Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/681

 

The earliest record of woman suffrage in Virginia bears the name of Mrs. Hannah Lee Corbin of Gloucester county, whose protest in 1778 against taxation without representation was answered by a letter from her brother, Richard Henry Lee ("Lighthorse Harry'), who wrote that in his opinion under the clause in the constitution which gave the vote to householders she could exercise the suffrage.

There had been a suffrage organization in Virginia in 1893, of which Mrs. Orra Langhorne, a pioneer worker, had been president. When the State Equal Suffrage League was organized, Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky gave to it a trust fund of $2.50 which had been left in the treasury and Mrs. Langhorne had requested her to give to a Virginia League when one should be formed. In November, 1909, a preliminary meeting was held to discuss organization, followed a week later by the forming of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia. Lila Meade (Mrs. B. B.) Valentine, widely known for her public work, was elected president and served in this capacity for the next eleven years. State and city headquarters were opened in Richmond and remained there. Miss Mary Johnston was greatly interested and used her influence in promoting the new organization. Miss Ellen Glasgow also was very active. The league was organized to work for suffrage by both State and Federal action and early in its existence circulated a petition to Congress for a Federal Amendment. In 1910 this was presented to the Virginia members by Mrs. Valentine and the State delegates attending the national suffrage convention.

In January, 1911, the first public meeting ever held in