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closevintae vignettes: Honoring the past that shaped the future
Dennis Larsen / guest columnist
In 2010, the state will celebrate the centennial anniversary of woman’s suffrage. That celebration must acknowledge the role that several Puyallup Valley pioneers played in this struggle, in particular Elizabeth Spinning, Eliza Jane Meeker and Ezra Meeker.
The suffrage struggle here began in 1871 when Susan B. Anthony came to Washington Territory. She traveled around the Sound for about a month lecturing and organizing. At the conclusion of the tour, a woman’s suffrage convention was held in Olympia and attended by about 300 people. A failed attempt was made shortly after the convention to get the legislature to grant women the vote, but Ms. Anthony left behind the seeds of future success — in late 1871, the Washington Equal Suffrage Association was created. Over the next 10 years the women went to Olympia time and time again trying to secure the vote.
Each time they lost narrowly. Victory arrived in 1883 when the legislature granted women the right to vote. Perhaps in celebration of this event, Ezra Meeker (and maybe Eliza Jane) attended the 1886 National Woman’s Suffrage Association convention in Washington, D.C. and there met Susan B. Anthony. The joy was short-lived. Four years later the Territorial Supreme Court voided the suffrage law.
In 1889, with the arrival of statehood it was decided to place the question of woman’s suffrage on the ballot. The fight would have to be fought again. As part of the campaign Clara Colby, editor of the Woman’s Tribune, the nation’s foremost suffrage newspaper, came to Washington to help organize local suffrage groups. On April 16, 1889, Colby arrived in Puyallup. Elizabeth Spinning secured the local Methodist church as a meeting site, printed and distributed dodgers to place around town and attracted a crowd that filled the church.
An afternoon informational meeting was followed by an evening lecture by Colby, election of officers and the drafting of by-laws and a plan of action. Mrs. Colby had high praise for the help that Ezra Meeker provided at these meetings. That evening Mrs. N. J. Ross was elected president of the Puyallup Woman’s Equal Suffrage Association and Mrs. Spinning and Mrs. Meeker vice-presidents. After officially affiliating with the national organization the women went to work. Arrangements were made to bring in prominent suffrage lecturers, and money was raised for the upcoming election. Despite losing that election 35,527 to 16,613, the women did not quit.
In February 1890, the Meekers attended the National Convention in Washington, D.C. and donated money to the cause. Mrs. Spinning went on to become the treasurer of the state association and in her later years served as a member of the executive board. She also served as honorary vice president of the national organization. Mrs. Meeker died in 1909, one year before Washington women finally won the right to vote. Elizabeth Spinning saw victory. She died in 1916. Ezra Meeker lived long enough to see the day when all American women were granted the right of suffrage on August 18, 1920.