Harriet Taylor Upton

Harriet Taylor Upton

Harriet Taylor Upton (December 17, 1853 – November 2, 1945) was a suffragette, author, and the first woman to be vice chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Early history

Upton was born in Ravenna, Ohio,daughter of Congressman Ezra Taylor, but moved with her family to Warren, Ohio when she was seven years old. She married George Upton, and the marriage lasted for 39 years. Her house in Warren is a National Historic Landmark.

Women's rights accomplishments

Harriet Taylor Upton helped organize, and was elected the first president of, the Suffrage Association of Warren. She held Ohio Women in Convention, a meeting for women seeking equal rights with men, in her home in 1891. Upton had joined the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) in 1890, and served as treasurer from 1894 to 1910. She was president of the Ohio Woman's Suffrage Organization from 1899 to 1908 and 1911 to 1920.

Political accomplishments

Upton's political accomplishments included being the first woman to be elected to the Warren Board of Education; the first woman to serve on the Republican National Executive Committee; running, albeit unsuccessfully, for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1926; and serving as an assistant state campaign manager for Ohio in 1928.

Authorship

Upton wrote several children's books and several histories, such as A History of the Western Reserve, The Early Presidents, Their Wives and Children, and a History of Trumbull County.

Awards

Harriet Upton was inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame in 1981, in the category of Government and Military Service.

She was posthumously inducted into the Warren City Schools Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame.

In early 2010, Upton was proposed by the Ohio Historical Society as a finalist in a statewide vote for inclusion in Statuary Hall at the United States Capitol.

Death

Upton died in Pasadena, California on November 2, 1945, age 91.