Oreola Williams Haskell, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Feb 3 1905
Oreola Williams Haskell (14 April 1875 – 6 September 1953) was an American activist for suffrage, author, and poet in the early twentieth century.
Early life
Haskell was born to Theodore and Martha Williams in Poultney, Vermont, on April 14, 1875, and died in Brooklyn on September 6, 1953. The Williams family moved to Brooklyn when Haskell was around five years old, shortly before her brother was born.[1]
Martha was herself a prominent pioneer suffragist who was very involved in her local suffrage community and society. She led, chaired, and participated in many suffrage organizations in New York City, as listed below:[5][6]
Charter member of the Interurban Woman Suffrage Council (est.1903),[7] the first federation of suffrage clubs to be founded by Carrie Chapman Catt
President of the Harlem Woman Suffrage League (also called the Harlem Equal Rights League)
President of Kings County Political Equality League
Press Chairman for several suffrage clubs
Member of the New York Suffrage League
Organizer for the New York Equal Rights Association
Historian for the New York State Woman Suffrage Association
Chairman of the Philanthropic Committee of the New York City Federation of Women's Clubs
There is also evidence that Martha worked with Oreola, and one example is Susan B. Anthony's Brooklyn birthday party press release. While Oreola represented the Elizabeth Cady Stanton Political Equality League and had the role of youth outreach, Martha was responsible for press relations.[8] Due to the overlap in Martha and Oreola's leadership experience, it is likely that working alongside her mother gave her the experience and network to follow in her footsteps, at least to some degree.
Theodore Williams, father
Theodore was a journalist, editor and poet,[9][10] and president of the Evolution Club of which Martha, Oreola, and Robert were all active members.[11]
He wrote poetry under the pseudonym Tudor Williams, and edited for the Associated Press and Leslie's Weekly.[12] Based on Oreola's publication records, it maybe possible that it was through her father's connections that she was published in Leslie's Weekly, rather than purely based on merit.
Robert was born in Brooklyn on October 31, 1874, and met Oreola while they were both editing the Era at Cornell. After graduating university, he attended New York Law School while working as a journalist, and graduated in 1898. According to the Cornell Alumni News,[14] he was a "war correspondent for the New York Herald." He became an attorney, and married Oreola on April 8, 1901, at the Unity Church in Brooklyn.[15][16] He was the leader of the Farmer-Labor Party of Brooklyn.[17] He died at age 90 in his home in St. Petersburg, Florida, on March 20, 1965, after retiring from practice in 1962.[18]
Grace Vivian Haskell, daughter (1907–1999)
Grace was born on November 22, 1907, in New York. She married Hilmer N. Torner on Feb 23, 1954, in Elkton, Cecil, Maryland. She died on March 2, 1999, in Saint Petersburg, Pinellas, Florida, at age 91.
She helped her mother with some of her society work (specifically the Brooklyn Sittig Christmas Tree Society, which you can learn more about here), alongside Katheryn Beyea, but it is unclear whether she participated in her mother's suffrage activism.[19] In her obituary, she is listed as a homemaker.[20]
Education
Oreola Williams Haskell, Cornell Yearbook (June 1897)
Haskell graduated the Girl's High School in Brooklyn NY and was named the Class Poet.[21] At age 17, she founded and presided over the Oreola Progressive Society.[22] She continued her education at Cornell and received a bachelor's degree in Philosophy. While at Cornell, Haskell was on the editorial boards for two student publications, the Era and the Magazine, and won a prize from the former.[23] She was a member and Winter Term President of the Sennightly sorority[24][25][26] and was named Class Poet by her peers[27][28]
Career and personal life
Until her later marriage with Robert H. Haskell, Haskell worked as a public school teacher in Brooklyn.[29] Together they had a daughter, Grace Vivian Haskell. Haskell was a prolific author, writing her own novel (see Banner Bearers below) and contributing to magazines such as Judge regularly. Haskell was devoted to the suffrage cause, and worked alongside famous suffragists such as Carrie Chapman Catt and Mary Garrett Hay.[30]Ida Husted Harper, who wrote the introduction to Banner Bearers, commended her for her modesty and lack of interest in the limelight,[31] which was very much in line with the self-sacrificing attitude that Haskell attributed to suffragists in her works. Her quiet, efficient, hardworking attitude was also noted in an interview she had with the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1915, as a prime example of the faceless army of diligent suffragists who worked behind the scenes.[32] Alongside her suffrage activism and high society work (predominantly philanthropy), she was an auditor and recording secretary of the New York Federation for Women's Clubs, and as of 1914 she was the patroness of the Brooklyn Sittig Christmas Tree Society.[1][33] Though her contributions to the suffrage movement in New York have not garnered much attention from historians, her plethora of appearances in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper suggest that she was a well-known and respected figure of the time.
