Elnora Monroe Babcock (, Monroe; January 11, 1852 – December 29, 1934) was a pioneer leader in the American suffrage movement. She became actively interested in suffrage work in 1889 and for several years had charge of the press work for the

National Woman Suffrage Association The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was formed on May 15, 1869, to work for women's suffrage in the United States. Its main leaders were Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It was created after the women's rights movement s ...

. She lived in

Dunkirk, New York Dunkirk is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. It was settled around 1805 and incorporated in 1880. The population was 12,743 as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Dunkirk i ...

since 1880. Her name was inscribed on a bronze tablet in the

New York State Capitol The New York State Capitol, the seat of the New York state government, is located in Albany, the capital city of the U.S. state of New York. The capitol building is part of the Empire State Plaza complex on State Street in Capitol Park. Housi ...

at Albany, with the names of other prominent suffragists. Babcock died in 1934.

Early life and education

Elnora E. Monroe was born in Columbus, Pennsylvania, January 11, 1852. She was a graduate of Jamestown High School and the Lyons Musical Academy.

Career

At the age of eighteen, she married Prof. John W. Babcock, of Jamestown, New York, who served as city superintendent of public schools in Dunkirk, where they made their home. From early girlhood she felt the injustice of denying to woman a voice in government, which concerned her the same as a man, but as her time was taken up to a great extent in household affairs, and she lived in a community where few sympathized with her feelings and none were ready to come out and take a stand for freedom, she did not take an active part in the reforms of the day until 1889. Then, owing mainly to her efforts, a political equality club was organized in Dunkirk, of which she was made president. This club flourished under her management, and before the close of her first year as president of the Dunkirk club, she was elected president of the Chautauqua County Political Equality Club, the most thoroughly organized county in the United States, having twenty-five local clubs within its borders and a membership of 1,400. At the close of her first year as president of that club, she was unanimously re-elected. On July 25, 1891, she had the honor of presiding over the first woman in suffrage meeting ever held at the Chautauqua Assembly, where, through the request of the county club, the subject was allowed to be advocated. Aside from the presidency of these clubs, she served upon a number of important committees connected with suffrage work, including chair of the National Woman Suffrage Association's press department. Although deeply interested in all the reforms of the day tending to the uplifting of humanity, she devoted most of her time to the enfranchisement of woman believing this to be the most important reform before the American people in that day, and one upon which all other reforms rest.

Personal life

Babcock was a member of the Adams Memorial Unitarian church and of the Woman's Alliance of that church, and was a member of the Women's Literary Club. She died at her home in Dunkirk, on December 29, 1934.

Selected works

* "Susan B. Anthony, a life sketch", 1906 * "Why Cannot Women Vote", 1902

References

Attribution

* * *

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Babcock, Elnora Monroe 1852 births 1934 deaths 19th-century American writers 19th-century American women writers 20th-century American writers 20th-century American women writers American suffragists People from Warren County, Pennsylvania Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century