CHAPTER LIX.
OKLAHOMA.[1]
Oklahoma Territory was opened to settlement April 22, 1889, and its first woman's organization was the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, founded in Guthrie, March 10, 1890, by Mrs. Margaret O. Rhodes, under the direction of Miss Frances E. Willard. In the following April a convention was called at Oklahoma City, delegates coming from ten societies, and Mrs. Rhodes was elected president. In October, 1890, the first annual convention was held in Guthrie, the capital, Mrs. Alice Williams of Missouri being the principal speaker. The first Legislature was in session and she also addressed this body making a strong plea for legislation in favor of temperance and woman suffrage.
In 1895 Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the organization committee of the National Suffrage Association, arranged for a lecturer to visit all the principal towns on the Rock Island and Santa Fe Railroads, and Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas was selected for this pioneer work. She came into the Territory the first week in October and lectured in twelve places, forming clubs. Her campaign closed at Guthrie where the first suffrage convention was held, November u, 12, and an association organized. Miss Margaret Rees was elected president,[2] Mrs. J. R. Keaton, secretary, and Mrs. R. W. Southard, delegate to the national convention.
Mrs. Julia B. Nelson of Minnesota was sent into the Territory by the National Association for three months in May, 1896. She spoke in twenty-three towns, organizing a number of clubs, and on June 7, 8, closed her work with a mass meeting in Guthrie.
- ↑ The History is indebted for material for this chapter to Mrs. Margaret Olive Rhodes of Guthrie, president of the Territorial Woman Suffrage Association.
- ↑ Mrs. Rachel Rees Griffith and her two daughters are known as the Mothers of Equal Suffrage in Oklahoma. Miss Margaret was the first Territorial president, while no one has done more in the local club of Guthrie than Miss Rachel. Mrs. Griffith is nearly eighty years of age, but fully expects to live to see the women of Oklahoma enjoying the full franchise.
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