Harriet Taylor Treadwell

Harriet Taylor Treadwell (1870 – December 12, 1931), also seen as Harriette Taylor Treadwell, was an American suffragist and educator.

Harriet Taylor Treadwell
A middle-aged white woman with dark hair in an updo, wearing a beaded necklace.
Harriet Taylor Treadwell, from a 1916 publication.
Born
Harriet Taylor

1870
Williamstown, New York
DiedDecember 12, 1931
Hammond, Indiana
Other namesHarriette Taylor Treadwell
Occupation(s)Educator, suffragist

Early life

edit

Harriet Taylor was born in Williamstown, New York, the daughter of Hiram Taylor and Delia C. Taylor.[1] She trained as a teacher in New York,[2] and earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Chicago in 1911.[3]

Career

edit

Treadwell's career was in education. She was a schoolteacher as a young woman. She was a school principal in Chicago for many years, and president of the Chicago Teachers' Federation from 1905, succeeding Margaret Haley.[2][4] In 1910, she and Margaret Free published a primer, Reading Literature. This was followed by The First Reader (1911), The Second Reader (1912), The Third Reader (1912), The Fourth Reader (1913), The Fifth Reader (1915), and The Sixth Reader (1918).[5]

 
Telegram on Pankhurst Deportation, signed by Jane Addams, Harriet Taylor Treadwell, and other Chicago suffragists in 1913.

Treadwell was also active as a suffragist.[6][7] She was president of the Chicago League of Women Voters, and of the Illinois Women's Legislative Congress. With Harriet Stokes Thompson and Grace Wilbur Trout,[8] she was a leader of the Chicago Political Equality League.[9] She spoke against the state and federal Supreme Courts, saying they were "courts of law, and not of justice."[10][11] She also took an interest in prison reform.[12] She managed circulation for a Women Voters' Special issue of the Chicago Examiner in 1913.[13][14]

In November 1913, Treadwell welcomed British suffrage leader Emmeline Pankhurst at a Chicago appearance,[15] after she was one of a group of Chicago suffragists who petitioned Woodrow Wilson to reverse the deportation of Pankhurst from the United States. In 1920, she spoke at the final meeting and victory banquet of the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association, predicting that the women's vote would bring a minimum wage, extended public school and public health measures, and pensions for mothers.[16]

Personal life

edit

In 1897, Harriet Taylor married Dr. Charles H. Treadwell. They had a son, Charles Jr. She was widowed in 1918,[17] and she died suddenly from a heart attack in 1931, aged 62 years, in Hammond, Indiana.[18] Her granddaughter and namesake, Harriette Taylor Treadwell (1929-2012), was also a teacher and author, and served in the United States Air Force during the Korean War.[19]

References

edit
  1. ^ Patino, Geovanny. "Biographical Sketch of Harriette Taylor Treadwell". Alexander Street Documents. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  2. ^ a b "She Trains Boys and Girls". Roanoke Beacon. 1906-06-15. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-08-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Council, University of Chicago Alumni (1920). Alumni Directory, the University of Chicago, 1919. University of Chicago Press. p. 514.
  4. ^ Federation, Chicago Teachers' (October 20, 1905). "Meeting of the Federation of the Illinois Federation of Women's Clubs, Saturday, October 14, 1905". Chicago Teachers' Federation Bulletin. 4: 4.
  5. ^ "Harriette Taylor Treadwell". The Online Books Page. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  6. ^ Trout, Grace Wilbur (1920). "Side Lights on Illinois Suffrage History". Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. 13 (2): 162. ISSN 0019-2287. JSTOR 40194491.
  7. ^ Gray, William Scott; Dryer, John L. (1920). Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of the State of Illinois: convened January 6, 1920. Illinois State Journal Co. pp. 266–267.
  8. ^ "Trout Forces Win Delegates". Chicago Tribune. 1914-10-04. p. 10. Retrieved 2020-08-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Treadwell, Harriette Taylor (1870-1931)". Jane Addams Digital Edition. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  10. ^ "Woman Tears Lining Out of the United States Supreme Court". The Day Book. 1913-10-13. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-08-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Woman Attacks Supreme Courts". Chicago Tribune. 1913-10-13. p. 13. Retrieved 2020-08-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Women Outline Political Wants". Chicago Tribune. 1914-02-15. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-08-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Vote Special Workers Given Loop Assignments". Chicago Examiner. August 4, 1913. p. 5. Retrieved August 17, 2020 – via Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections.
  14. ^ "Ridge Women's Club to Hear of Suffrage Paper". Chicago Examiner. 1913-08-05. p. 7. Retrieved 2020-08-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Both Sexes Vie for Honors at Pankhurst Talk". The Inter Ocean. 1913-11-01. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-08-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Old Suffrage Society Ends its Life at Banquet". Chicago Tribune. 1920-10-08. p. 7. Retrieved 2020-08-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Alumni Affairs". The University of Chicago Magazine. 10: 267. May 1918.
  18. ^ "Leader Dies; Mrs. Treadwell, Educator, Dead; Rites Tomorrow". Chicago Tribune. 1931-12-15. p. 30. Retrieved 2020-08-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Harriette Taylor Treadwell" North County Times (June 3, 2012).
edit