Lucy Elmina Anthony (October 24, 1859July 4, 1944) was an internationally known leader in the American woman's suffrage movement. She was the niece of American social reformer and women's rights activist,

Susan B. Anthony Susan B. Anthony (born Susan Anthony; February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906) was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Born into a Quaker family committed to s ...

, and longtime companion of women's suffrage leader,

Anna Howard Shaw Anna Howard Shaw (February 14, 1847 – July 2, 1919) was a leader of the women's suffrage movement in the United States. She was also a physician and one of the first ordained female Methodist ministers in the United States. Early life Shaw ...

. She served as a secretary to both women, as well as on the committee on local arrangements 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 ...

(NWSA)

Early life

Lucy Elmina Anthony was born on October 24, 1859, in Fort Scott, Kansas. She was the oldest child of Jacob Merritt Anthony (1834–1900), a sewing machine salesman, and Mary Almina Luther (1839–1915). Her paternal aunt was

, a prominent suffragist. Anthony's father served in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, but little else is known about her early life. She moved from Kansas to

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

, in 1880 to attend the Rochester Free Academy, which she graduated from in 1883. While in New York, she lived with her aunts, Susan B. Anthony and Mary S. Anthony, and began assisting behind-the-scenes with the women's suffrage movement. She began a long career as a secretary for her aunt. She also acted as an assistant to

Rachel Foster Avery Rachel Foster Avery (December 30, 1858 – October 26, 1919) was active in the American women's suffrage movement during the late 19th century, working closely with Susan B. Anthony and other movement leaders. She rose to be corresponding secr ...

, who Susan B. Anthony was training to become the leader of the

(NWSA).

Activism

In 1886, Anthony worked with her aunt Susan to try to convince

to leave her current organization, the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), and the two women became close. Conversations about a merger between the NWSA and the AWSA began the same year, and the organizations officially united into the

National American Woman Suffrage Association The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was an organization formed on February 18, 1890, to advocate in favor of women's suffrage in the United States. It was created by the merger of two existing organizations, the National ...

(NAWSA) in 1890. While this unification was being enacted, Anthony, Shaw, and

Alice Stone Blackwell Alice Stone Blackwell (September 14, 1857 – March 15, 1950) was an American feminist, suffragist, journalist, radical socialist, and human rights advocate. Early life and education Blackwell was born in East Orange, New Jersey to Henry Browne ...

compiled ''The Yellow Ribbon Speaker: Readings and Recitations'' (1891), a collection of writings on women's suffrage. Anthony served as Shaw's manager from 1888 until she died in 1919, acting as a business administrator and emotional support, a role for which she received a salary and an assurance that she would receive half of Shaw's belongings. This role included searching for Susan B. Anthony and Shaw as a manager in their world tours. She also worked frequently for the NAWSA itself, coordinating transportation for conferences on the West Coast, working with field offices during state campaigns, and attending most annual conventions. She served on the committee on local arrangements for the NAWSA in 1889, and on the national committee on local arrangements and the committee on railroad rates in 1910. In 1896, Anthony and Elizabeth Sargent arranged a series of conventions in every county in California to promote women's suffrage. After the suffrage victory in 1920, Anthony supported the newly created League of Women Voters and remained active in women's movements throughout her life.

Relationship with Anna Howard Shaw

Susan B. Anthony was initially concerned about the decade age gap between Anthony and Shaw as the two became closer, but she came to encourage the relationship and persuaded them both to move to

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. The couple would become longtime companions. During the 1890s, Anthony and Shaw had a summer home together in Wianno, on the south coast of

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

, which became the focus of an 1895 newspaper article by ''

New York World The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under pub ...

'' titled "An Adamless Eden of Women in Bloomers". In 1903, Shaw built a home at 240 Ridley Creek Road,

Media, Pennsylvania Media is a borough in and the county seat of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It is located about west of Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation with 1.6 million residents as 2020. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolita ...

, where she lived with Anthony until her death. The house was originally held in Shaw's name but she sold it to Anthony for $1 in 1915. Anthony was by Shaw's bedside when she died on July 2, 1919. After Shaw's death, Anthony focused on creating a biography of Shaw and created memorials to her at

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United ...

and the

Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

. She had collected letters and memorabilia from their lives together, and she retained

Ida Husted Harper Ida Husted Harper (February 18, 1851 – March 14, 1931) was an American author, journalist, columnist, and suffragist, as well as the author of a three-volume biography of suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony at Anthony's request. Harper also c ...

, the author of her aunt's biography, to write a biography for Shaw. However, they had a falling out over the first draft, which was never published.

Personal life

Anthony was the executrix of her aunt and Shaw's estates and the primary beneficiary of the latter's will. Her aunt Mary's will specified that her property was to go to Susan and, on her death, that it would go to Anthony and Shaw. The two of them were also appointed as

executors An executor is someone who is responsible for executing, or following through on, an assigned task or duty. The feminine form, executrix, may sometimes be used. Overview An executor is a legal term referring to a person named by the maker of a ...

of the will, along with Avery. She was at her aunt Susan's bedside while she was dying in 1906. Anthony died on July 4, 1944, at the home of a friend, Julia C. Kent, in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, and in her will, she left the bulk of her estate to the National League of Women Voters and the Philadelphia League of Voters.

Bibliography

* Howard Shaw, Anna; Stone Blackwell, Alice; Anthony, Lucy Elmina (1891)
''The Yellow Ribbon Speaker: Readings and Recitations''.
Boston: Lee and Shepard.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anthony, Lucy Elmina 1859 births 1944 deaths People from Fort Scott, Kansas 19th-century American women politicians 20th-century American women American feminists American suffragists Rochester Free Academy alumni