Haskell was a Unitarian, and her hobbies were theater, outdoor sports, and walking.[34]
Banner Bearers: tales of the Suffrage Campaigns, with an introduction by Ida Husted Harper (Geneva, N.Y.: W. F. Humphrey, 1920)
As a fictional work that exemplified the modernist literary movement of the time, Banner Bearers was possibly the first epistolary style novel in suffrage literature.[36] The novel was inspired by the suffrage referendums in New York between 1915 and 1917, and its depictions of that time have been praised and credited by suffragists as greatly influential in the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment.[37] The twenty-two different yet related voices in the novel provide a more complex, diverse representation of suffragist voices, making it a more mature depiction of the successes and failures of the suffrage movement.[38]
Haskell modeled many of the twenty-two characters on actual suffragists, and as the Daily Brooklyn Eagle revealed in its review of the book, the true identities may have been obvious to contemporaries of the novel (which suggests the book was possibly meant to be an inside joke). According to the article, the stories and corresponding identities are as follows:
Among other publications, Haskell contributed poems relating to aspects of city life to the Judge, Leslie's Weekly, McCall's, The Club Woman magazine, and the Housekeeper.[42][43]
“The Suffragist,” Woman’s Journal, 32 (26 Oct 1901): 342.
“The Yellow Ribbon,” Woman’s Journal, 33 (7 June 1902): 182.
“The City’s Roots,” The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont] 10 Apr 1912: 6.
“Her Way,” Judge, 68 (16 Jan 1915): 2.
“The New Flag,” Judge, 68 (20 March 1915): 270.
“Placing He,r” Judge, 68 (17 April 1915): 346.
“The Button,” Judge, 68 (15 May 1915): 443.
“Her Brooch,” Judge, 68 (19 June 1915): 566.
“The Woman Asks,” Judge, 68 (26 June 1915):592.
“Cooks and Character,” Judge, 69 (3 July 1915): xxviii.
“Her Voice,” Judge, 69 (17 July 1915): ixxx.
“Her Mind,” Judge, 69 (21 August 1915): 120.
“The Subway,”[44]The New York Times,14 Jun 1929: 18.
Fiction
The "Aunt Betsey" stories were written for Haskell's column in Judge, in a country vernacular. In every piece, she encounters an anti-suffragist, and converts them to her cause over the course of the vignette.[45]
"Aunt Betsey on Suffrage: The Back Door," Judge, 68 (30 January 1915): 78.
"Aunt Betsey on Suffrage: Heads and Foots," Judge, 68 (13 February 1915): 126.
"Aunt Betsey on Suffrage: Women's Needs," Judge, 68 (20 February 1915): 152.
"Aunt Betsey on Suffrage: Peaks and Plains," Judge, 68 (27 February 1915): 175.
"Aunt Betsey on Suffrage: The Trusting Tillies," Judge, 68 (13 March 1915): 222.
"Aunt Betsey--Feminist: Candles and Electrics," Judge, 68 (20 March 1915): 245.
"Aunt Betsey on Suffrage -- Some Queer Ones," Judge, 68 (3 April 1915): 294–295.
"Aunt Betsey, Feminist: Fighting and Females," Judge, 68 (10 April 1915): 318.
"Betsey Burrows, Suffragist--Wimmen and Hum," Judge, 68 (24 April 1915): 372–373.
"Betsey Burrows--Suffragist: Pertection," Judge, 68 (29 May 1915): 489–490.
"Betsey Burrows, Suffragist: Kids," Judge, 69 (3 July 1915): xxviii-xxvix.
"Betsey Burrows, Suffragist: Husbands," Judge, 69 (31 July 1915): 41.
Plays like Haskell's were published in the wave of rising popularity of pro-suffrage pageantry and plays, even before the NAWSA compiled catalogues to make the scripts more accessible for purchase. These plays often emphasized the expediency of giving women the vote, and Haskell's own play, Put to the Test, ridiculed the anti-suffragists’ “indirect influence” argument that purported the redundancy of the woman's vote because of her moral influence and guidance towards her family.[47]
As a comedy with action and cultural relevance, Put to the Test succeeded financially and critically.[48]
Theater productions
Put to the Test, New York, Long Island Business College, May 3, 1905
Local suffragists were cast in the play, as the play was produced by the Stanton League. It was such a success that Haskell could not meet the demand for scripts for it alone. As a result, the play was published for public access in the Woman's Journal over three issues, between January 6 and January 20.[49][50]
A Stubborn Will, Manhattan, Hotel Martha Washington, December 10, 1909
This play was less successful than Put to the Test, but was performed numerous times; other than its first appearance noted above, it was performed on February 15, 1910, at a public meeting, and again on March 18 of the same year at the chapel of the Church of Our Father (sponsored by the People's Political Equality League). No record of the play's publication has been found, possibly because Haskell was able to meet the individual demands for copies on her own, unlike the case with her former play.[51]
According to Woman’s Who’s Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada 1914-1915, Haskell was the author of not two, but three suffrage plays.[52] Additionally, one of her plays was apparently translated into Norwegian and played in Norway,[53] but like its previous claim, this was not explained in further detail.
