Historian will speak about suffrage

MONTOUR FALLS--Did you know the waterfalls in this region contributed to women finally winning the right to vote? How about the influence of the Erie Canal, the anti-slavery movement, the "burned over district" and the "second great awakening?"
Seneca County Historian Walter Gable will answer all these questions and more during a presentation entitled "From Seneca Falls in 1848 to 1917: Securing Women's Suffrage in New York State."
He will speak at the Schuyler County Historical Society annual dinner meeting Thursday, April 20 at 6 p.m. in the Montour Falls Moose Club. The public is invited to this event that is part of the 100-year celebration of women's suffrage in New York state.
The battle for women's right to vote is a long and dramatic one, beginning before the civil war, continuing through World War I, and finally ending with the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. And it all began in the Finger Lakes region.
Gable will speak of Elizabeth Cady Stanton's friendship with Lucretia Mott, an abolitionist Quaker and how the two created their "Declaration of Sentiment" presented at the first women's rights convention at Seneca Falls in 1848.
He will trace the movement's time-line beginning with a sermon by a Unitarian minister in 1846 through the final ratification of the New York state women's suffrage constitutional amendment in 1917. He will note the relentless efforts and unceasing petitions, conventions, lobbying and "partial suffrage" victories that finally led to success.
Gable said his talk is pertinent to today because it highlights "the importance of leadership from a small dedicated group to achieve victory."
If you miss Thursday's event, more talks on this topic by Gable are planned. He will be in Newark at the Wayne County Genealogical Society Tuesday, April 25 at 7 p.m. and at Edith B. Ford Memorial Library in Ovid Tuesday, May 23 at 6:30 p.m.
To reserve a place at the annual dinner meeting, call 607-535-9741.