Ohio Woman Suffrage Association 1885 Convention

Ohio Woman Suffrage Association 1885 Convention. Painesville, Ohio. , Foundation: September 1869 , The Ohio Woman Suffrage Association (OWSA) led Ohio women in the struggle for the right to vote for nearly half a century. It was founded in Cincinnati, with suffrage leaders Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone in attendance. The purpose of the organization was to "advance the cause of woman suffrage and thereby to make our government in fact what it is in theory -- a government of the people.", Members chose not to affiliate with some of the national suffrage organizations, focusing primarily on a campaign to change local and state laws that blocked women's right to vote. Unlike many local, state, and national suffrage groups, the OWSA did not discriminate against those seeking membership, and actually encouraged African American women to join the effort., Prominent suffrage advocates local to Northeast Ohio who made an impact in the state and national movement were Harriet Taylor Upton and Elizabeth J. Hauser. The two led the organization through decades of organizing, speaking, and testifying on behalf of suffrage rights throughout the late 1890s and early 1900s., The Proceedings: May 12-13, 1885 , The OWSA convened in Painesville, Ohio at the Methodist-Episcopal Church in 1885 for its annual meeting. According to the Cleveland Leader and Herald the following day, the event was "...a large and enthusiast aggregation of Brains, Beauty, Pluck and Opinions." The newspapers described the convention as an "eye-opener" to the conservative side of the city on the status of the suffrage movement across Ohio. An estimated sixty suffrage societies were represented at the meeting, forming "...one of the finest assemblages of women ever gathered there," including the 150 members of the Painesville Equal Rights Association., The New Era (1885) summarizes the proceedings of the convention, led by OWSA and Painesville ERA President, Frances Jennings Casement (1885-1888). The proceedings began with the reading of the constitution and by-laws of the association, adopted in 1869. Throughout the meeting, attendees were greeted by singing renditions, committee announcements, and guest lecturers Susan B. Anthony of Rochester, New York, Mary Evans, Rev. Olympia Brown, and Helen Gougar of Lafayette, Indiana., Mary Evans served as Principal of Lake Erie Female Seminary in Painesville since 1868. She attended the 1885 OWSA convention and encouraged several seminary pupils to join her. She was called upon to speak at the meeting, and stated that at the seminary they were "engaged in striving to worthily fit young women for their share of the world's work and duties, be it as voters or in whatsoever circumstances they should be placed" (The New Era, 1885)., Rev. Olympia Brown was raised an abolitionist, taught to believe in the quest for equal rights. She was known as a great orator, and was recruited by Anthony and Stone to speak in a Kansas circuit, where she delivered over 300 speeches, and was invited to speak at the OWSA convention on "The Relation of Christianity to Woman Suffrage.", Helen Gougar spoke on "The Need of Woman's Influence Upon the Morals of the Future." Her activism began with the temperance movement, and was first swayed to join the women's suffrage cause after hearing about cases of domestic violence, believing that a woman's vote would be more effective than "praying away the evil.", Susan B. Anthony , By this time, thirty-five years had passed since Anthony first visited the state of Ohio at the organization of the first state suffrage society in Akron. She kept her remarks to reminiscing of suffrage activities, closing with words of advice, encouragement, and gratification of the strong roots to the suffrage cause found in Ohio. Anthony first met ERA President Frances Jennings Casement along with her husband Jack Casement during their stay in Wyoming, and established a life-long friendship., Resolutions , Resolved, That as a state organization we discard all allegiance to factions and work as nearly all possible in harmony with any and all organizations that have for their object the enfranchisement of women., Resolved, That as women of Ohio, while striving to secure the exercise of our political rights, we are prompted by a deep sense of duty which impels us to persevere in our work until we have attained the end in view -- perfect equality before the law., Resolved, That while we work for political liberty and equality for all, we also work earnestly for the higher education of the young; that we labor to impress upon the rising generation the fact that moral purity is as advantageous to the highest development of the mind in one sex as in the other; that as mothers the moral purity and excellence of our sons is as dear to us as that of our daughters.