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 

Celebrate Women of Character, Courage and Commitment: Ferro Monte Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution Salute Women’s History Month

American women are leaders securing their own rights of suffrage and equal opportunity which create a fair and just society for all. Daughters are vibrant, active women who are passionate about community service, preserving history, educating children, as well as honoring and supporting those who serve our nation. Members share and celebrate the women who inspire us at Roxbury Township Free Public Library 103 Main St, Succasunna, NJ on March 12 at 10:15am.

Honor those who inspired you by sharing their story 

Ferro-Monte Chapter meetings are held on the 2nd Saturday of the month from October - May. Prospective members are always welcome. If you have an interest in learning about your family tree, we can help you; maybe we can even find a Patriot among your leaves. For information the Ferro Monte Chapter: like us at Facebook.com/FerroMonteChapterNSDAR, visit our website ferromontedar.org or email NJDARFerroMonte@aol.com. 

The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890 to promote patriotism, preserve American history, and support better education for our nation's children. Its members are descended from the patriots who won American independence during the Revolutionary War. With more than 165,000 members in approximately 3,000 chapters worldwide, DAR is one of the world's largest and most active service organizations. To learn more about the work of today's DAR, visit DAR.org.

A Brave Ride to Warn the Patriots the British Are Coming

Surprise, this is not the story of the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, rather it is a story of a young Conneticut girl helping  the Continental Army and her father in 1777. On the night of April 26, 1777 a man came to the home of Colonel Henry Ludington of the Continental Army bringing news of the burning of Danbury Connecticut along with the request that the Colonel’s regiment make haste to Danbury to aid in its defense. Enter sixteen year old Sybil. 

Sybil Ludington's Ride by Berton Braley

Listen, my children, and you shall hear

Of a lovely feminine Paul Revere

Who rode an equally famous ride

Through a different part of the countryside,

Where Sybil Ludington's name recalls

A ride as daring as that of Paul's.

In April, Seventeen Seventy-Seven,

A smoky glow in the eastern heaven

(A fiery herald of war and slaughter)

Came to the eyes of the Colonel's daughter.

"Danbury's burning," she cried aloud.

The Colonel answered, “‘Tis but a cloud,

A cloud reflecting the campfires red,

So hush you, Sybil, and go to bed."

"I hear the sound of the cannon drumming"

“‘Tis only the wind in the treetops humming!

So go to bed, as a young lass ought,

And give the matter no further thought."

Young Sybil sighed as she turned to go,

"Still, Danbury's burning-that I know."

Sound of a horseman riding hard

Clatter of hoofs in the manor yard

Feet on the steps and a knock resounding

As a fist struck wood with a mighty pounding.

The doors flung open, a voice is heard,

"Danbury's burning-I rode with word;

Fully half of the town's gone

And the British-the British are coming on.

Send a messenger, get our men!"

His message finished the horseman then

Staggered wearily to a chair

And fell exhausted in slumber there.

The Colonel muttered, "And who, my friend,

Is the messenger I can send?

Your strength is spent and you cannot ride

And then, you know not the countryside;

I cannot go for my duty's clear;

When my men come in they must find me here;

There's devil a man on the place tonight

To warn my troopers to come-and fight.

Then, who is my messenger to be?"

Said Sybil Ludington, "You have me."

"You!" said the Colonel, and grimly smiles,

Sybil's Ride

"You! My daughter, you're just a child."

"Child!" cried Sybil. "Why I'm sixteen!

My mind's alert and my senses keen,

I know where the trails and the roadways are

And I can gallop as fast and far

As any masculine rider can.

You want a messenger? I'm your Man!"

The Colonel's heart was aglow with pride.

"Spoke like a soldier. Ride, girl, ride

Ride like the devil; ride like sin;

Summon my slumbering troopers in.

I know when duty is to be done

That I can depend on a Ludington!"

So over the trails to the towns and farms

Sybil delivered the call to arms.

Riding swiftly without a stop

Except to rap with a riding crop

On the soldiers' doors, with a sharp tattoo

And a high-pitched feminine halloo.

"Up! Up there, soldier. You're needed, come!

