Abigail Scott Duniway | |
|---|---|
 Duniway registering to vote, February 14, 1913, with Multnomah County Clerk John B. Coffey | |
| Born | Abigail Jane Scott (1834-10-22)October 22, 1834 farm nearGroveland, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | October 11, 1915(1915-10-11) (aged 80) Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| Resting place | River View Cemetery in Portland 45°27′29″N122°40′01″W / 45.45806°N 122.66694°W /45.45806; -122.66694[1] |
| Known for | Women's suffrage leadership, writing, journalism,pioneer farming |
| Spouse | Benjamin Charles Duniway |
| Children | 6 |
| Parent(s) | John Tucker Scott and Ann (Roelofson) Scott |
| Relatives | Harvey W. Scott, brother;Catherine Amanda Coburn, sister |
Abigail Jane Scott Duniway (October 22, 1834 – October 11, 1915) was an American women's rights advocate, newspaper editor and writer, whose efforts were instrumental in gainingvoting rights for women in the United States.
Duniway was born nearGroveland, Illinois, to John Tucker Scott and Anne Roelofson Scott. Of the nine children in her family who survived infancy, she was the second. She grew up on the family farm and attended a local school intermittently. In March 1852, against the wishes of Anne Scott, who had concerns about her health, John organized a party of 30 people and 5 ox-drawn wagons to emigrate to Oregon, 2,400 miles (3,900 km) away by trail. Anne died ofcholera nearFort Laramie, on theOregon Trail, in June, and Willie, age 3, the youngest child in the family, died in August along theBurnt River in Oregon. In October, the emigrants reached their destination,Lafayette, in theWillamette Valley. After teaching school inEola in early 1853, Abigail Scott Duniway married Benjamin Charles Duniway, a farmer from Illinois, on August 1. They had six children: Clara Belle (b. 1854), Willis Scott (1856), Hubert (1859), Wilkie Collins (1861),Clyde Augustus (1866), and Ralph Roelofson (1869).[2]
The Duniways farmed inClackamas County until 1857, when they moved to a farm near Lafayette. They lost this second farm after a friend defaulted on a note Benjamin had endorsed. Soon afterward, Benjamin was permanently disabled in an accident involving a runaway team, and Abigail had to support the family.[3] At first, she opened and ran a small boarding school in Lafayette. In 1866, she moved toAlbany where she taught in a private school for a year, then opened amillinery andnotions shop, which she ran for five years.[2]
Angered by stories of injustice and mistreatment relayed to her by married patrons of her shop, and encouraged by Benjamin, she moved to Portland in 1871 to foundThe New Northwest, a weekly newspaper devoted to women's rights, includingsuffrage. She published the first issue on May 5, 1871, and continuedThe New Northwest for 16 years.[2][4][5]
Duniway toured the Pacific Northwest in the company ofSusan B. Anthony, one of the leading voices in the women's suffrage movement.[when?] In 1872 she was invited to address Oregon's legislature to put forward the case for women's suffrage. She was appearing on behalf of theOregon State Woman Suffrage Association, but no one wanted to keep her company. Other women feared what their husbands and others might say. Finally she foundMary Sawtelle who agreed to also venture into this male-only preserve.[6]
Duniway encountered personal setbacks such as poor health and money problems. Her brotherHarvey W. Scott, who also editedThe Oregonian and later contributed toThe New Northwest, opposed woman suffrage in many editorials on the subject. She persisted despite political opposition in the form of local resistance, the consistent failure of women's suffragereferendums onstate ballots, and divisions with Eastern suffrage organizations. She and her newspaper actively supported the Sole Trader Bill and the Married Women's Property Act which, when passed, gave Oregon women the right to own and control property.
Her persistence paid off in 1912 when Oregon became the seventh state in the U.S. to pass a women's suffrage amendment.[7] GovernorOswald West asked her to write and sign the equal suffrage proclamation.[8] She was the first woman to register to vote inMultnomah County.[8]
Duniway is buried atRiver View Cemetery in Portland.[2]
Duniway'sCaptain Gray's Company; or, Crossing the Plains and Living in Oregon (1859), was the first novel to be commercially published in Oregon.[9] This and others that she wrote drew repeatedly on her experiences as a young woman on the Oregon Trail.[9] Her last novel to tell the story wasFrom the West to the West: Across the Plains to Oregon (1905).[9] She wrote a booklet calledMy Musings after attending a convention of theNational Woman Suffrage Association in 1872. Her last publication wasPath Breaking: An Autobiographical History of the Equal Suffrage Movement in Pacific Coast States, in 1914.[10]
Works written by Duniway and published by others:[11]
Serialized novels written by Duniway and published in theNew Northwest:[11]
Serialized novels written by Duniway and published inThe Pacific Empire:[12]
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