Abby Crawford Milton (6 February 1881 – 2 May 1991) was an American suffragist and supercentenarian. She was the last president of the Tennessee Equal Suffrage Association. She traveled throughout

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

making speeches and organizing suffrage leagues in small communities. In 1920, she, along with Anne Dallas Dudley and Catherine Talty Kenny, led the campaign in Tennessee to approve ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution."Services For Mrs. Dudley To Be Held Thursday". Nashville Banner. September 14, 1955. On August 18, Tennessee became the 36th and deciding state to ratify the amendment, thereby giving women the right to vote throughout the country. After the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, Milton became the first president of the

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV or the League) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan political organization in the United States. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include registering voters, providing voter information, and advocating for vot ...

of Tennessee. She also worked toward the creation of the

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Great Smoky Mountains National Park is an American national park in the southeastern United States, with parts in North Carolina and Tennessee. The park straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, whi ...

and attended Democratic national conventions as a delegate-at-large. In 1924 she gave the seconding nomination speech for

William Gibbs McAdoo William Gibbs McAdoo Jr.McAdoo is variously differentiated from family members of the same name: * Dr. William Gibbs McAdoo (1820–1894) – sometimes called "I" or "Senior" * William Gibbs McAdoo (1863–1941) – sometimes called "II" or "Ju ...

as he ran for the Democratic presidential nomination. In the late 1930s she ran as a New Deal Democrat for the Tennessee State Senate, but lost. On August 26, 2016, as part of

Women's Equality Day Nancy Pelosi, Anna Eshoo, Barbara Lee">Anna_Eshoo.html" ;"title="Nancy Pelosi, Anna Eshoo">Nancy Pelosi, Anna Eshoo, Barbara Lee and Jackie Speier on the 96th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, when women won the right to v ...

, a monument by

Alan LeQuire Alan LeQuire (born 1955) is an American sculptor from Nashville, Tennessee. Many of his sculptures are installed in the city. Early life Alan LeQuire was born in 1955. His father, Virgil, was a physician and researcher on the faculty of Vanderbi ...

was unveiled in Centennial Park in Nashville, featuring depictions of Milton,

Carrie Chapman Catt Carrie Chapman Catt (; January 9, 1859 Fowler, p. 3 – March 9, 1947) was an American women's suffrage leader who campaigned for the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave U.S. women the right to vote in 1920. Catt ...

, Anne Dallas Dudley,

Juno Frankie Pierce Juno Frankie Seay Pierce, also known as Frankie Pierce or J. Frankie Pierce (c. 1864 – 1954), was an American educator and suffrage, suffragist. Pierce opened the Tennessee Vocational School for Colored Girls in 1923, and she served as its super ...

, and Sue Shelton White.

Personal life

Abby Crawford Milton was born in

Milledgeville, Georgia Milledgeville is a city in and the county seat of Baldwin County in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is northeast of Macon and bordered on the east by the Oconee River. The rapid current of the river here made this an attractive location to buil ...

to newspaper publisher Charles Peter Crawford and Anna Ripley Orme. In 1904, Abby, married George Fort Milton Sr., an editor of the Pro-Suffrage Chattanooga News, this was George's second marriage. While George was busy with the newspaper, Abby went to school. She attended

Chattanooga College of Law The Chattanooga College of Law was a law school in Chattanooga, Tennessee, from 1898 to 1942. The school began as the law department of Grant University (which later became the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga). The first graduate of the sch ...

where she received her law degree but never practiced it. Together, George and Abby had three daughters; Corinne, Sarah Anna, and Frances. When George's first wife, Caroline Mounger McCall died in 1897, she left a son behind, George Fort Milton Jr. He became Abby's stepson when she married George. When George F. Milton Sr. died in 1924, Abby and stepson George took over the Chattanooga News until it was sold in the 1930s. Later, Abby Crawford Milton moved to

Clearwater, Florida Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, northwest of Tampa and St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2020 census, the city had a populat ...

where she began to write. She published "A Report of the Tennessee League of Women Voters," "The Magic Switch," poetry for children; "Caesar's Wife and Other Poems"; "Lookout Mountain"; "Flower Lore"; and "Grandma Says". Milton died on 2 May 1991 in Clearwater at the age of 110. Her grave is in Clearwater at Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park, between those of Frances Walker and Corinne Moore, two of her three daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milton, Abby Crawford 1881 births 1991 deaths American suffragists 19th-century American women 19th-century American people American supercentenarians Women supercentenarians Activists from Tennessee

Personal life

Further reading and resources

References