Non-fiction
"To Enrolment Chairmen," Woman's Journal, 39 (10 October 1908): 163.
"Canvassing for the Cause," Woman's Journal, 43 (13 January 1912): 10–11.
"The New Wife," Woman Voter, 2 (January 1912): 10–11.
"The Grown-Up Woman," Federation Bulletin, 14 (1915): 14, 23.
"The Interests of American Women," International Women's News, 17 (1922): 30–31.
“New York City Campaigns” in History of Woman Suffrage, 6 volumes, edited by Ida Husted Harper (New York: National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1922), VI: 459–468.
1922-1923 regularly appeared in International Women's News on topics concerning women.
^Marsh, Janet Z. “Oreola Williams Haskell (1875-1953).” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Writers on Women's Rights and U.S. Suffrage. Edited by George Parker Anderson, Gale, 2018, pp.191.
^Woman’s Who’s Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada 1914–1915. Edited by John William Leonard. The American Commonwealth Company, 1914, p.370.
^"MARTHA WILLIAMS, SUFFRAGIST, DEAD: Charter Member of the First Federation in Greater New York Was 85 HEADED LEAGUE IN HARLEM Widow of Newspaper Man Also Was President of Kings County Equality Group". The New York Times. 1939-10-08.
^"MARTHA WILLIAMS, SUFFRAGIST, DEAD: Charter Member of the First Federation in Greater New York Was 85 HEADED LEAGUE IN HARLEM Widow of Newspaper Man Also Was President of Kings County Equality Group." The New York Times, 08 Oct 1939, p.48.
^Marsh, Janet Z. “Oreola Williams Haskell (1875-1953).” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Writers on Women's Rights and U.S. Suffrage. Edited by George Parker Anderson, Gale, 2018, pp.191.
^Marsh, Janet Z. “Oreola Williams Haskell (1875-1953).” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Writers on Women's Rights and U.S. Suffrage. Edited by George Parker Anderson, Gale, 2018, pp.191.
^"MARTHA WILLIAMS, SUFFRAGIST, DEAD: Charter Member of the First Federation in Greater New York Was 85 HEADED LEAGUE IN HARLEM Widow of Newspaper Man Also Was President of Kings County Equality Group." The New York Times, 08 Oct 1939, p.48.
^Marsh, Janet Z. “Oreola Williams Haskell (1875-1953).” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Writers on Women's Rights and U.S. Suffrage. Edited by George Parker Anderson, Gale, 2018, pp.191.
^Marsh, Janet Z. “Oreola Williams Haskell (1875-1953).” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Writers on Women's Rights and U.S. Suffrage. Edited by George Parker Anderson, Gale, 2018, pp.191.
^Woman’s Who’s Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada 1914-1915. Edited by John William Leonard. The American Commonwealth Company, 1914, p.370.
^Marsh, Janet Z. “Oreola Williams Haskell (1875-1953).” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Writers on Women's Rights and U.S. Suffrage. Edited by George Parker Anderson, Gale, 2018, pp.192.
^Woman’s Who’s Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada 1914-1915. Edited by John William Leonard. The American Commonwealth Company, 1914, p.370.
^Marsh, Janet Z. “Oreola Williams Haskell (1875-1953).” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Writers on Women's Rights and U.S. Suffrage. Edited by George Parker Anderson, Gale, 2018, pp.191.
^Marsh, Janet Z. “Oreola Williams Haskell (1875-1953).” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Writers on Women's Rights and U.S. Suffrage. Edited by George Parker Anderson, Gale, 2018, pp.191.
^Woman’s Who’s Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada 1914-1915. Edited by John William Leonard. The American Commonwealth Company, 1914, p.370.
^Marsh, Janet Z. “Oreola Williams Haskell (1875-1953).” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Writers on Women's Rights and U.S. Suffrage. Edited by George Parker Anderson, Gale, 2018, pp.191.
^Marsh, Janet Z. “Oreola Williams Haskell (1875-1953).” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Writers on Women's Rights and U.S. Suffrage. Edited by George Parker Anderson, Gale, 2018, pp.191.