The British are marching!" and then the drum

Of her horse's feet as she rode apace

To bring more men to the meeting place.

Sybil grew weary and faint and drowsing,

Her limbs were aching, but still she rode

Until she finished her task of rousing

Each sleeping soldier from his abode,

Showing her father, by work well done,

That he could depend on a Ludington.

Dawn in the skies with its tints of pearl

And the lass who rode in a soldier's stead

Turned home, only a tired girl

Thinking of breakfast and then to bed

With never a dream that her ride would be

A glorious legend of history;

Nor that posterity's hand would mark

Each trail she rode through the inky dark,

Each path to figure in song and story

As a splendid, glamorous path of glory to
prove, as long as the ages run,

That "you can depend on a Ludington."

Such is the legend of Sybil's ride

To summon the men from the countryside

A true tale, making her title clear

As a lovely feminine Paul Revere!

Suffrage Amendment Ratified, Women Have Vote

The above was the headline in the New York Times on August 25, 1920 announcing the cerfication of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. The privilege of voting has always been important to me. I remember the distress of not being able to vote in the 1980 Presidential election along with the rest of my dorm because I didn't turn 18 until nine days later. Following in my Grandma Armstrong's footsteps, I have worked as a poll worker on Election Day for over 20 years. As a woman of the 21st century, it is hard to believe that less than 100 years ago, women in the United States did not have the right to vote. By 1920 when the country finally granted women the right to vote my Nana Burket had survived growing up with nine brothers, lived through a world war, married and given birth to her first child. Unfortunately Nana died in 1981 long before I had grown out of the “it's all about me” teen stage. I missed out what would have been a profound discussion of what it was like to have gained the fundamental right of a citizen... to participate in government by our vote.

Women’s Suffrage Timeline

1787: The Constitutional Convention places voting rules in the hands of the states. Only New Jersey granted women the right to vote

1807: Women lose the right to vote in New Jersey

1848: The Seneca Falls Convention proposes women’s suffrage by Elizabeth Cady Stanton

1861-1865: The American Civil War. The suffrage movement was largely on hold during the conflict

1867: Susan B Anthony forms the Equal Rights Association

1869: The 1^st US territory, Wyoming grants unrestricted suffrage to women

1870: The 15th amendment to the US Constitution is adopted granting voting rights to former male African-American slaves

1872: Susan B Anthony registers and votes in Rochester, New York, stating that the 14^th Amendment to the US Constitution gives her the right to vote

1874: The Supreme Court in the case of Minor vs. Happersett rules that the 14^th Amendment to the US

1875: Women begin winning the right to vote in school election starting with Minnesota and Michigan

1878: A federal amendment to the Constitution granting women the right to vote is introduced by Senator A.A. Sargeant of California

1882: The US House and Senate appoint committees on women's suffrage

1884: The House of Representatives debates women suffrage

1886: The suffrage amendment is defeated in the Senate

1887: The Supreme Court strikes down the law that gave women the right to vote in the Washington territory

1887: Women win the right to vote in Kansas municipal elections

1893: Colorado votes for women suffrage as western states and territories continue to lead the charge on women’s right to vote 

1912: Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party includes women suffrage as a part of its platform

1913: The Senate votes on a women suffrage amendment, but again it does not pass

1916: Woodrow Wilson and the Democratic Party Platform pledge to endorse women suffrage

1916: The first woman is elected to the US Congress. Montana sends Jeannette Rankin to the House of Representatives

November 14th, 1917: The "Night of Terror” suffragist prisoners are beaten and abused

1917: The New York becomes the 1^st Eastern state to grant women full suffrage

1918: The House of Representatives passes the women’s right to vote

1918 Women suffrage is once again struck down in the Senate

1918: President Wilson declares his support for women suffrage

1919: The National American Woman Suffrage Association becomes the League of Women Voters

June 4, 1919: The Senate finally passes the women suffrage

August 18, 1920 Tennessee ratifies the suffrage amendment

August 26, 1920: The 19^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, stating, "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation," becomes law.

The suffrage fight took over 100 years to result in women gaining the right to go into the voting booth. The least we can do is get out and vote every first Tuesday of November.