Carrie Clinton Lane

Carrie Clinton Catt, Carrie Clinton Chapman, Carrie Chapman Catt

9 January 1859—9 March 1947

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

Footnotes

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.