Mary Sperry

Mary Elizabeth Simpson Sperry was a leading California suffragist who served as president of the California Woman Suffrage Association.^[1]

Suffrage work

 

Mary Sperry in the San Francisco Call, November 1903^[2]

Mary Sperry was one of the leading suffragists in the state of California, specifically San Francisco,^[3] and was personally supported by noted suffragist Susan B. Anthony.^[4] Mary Sperry also worked alongside Carrie Chapman Catt and Anna Shaw.^[3] According to suffrage scholar Rebecca Mead, Anthony believed Sperry "links the old people to the new" and endorsed Sperry as leader of the California Woman Suffrage Association which as affiliated with the National American Woman Suffrage Association.^[5] Her work as treasurer was recognized in the History of Woman Suffrage published by Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.^[6] In volume VI of that publication it was noted that Sperry participated in a major suffrage conference in San Francisco in 1902.^[6]

Sperry also corresponded about the suffrage movement with philanthropist Phoebe Hearst.^[7] In a letter dated September 30, 1911, Sperry wrote to Hearst saying, ""I wish to acknowledge the pleasure it gave me at our recent Club meeting, when you told me that you favored 'Votes for Women.' Perhaps you do not realize how much it means to me, who have worked for it so long, to know that women like you are on our side."^[7]

1896 campaign for women's suffrage

Mary Sperry was actively involved in the failed 1896 campaign for women's suffrage in California. While serving as treasurer to the state suffrage association, for seven years,^[8] Sperry wrote opinion articles advocating for the passage of what was known as Amendment 6.^[9] Much of her work was organized from Market Street in San Francisco.^[10] National suffragist Anna Howard Shaw was quoted on this failed campaign as saying "it was not a Waterloo; it was Bunker Hill."^[11] The Susan B. Anthony Club was formed in Mary Sperry's home shortly after the campaign failed; she served as the club's president for many years.^[8]

California Equal Suffrage Association

The California Equal Suffrage Association was incorporated in 1904.^[12] Sperry was involved in this organization from the beginning and worked with many other California suffragists including Gail Laughlin, Ellen C. Sargent, Alice L. Park and Minora Kibbe.^[12] In October 1907, Mary Sperry gave an address at the California Equal Suffrage Association's annual conference in Oakland; she explained that the suffrage movement was a "progressive movement, and must go on to equality".^[13] On October 3, 1908, Sperry was unanimously re-elected as the organization's president for a seventh year in a row.^[14]

1911 campaign in California

 

Mary Simpson Sperry

Sperry was politically active in the 1911 campaign for women's suffrage in California. That year she served as president of the Susan B. Anthony Club.^[15] In the early 1900s, Sperry served as president of the California Woman Suffrage Association where she organized hundreds of suffragists.^[1] In this organization, she worked alongside noted suffragists such as Gail Laughlin and Sperry's daughter Dr. Mary Austin Sperry.^[16] Sperry served as president of this organization from 1902 ^[17] to 1909, succeeding Mary Wood Swift.^[18] The Stockton Record published Sperry's successful re-election in 1903.^[19] In 1905, Mary Sperry presided over a major suffrage convention on Sutter Street in San Francisco.^[20] Suffragist Dr. Minora Kibbe also attended this convention.^[20] She resigned on October 2, 1909 while attending a suffrage convention in Stockton, California.^[18]

Sperry personally saw women vote in Denver in 1908 and would share stories of these women voters with suffragists in California.^[21]

Political activism

Sperry lobbied for suffrage through a variety of different organizations including the Century Club, the Susan B. Anthony Club and the California Club.^[17][22] Sperry's work in the California Club involved recruiting women into the cause of working for suffrage.^[22] She played a pivotal role in securing women's suffrage in the state of California and was photographed voting in the 1912 California election.^[23]

Personal life

 

Gravesite of suffragist Mary Sperry

Mary Elizabeth Simpson was born in Brunswick, Maine on June 3, 1833.^[18] Mary Simpson Sperry moved to California after she married Austin Sperry, founder of the Sperry Flour Company, in 1862;^[24] together they had four children.^[18] Following her husband's death in 1881, she became the company's senior partner with Simpson Enterprises in 1884.^[3] The last 33 years of her life were spent in San Francisco.^[25] Her personal wealth helped fund the suffrage cause in California.^[4] The Sperry family were a prominent family in the city of Stockton, California. When her daughter, Dr. Mary A. Sperry died, Mary Simpson Sperry contested her will as Dr. Sperry had lived for many years with suffragist Gail Laughlin.^[26]

Mary Sperry died in April 1921.^[27]

References

1. "San Francisco Call 19 November 1903 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
2. "LONGINGLY LOOK TOWARD BALLOT BOX — San Francisco Call 19 November 1903 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
3. Beckham, Stephen Dow (1967). "Asa Mead Simpson, Lumberman and Shipbuilder". Oregon Historical Quarterly. 68 (3): 259–273. JSTOR 20612992.
4. Mead, Rebecca J. (2004). How the Vote Was Won: Woman Suffrage in the Western United States, 1868-1914. New York University Press.
5. Mead, Rebecca (2004). How the Vote Was Won: Woman Suffrage in the Western United States, 1868-1914. New York University Press. p. 93.
6. "History of Woman Suffrage, Volume VI: 1900-1920" (PDF). National American Woman Suffrage Association.
7. "Room One: The Suffragists". bancroft.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
8. Harper, Ida Husted (1920). The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume VI. National American Woman Suffrage Association.
9. "10 Oct 1896, 10 - The San Francisco Examiner at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
10. "San Francisco Call 10 October 1896 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
11. "5 Dec 1896, 7 - The Evening Mail at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
12. "San Francisco Call 17 May 1904 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
13. "Issue 42". Woman's Journal. 38: 166. 1907.
14. "SUFFRAGISTS ELECT OFFICERS.: Mrs. Mary Simpson Sperry Enters on Seventh Consecutive Year as President". Los Angeles Times. 4 October 1908. p. I3. ProQuest 159204214.
15. "San Francisco Call 24 August 1911 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
16. Rouse, Wendy. "The Very Queer History of the Suffrage Movement (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
17. Davis, Reda. California Women: A Guide to Their Politics 1885-1911. p. 174.
18. "Biographical Sketch of Mary S. Sperry | Alexander Street Documents". documents.alexanderstreet.com. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
19. "Stockton Record 20 November 1903 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
20. "San Francisco Call 21 October 1905 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
21. "Mill Valley Record 4 December 1908 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
22. Englander, Susan (2011). ""We Want the Ballot for Very Different Reasons" Clubwomen, Union Women, and the Internal Politics of the Suffrage Movement, 1896-1911". California Women and Politics: 211.
23. "WOMEN CLAIM THE VOTE IN CALIFORNIA - FoundSF". www.foundsf.org. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
24. "Biographical Sketch of Mary S. Sperry | Alexander Street Documents". documents.alexanderstreet.com. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
25. "Sacramento Daily Union 14 April 1921 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
26. "San Francisco Call 7 May 1920 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
27. "Stockton Independent 14 April 1921 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-11.