Category: Suffrage

Elizabeth Blume-Silverstein

Apr 10, 2022

in 1890-1909 (Born), Born or raised in Newark (high school or before), Jewish Women, Law and Law Enforcement, Suffrage

1892-1991 Eliabeth Blume-Silverstein was born in Newark. She graduated the New Jersey Law School in Newark in 1911 (just a year after the first woman graduate Laura Mayo Wilson), but could not practice until she turned 21. In 1913, she was admitted to the Bar as an attorney and in 1917 as a counselor. Elizabeth…
Margaret Douglas Haines

Apr 3, 2022

in 1870-1889 (Born), Born or raised in Newark (high school or before), Education, Museums and Libraries, Featured, Politics & Government, Social Work, Civic and Philanthropy, Suffrage

1884-1966 Margaret Haines was a lifelong resident of Newark. She was a member of the General Assembly from 1949-1953, taught at Garfield and Avon Ave Schools, was a canteen worker and ambulance driver in WWI and a Signal corps driver and USO Organizer in Newark in WWII. The Newark News called her “the antithesis of…
Mary E. Cary Burrell

Mar 13, 2022

in 1850-1869 (Born), African Americans, Politics & Government, Social Work, Civic and Philanthropy, Suffrage

1866-1947 Mary Burrell was a strong member of NJ State Federation of Women’s Clubs from 1915, running the Legislative Department, while living in East Orange, working for causes including suffrage and prison reform (chairman of prison reform). Mary was born Mary E Cary, in Virginia. By 1920, she lived in Newark on Howard Street and…
Mary Philbrook

Mar 10, 2022

in 1870-1889 (Born), Community Activists, Law and Law Enforcement, Suffrage

1872-1958 Mary Philbrook was the first female attorney admitted to the bar in New Jersey. She practiced in Newark for many years. While there are several large biographies of Mary already written (see below), she was in Newark from 1899 until World War 1, and again from 1920 through the end of her life. In…
Florence Peshine Eagleton

Mar 5, 2022

in 1870-1889 (Born), Born or raised in Newark (high school or before), Community Activists, Education, Museums and Libraries, Social Work, Civic and Philanthropy, Suffrage

1870-1953 Florence Eagleton was active in suffrage and a civic leader in NJ. She was a lifelong Newark resident. Florence Peshine Eagleton a suffragist who was was vice President of the NJ Suffrage Association and president of the Woman’s Political Union. She was a founder of the New Jersey League of Woman Voters. Florence was…
Armita Harris Douglas

Mar 5, 2022

in 1870-1889 (Born), African Americans, Phyllis Wheatley Society, Social Work, Civic and Philanthropy, Suffrage

1874-1958 Armita Douglas was active in the suffrage movement and a civic leader in Newark, advocating for Black women to become more politically active. She said in 1923, ” “the best mother is not the mother who stays at home all the time and gets a flower once a year…there are girls outside our own home…
Augusta Levine Parsonnet

Feb 25, 2022

in 1870-1889 (Born), Born or raised in Newark (high school or before), Immigrant (born outside the Continental US), Jewish Women, Social Work, Civic and Philanthropy, Suffrage

1870-1949 Augusta Parsonnet was president of the Women’s Political Union of New Jersey. She was the first President of the League of Women Voters of Newark. She was also first President of the Ladie’s Guild of Beth Israel, a founder of Haddasah’s Newark Chapter and first President the Newark Council of Jewish Women. She also…
Melinda Scott

Feb 23, 2022

in 1870-1889 (Born), Community Activists, Immigrant (born outside the Continental US), Politics & Government, Suffrage

1876-1954 Melinda Scott was an English immigrant and President of a Hat Trimmers Union in Newark & worked for suffrage including being part of a delegation to President Wilson. She was also a key figure in the labor movement and later was a Newark tax commissioner, the first woman on the Newark Tax Board and…