Born 9 January 1859 at Ripon, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin.[1] Daughter of Lucius Lane and Maria Clinton.[2] Attended Iowa Agricultural College and was the only woman in the graduating class of 1880.[3] Served as school superintendent of Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, 1883–1884.[4] Married Leo Chapman, 12 February 1885, in Charles City, Floyd County, Iowa.[5] Husband died, August 1886, in San Francisco.[6] Moved to San Francisco, 1886.[7] Returned to Charles City, August 1887.[8] Joined the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association, serving as a writer, lecturer, secretary, and Iowa state organizer, 1887–1892.[9] Married George W. Catt, 10 June 1890, in King County, Washington.[10] Served on the organization committee of the twenty-seventh annual convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in Atlanta, 1895.[11] Traveled to Utah on a suffrage tour, 29–30 October 1899.[12] Succeeded Susan B. Anthony as president of NAWSA, February 1900; resigned, 1904.[13] Helped found the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in Berlin, Germany, June 1904; served as president, 1904–1923.[14] President of NAWSA, 1915–1920.[15] Founded the League of Women Voters, 1920; served as honorary president, 1920–1947.[16] Formed and chaired the National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War, 1925; resigned as chair, 1932.[17] Died 9 March 1947 in New Rochelle, Westchester County, New York.[18]
[1] U.S. Passport Applications, 1795–1925, DGS 7546756, NARA Series M1490, roll 9, no. 12950, 16 May 1906, familysearch.org; Eleanor Flexner, “Catt, Carrie Clinton Lane Chapman,” in Edward T. James, ed., Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971), 1:309.
[2] “Carrie Lane,” 11 Feb. 1885, vol. 327, p. 403, in Iowa, U.S., Marriage Records, 1880–1949, Iowa Department of Public Health, Iowa Marriage Records, 1880–1948, State Historical Society, Des Moines, ancestry.com; Flexner, “Catt, Carrie Clinton Lane Chapman,” in James, Notable American Women, 1:309.
[3] Eighth [Ninth] Annual Commencement (Iowa Agricultural College, 1880).
[4] Mary Gray Peck, Carrie Chapman Catt: A Biography (H. W. Wilson Company, 1944), 36–39; Flexner, “Catt, Carrie Clinton Lane Chapman,” in James, Notable American Women, 1:310; David McCartney, “Catt, Carrie Chapman,” in David Hudson, Marvin Bergman, and Loren Horton, eds., The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa (University of Iowa Press, 2008), 79.
[5] “Carrie Lane,” 11 Feb. 1885, vol. 327, p. 403, in Iowa, U.S., Marriage Records, 1880–1949, Iowa Department of Public Health, Iowa Marriage Records, 1880–1948, State Historical Society, Des Moines, ancestry.com.
[6] “News of the Northwest,” Mitchell (Dakota Territory) Daily Republican, 26 Aug. 1886, [4]; “Personal and Social,” Iowa State Register (Des Moines), 25 Aug. 1886, 7; Flexner, “Catt, Carrie Clinton Lane Chapman,” in James, Notable American Women, 1:310.
[7] Peck, Carrie Chapman Catt, 43–44.
[8] Peck, Carrie Chapman Catt, 47
[9] McCartney, “Catt, Carrie Chapman,” in Hudson et al., Biographical Dictionary of Iowa, 79; Flexner, “Catt, Carrie Clinton Lane Chapman,” in James, Notable American Women, 1:310.
[10] “Caroline Lane Chapman,” 10 June 1890, in Washington, U.S., Marriage Records, 1854–2013, Marriage Records, Washington State Archives, Olympia, WA, ancestry.com; King Co., WA, Marriage Records, 1855–1946, DGS 4223472, Marriage License Register, vol. 6, p. 121, 10 June 1890, familysearch.org.
[11] Harriet Taylor Upton, ed., Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Annual Convention of the National-American Woman Suffrage Association Held in Atlanta, GA., January 31st to February 5th, 1895 (Wm. Ritezel & Co.[1895]), 114; Emmeline B. Wells, Diary, 31 Jan. 1895, Diaries of Emmeline B. Wells, Church Historian’s Press, churchhistorianspress.org/emmeline-b-wells.
[12] “Editorial Notes,” Woman’s Exponent (Salt Lake City), 1 Nov. 1899, 69; “Club Notes,” Salt Lake Herald, 22 Oct. 1899, 10; Wells, Diary, 29–30 Oct. 1899.
[13] “Suffrage Convention Ends,” Sun (Baltimore), 15 Feb. 1900, 6; “Mrs. Chapman Catt Sends in Her Resignation,” Daily Picayune (New Orleans), 10 Feb. 1904, 11; Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper, eds., The History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4 (Susan B. Anthony, 1902), 349, 387–388.
[14] Ida Husted Harper, ed., The History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 6 (National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1922), 806, 809–811; “Carrie Catt Gives Up Her Position,” Montgomery (AL) Advertiser, 11 June 1920, 1; Flexner, “Catt, Carrie Clinton Lane Chapman,” in James, Notable American Women, 1:312.
[15] Ida Husted Harper, ed., The History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 5 (National American Woman Suffrage, 1922), 456–458; McCartney, “Catt, Carrie Chapman,” in Hudson et al., Biographical Dictionary of Iowa, 80.
[16] Harper, History of Woman Suffrage, 5:683–701; McCartney, “Catt, Carrie Chapman,” in Hudson et al., Biographical Dictionary of Iowa, 80.
[17] Peck, Carrie Chapman Catt, 449; McCartney, “Catt, Carrie Chapman,” in Hudson et al., Biographical Dictionary of Iowa, 80.
[18] New York, State Death Index, 1880–1956, DGS 104132640, no. 1232, 9 Mar. 1947, familysearch.org; “Woman Vote Leader Dies,” Dallas Morning News, 10 Mar. 1947, 1; “Carrie Chapman Catt, Fighter for Suffrage and Peace, Dies,” Evening Star (Washington, DC), 10 Mar. 1947, section A, 2.