Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/261

MAINE 247 November 12 it was merged into the League of Women Voters with Miss Mabel Connor as chairman. Suffrage work in Maine was carried on for many years in the face of the greatest obstacles but there was always a small group of devoted women willing to make any sacrifice for the cause, who carried the torch until another group could take it, and every step gained was fought for. The history would be incom- plete without mention of the Portland Equal Franchise League, of which Mrs. Arthur L. Bates was president, which for many years was the backbone of the State association. The list of State officers who freely gave their services is too long to publish. Among other prominent workers not already mentioned were Dr. Jennie Fuller of Hartland; Mrs. Zenas Thompson and Miss Susan Clark of Portland ; Mrs. Isabel Greenwood of Farm- ington; Miss Anna L. Dingley and Miss Alice Frost Lord, connected with the Lewiston Journal. 1 Among the men not mentioned elsewhere, who advocated woman suffrage in the face of criticism and with no advantage to be gained, were Judge William Penn Whitehouse and Obadiah Gardner of Augusta; Leonard A. Pierce of Portland; L. B. Dessy of Bar Harbor ; E. C. Reynolds of South Portland. 1 Among the active workers in the Anti-Suffrage Association were Mesdames John F. A. Merrill, Merrill Hamlin and George S. Hobbs, all of Portland; Norman L. Bassett, John F. Hill, and Charles S. Hichborn, all of Augusta; George E. Bird, Yarmouth; Miss Elizabeth McKeen, Brunswick. Among the men actively opposed were the Rev. E. E. Newbert, Benedict F. Maher, Samuel C. Manley, Charles S. Hichborn. all of Augusta; ex-Governor Oakley C. Curtis, of Portland; Governor elect Frederick H. Parkhurst, of Bangor; U. S. Senator Hale, opposed but finally voted for the Federal Suffrage Amendment.