Women at 78th Street and East River, New York City she decided to run for the 16th District New York State Senate seat as a Prohibition Party candidate. The Prohibition Party founded in 1869 is the nation’s third-oldest operating political party. Since 1872, the party has fielded presidential and vice presidential candidates every four years. The Prohibition Party was formed by a group of disillusioned Republicans defecting from the GOP, believing that big business had claimed their party. They decided to focus their new party on the continuing problems caused by alcohol. The new forward-thinking party also sought suffrage for women and was the first to grant women equal status as convention delegates. As a modern single working woman it is understandable why Eusebia would have been drawn to the party's women's plank. While we have not found any concrete information that Eusebia actively participated in the suffrage or prohibition movements, it seems logical she must have been involved in one if not both the movements, given her run for office on the Prohibition ticket. As the only woman running for the office she came in 4th in the field of five. Clearly this was a lady ahead of her time, and I am proud to call her cousin.

For my Armstrong cousins this diagram shows how Eusebia Krise fits into our family tree.  After a DNA match led me to Lewis Krise I have had contact with one of his great granddaughters who is a wealth of information on this branch of our family including providing pictures of Eusebia. There is a question as to whether Lewis Krise was Eusebia’s biological father. However, Lewis treated her like a daughter, and she carried the Krise name so she’s family.

#familyhistory #womensvote100 

100th Anniversary of Women's Right to Vote

Ritts Family Reunion Circa 1927

This photo popped up on my Facebook timeline today. As we celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Ratification of the 19th Amendment, I reflect on what a difference the suffrage movement had on the women in this picture. My Great Grandma, Lizzie Hudson Ritts [1866-1947] was a grandmother many times over before casting her first ballot. While my Nana, Mary Ritts Burket [1893-1981] was married and had a daughter before gaining the right to vote. My Aunt Maybelle Burket Gillespie [1917-1992] age three 100 years ago was part of the first generation of women to grow up with the right to vote. #WomensVote100

Mary Ritts Burket and Lizzie Hudson Ritts

Maybelle Burket Gillespie with her parents and childern