Caroline Hallowell Miller (August 20, 1831 – September 2, 1905) was an American educator and suffragist. She organized the

Maryland Woman Suffrage Association The Maryland Woman Suffrage Association (MWSA) was a woman's suffrage organization in Maryland, USA, founded in 1889. About The MWSA was created to fight for women's suffrage in Maryland. Carolyn Hallowell Miller started the group on January ...

in 1889, and was its first president.

Early life

Caroline Hallowell was born in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

, then part of the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, the daughter of Benjamin Hallowell and Margaret Farquhar Hallowell."Caroline H. Miller"
''Friends' Intelligencer'' (October 21, 1905): 667. Her parents were

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

educators active in the abolition movement; her father was the president of

Maryland Agricultural College Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to it ...

, and her mother ran a school for girls in the family's Alexandria home. Her uncle was educator William Henry Farquhar, and businessman Arthur Briggs Farquhar was one of her first cousins.

Career

Miller founded the Stanmore School for Girls in

Sandy Spring, Maryland Sandy Spring is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Maryland, Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Geography Sandy Spring's boundaries are roughly defined as Brooke Road and Dr. Bird Road to the north ...

in 1867. She was active in the suffrage movement and spoke at national suffrage meetings. In 1883, she was introduced by Susan B. Anthony at the National Woman Suffrage Convention in Washington. In 1889, she organized the Maryland Woman Suffrage Association, and was its first president. In 1890 she was succeeded as president by Mary Bentley Thomas. A historical marker naming both women was erected in 2021 in Sandy Spring.

Personal life

Caroline Hallowell married attorney and fellow educator Francis Miller in 1852. They had seven children together; three of their children died in infancy. She was widowed when Francis Miller died in 1888; she died on September 2, 1905. Her cousin, Issac Hallowell Clothier (1837-1921), father to Hannah Hallowell Clothier Hull and

William Clothier (tennis) William 'Bill' Jackson Clothier (September 27, 1881 – September 4, 1962) was an American tennis player. Biography William J. Clothier was a top American tennis player in the early 1900s and reached the singles final of the United States Champ ...

, was a cofounder of

Strawbridge's Strawbridge's, formerly Strawbridge & Clothier, was a department store in the northeastern United States, with stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. The Center City Philadelphia flagship store was, in its day, a gracious urban emporiu ...

and owner of "Ballytore", a mansion designed by Addison Hutton in 1885. "Her strongest characteristic was a love of justice," recalled one death notice, "and this was what made her a champion for women's enfranchisement, and for all who were oppressed in any way".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Caroline Hallowell 1831 births 1905 deaths Hallowell family People from Alexandria, Virginia People from Sandy Spring, Maryland American suffragists American educators American Quakers