Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/414

 

There has been a woman suffrage association in New Hampshire since 1868 with some of the State's most eminent men and women among its members. In 1900 it took on new life when the New England Association, with headquarters in Boston, sent Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden to speak and organize. In 1901 Miss Mary N. Chase of Andover spent a month forming societies and a conference was held at Manchester in December, addressed by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and Henry B. and Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, editors of the Woman's Journal.

In 1902 the National Board engaged Miss Chase as organizer for a month. A State Suffrage Association was formed with seven auxiliary clubs and the following officers were elected: President, Miss Chase, honorary president, Mrs. Armenia S. White, Concord; honorary vice-presidents, ex-U. S. Senator Henry W. Blair, U. S. Senator Jacob H. Gallinger; vice-president, Miss Elizabeth S. Hunt, Manchester; secretary, Miss Mary E. Quimby, Concord; treasurer, the Rev. Angelo Hall, Andover; auditors, Miss Caroline R. Wendell, Dover; Sherman E. Burroughs (afterwards member of Congress), Manchester.

A convention met in Concord December 2 to revise the State constitution and on the 4th Captain Arthur Thompson of Warner offered an amendment which struck out the word "male" from the suffrage clause. A hearing on it was granted on the gth and Mrs. Catt and Mr. and Miss Blackwell addressed the convention. After long discussion by the delegates it was voted on the 11th, by 145 to 92 that this amendment should be submitted to the voters with the revised constitution in March, 1903. The State suffrage convention was held in December at the time the hearing