Abby Hadassah Smith
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Abby Hadassah Smith (June 1, 1797 – July 23, 1879) was an early American
suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
who campaigned for property and voting rights from
Glastonbury, Connecticut Glastonbury ( ) is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, formally founded in 1693 and first settled in 1636. It was named after Glastonbury in Somerset, England. Glastonbury is on the banks of the Connecticut River, southeast ...
. She was a subject of the book ''Abby Smith and Her Cows'' in which her sister
Julia Evelina Smith Julia Evelina Smith (27 May 1792 – 6 March 1886) was an American women's suffrage activist who was the first woman to translate the Bible from its original languages into English. She was also the author of the book ''Abby Smith and Her Cows'', ...
told the story of a tax resistance struggle they undertook in the suffrage cause.


Family background

Born in 1797, Smith was the youngest of five daughters of Hannah Hadassah (Hickock) Smith and Zephaniah Hollister Smith, a Nonconformist clergyman turned farmer. Smith's mother authored one of the earliest anti-slavery petitions, presented to the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
by
John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States ...
. The family was united in support of her advocacy of
education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
, abolition and
women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
. At Hannah's instigation, the family house on Main Street, Kimberly Mansion, was a stop on the Connecticut Freedom Trail; it is now a designated
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
. The Smiths of Glastonbury—namely, Smith, her sisters, and her mother—were inducted wholesale into the
Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame The Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame (CWHF) recognizes women natives or residents of the U.S. state of Connecticut for their significant achievements or statewide contributions. The CWHF had its beginnings in 1993 when a group of volunteers partn ...
in 1994.


Suffrage-related activism

Smith was educated at Emma Willard’s Seminary in
Troy, New York Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany ...
and was known to have kept a diary in both French and
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
. In 1869, Smith and her sister, Julia, attended a woman’s suffrage meeting in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1872, the town of Glastonbury attempted to raise taxes on the Smith sisters and two other widows in town. None of their male neighbors’ taxes had risen, so the sisters refused to pay the taxes without having been granted a right to vote in town meetings. The sister’s plight was soon published in the Springfield, Massachusetts newspaper, '' The Republican'', and newspapers across the country quickly picked up on the story. In 1873, Smith traveled to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
to attend the first meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Women, and a month later she protested taxation of disenfranchised women. In January 1874, seven of her cows were seized and sold for taxes. When she protested this seizure of property, 15 acres of pastureland was also seized, illegally, for delinquent taxes.McCain, Diana Ross. ''It Happened in Connecticut''. Globe Pequot, 2008, pp. 93–98. The sisters took the town to court and ultimately won their case. In ''
The Woman's Bible ''The Woman's Bible'' is a two-part non-fiction book, written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and a committee of 26 women, published in 1895 and 1898 to challenge the traditional position of religious orthodoxy that woman should be subservient to man ...
'', Elizabeth Cady Stanton noted that "Abby Smith's quaint, simple speeches attracted attention...and from that time on their fame grew apace."Elizabeth Cady Stanton. ''The Woman's Bible''. UPNE, 1993, p. 152.


References


Further reading

*Smith, Julia Evelina. ''Abby Smith and Her Cows'' (1877)


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Abby Hadassah 1797 births 1879 deaths American tax resisters American women's rights activists People from Glastonbury, Connecticut Activists from Connecticut