CHAPTER XXVIII.
CALIFORNIA.[1]
The first woman suffrage meeting on the Pacific Coast was held in San Francisco in May, 1869, and a State association was formed in January, 1870. From that date meetings were held regularly and a committee of women did faithful work at the Legislature every session, securing many changes in the laws to the advantage of women.[2]
At the annual meeting of the association in San Francisco in December, 1884, Mrs. Laura De Force Gordon succeeded Mrs. Clara S. Foltz as president and held the office for the next ten years. During this time she attended a number of national suffrage conventions in Washington and delivered addresses in many parts of the United States.
In the political campaign of 1888 Mrs. Gordon and Mrs. Foltz were employed as speakers by the Democratic Central Committee, and Miss Addie L. Ballou by the Republican. The Populist and the Labor parties selected women as delegates to their State conventions and placed them on their tickets for various offices. Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake of New York and Mrs. Marilla M. Ricker of New Hampshire visited the Pacific Coast and gave very acceptable lectures to the suffrage societies.
In 1889 Mrs. Ellen Clark Sargent and Mrs. Sarah Knox Goodrich each subscribed $100 to send Mrs. Gordon to Washington Territory to aid the women there in securing the adoption of a suffrage amendment to the State constitution. She canvassed the State, contributing her services. The next year, through the efforts of these two ladies and their own contributions, over $1,000 were sent to South Dakota to assist the women in a similar attempt.
Suffrage meetings for various purposes were held in 1890, the largest being a grand rally at Metropolitan Temple, July 4.
