New York’s suffrage anniversary puts spotlight on notable Tioga County women  

The historical marker located in front of the property at 249 Front St. in Owego, N.Y. has more of a story to tell than the words that are engraved on it. 

The marker states, “Owego Female Seminary. Opened in 1828 by Juliette M. Camp. Owego Female Institute in 1843, headed by Prof. and Mrs. Joseph M. Ely.”

Through the doors of that Victorian building walked a woman with an education degree in hand, a noteworthy accomplishment in the mid 1800’s. A native of Niagara County, N.Y., this woman was selected for the role of principal at the Owego Seminary in 1863, a boarding and day school, until its final days in 1865. An unprecedented feat followed; this woman, Belva Lockwood, went on to study law in 1873, yet faced social discrimination, which at first limited her level of cases. She lobbied Congress for nearly five years to pass an anti-discrimination law to give women the right to practice in any federal court, and then in 1879, President Rutherford B. Hayes signed the law, which allowed Lockwood to become the first woman to practice before the Supreme Court.

Her ambitions never slowed; Lockwood became a candidate on the equal rights party and ran for President of the United States against Grover Cleveland in 1884 and again in 1888 against Benjamin Harrison. Also a long-time advocate for world peace, Lockwood was appointed as a delegate by the U.S. State Department to travel overseas, once in 1890 to the International Peace Conference in Paris and in the later 1890’s to Geneva, Switzerland. Also to her credit, Lockwood wrote for several publications focused on women’s suffrage in the 1880’s and 1890’s.  

Lockwood last set footprints in Owego in August of 1909 when she attended an event called Old Home Week, and where she delivered a speech as guest of honor. It is thought, too, that Lockwood, New York was named after her.  

Lockwood died in May 1917 before the nineteenth amendment was ratified. Recognition was given to Lockwood in several ways after her death, including a U.S. postage stamp in her honor in 1986 and induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1983.

Lockwood’s spirit and determination helped bring women’s rights to the forefront, alongside other activists like the renowned Susan B. Anthony. 

Another remarkable woman, Esther Morris, born in Spencer, N.Y. in 1812, worked in a millinery, once located on the corner of Front and Court Streets in Owego. In 1998, a historic marker was placed near her birthplace.

Said to be active in the anti-slavery movement, Morris, referred to as the “Mother of Women’s Suffrage in Wyoming,” where she had moved, crossed paths, too, with Susan B. Anthony, and is remembered as a primary lobbyist for the women’s right to vote in Wyoming. Her work helped pass an act in 1869, and the first woman’s vote was cast in 1870, which recognized the Wyoming Territory as the first territory or state to enact suffrage in the U.S. Another notable accomplishment, Morris became the first female Justice of the Peace in the U.S. in 1870 and when Wyoming entered the union in 1890, Morris was chosen to unfurl the 44 star flag.

Lockwood and Morris were just two of the many extraordinary women whose efforts were vital in the cause of women’s rights; the first women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, N.Y. in 1848, and was considered a critical turning point of a movement in the United States.

Today, a local committee, the Broome-Tioga Suffrage Anniversary Committee (BTSAC), was launched late last year to organize a series of events and activities throughout 2017 to commemorate the historic 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New York State.  

Co-chairs of the committee are New York State Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo and Tioga County Legislative Chair Martha Sauerbrey. Several other groups and individuals are involved with the committee, including Tioga County Historian, Emma Sedore.

For more detailed information about Tioga County’s notable women, sales of the brochure, “Notable Women of Tioga County, New York,” written by Sedore, are available and benefit the Tioga County Historical Society and Museum.  

For more information, follow the Broome-Tioga Suffrage Anniversary Committee on Facebook. If you have ideas to help celebrate, or memorabilia to share, email BTSuffrage@gmail.com.