^Woman’s Who’s Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada 1914-1915. Edited by John William Leonard. The American Commonwealth Company, 1914, p.370.
^Woman’s Who’s Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada 1914-1915. Edited by John William Leonard. The American Commonwealth Company, 1914, p.370.
^Marsh, Janet Z. “Oreola Williams Haskell (1875-1953).” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Writers on Women's Rights and U.S. Suffrage. Edited by George Parker Anderson, Gale, 2018, pp.190.
^Finnegan, Margaret. Selling Suffrage: Consumer Culture and Votes for Women. Columbia UP, p.108, 205.
^Finnegan, Margaret. Selling Suffrage: Consumer Culture and Votes for Women. Columbia UP, p.108.
^Finnegan, Margaret. Selling Suffrage: Consumer Culture and Votes for Women. Columbia UP, pp.143-144.
^"The Late Mary Garrett Hay". The New York Times. 11 Oct 1928. p. 8.
^Marsh, Janet Z. “Oreola Williams Haskell (1875-1953).” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Writers on Women's Rights and U.S. Suffrage. Edited by George Parker Anderson, Gale, 2018, pp.195.
^Woman’s Who’s Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada 1914-1915. Edited by John William Leonard. The American Commonwealth Company, 1914, p.370.
^Marsh, Janet Z. “Oreola Williams Haskell (1875-1953).” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Writers on Women's Rights and U.S. Suffrage. Edited by George Parker Anderson, Gale, 2018, pp.192.
^"The Subway". ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times with Index. Jun 14, 1929. p. 18.
^Marsh, Janet Z. “Oreola Williams Haskell (1875-1953).” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Writers on Women's Rights and U.S. Suffrage. Edited by George Parker Anderson, Gale, 2018, pp.194-5.
^Put to the Test, Woman’s Journal, 37 (6 Jan 1906): 1-2; 37 (13 Jan 1906): 5-7; 37 (20 Jan 1906): 10-11.
^Finnegan, Margaret. “On Stage: Personality, the Performing Self, and the Representation of Woman Suffragists.” Selling Suffrage: Consumer Culture & Votes for Women. Columbia UP, 1999, pp.77-110.
^Marsh, Janet Z. “Oreola Williams Haskell (1875-1953).” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Writers on Women's Rights and U.S. Suffrage. Edited by George Parker Anderson, Gale, 2018, pp.193.
^Marsh, Janet Z. “Oreola Williams Haskell (1875-1953).” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Writers on Women's Rights and U.S. Suffrage. Edited by George Parker Anderson, Gale, 2018, pp.193.
^"Concerning Women". The Woman's Journal. XXXVII (1): 1. 6 Jan 1906.
^Marsh, Janet Z. “Oreola Williams Haskell (1875-1953).” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Writers on Women's Rights and U.S. Suffrage. Edited by George Parker Anderson, Gale, 2018, pp.193.
^Woman’s Who’s Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada 1914-1915. Edited by John William Leonard. The American Commonwealth Company, 1914, p.370.
^Woman’s Who’s Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada 1914-1915. Edited by John William Leonard. The American Commonwealth Company, 1914, p.370.
^Woman’s Who’s Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada 1914-1915. Edited by John William Leonard. The American Commonwealth Company, 1914, p.370.
^Marsh, Janet Z. “Oreola Williams Haskell (1875-1953).” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Writers on Women's Rights and U.S. Suffrage. Edited by George Parker Anderson, Gale, 2018, pp.192.
^"The Late Mary Garrett Hay". The New York Times. 11 Oct 1928. p. 18.
^Woman’s Who’s Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada 1914-1915. Edited by John William Leonard. The American Commonwealth Company, 1914, p.370.
^"Women Suffragists at Hippodrome". The New York Times. 20 Jan 1908. p. 9.
^Woman’s Who’s Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada 1914-1915. Edited by John William Leonard. The American Commonwealth Company, 1914, p.370.
^Woman’s Who’s Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada 1914-1915. Edited by John William Leonard. The American Commonwealth Company, 1914, p.370.
^Woman’s Who’s Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada 1914-1915. Edited by John William Leonard. The American Commonwealth Company, 1914, p.370.
^Woman’s Who’s Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada 1914-1915. Edited by John William Leonard. The American Commonwealth Company, 1914, p.370.
^Marsh, Janet Z. “Oreola Williams Haskell (1875-1953).” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Writers on Women's Rights and U.S. Suffrage. Edited by George Parker Anderson, Gale, 2018, pp.195.
^Woman’s Who’s Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada 1914-1915. Edited by John William Leonard. The American Commonwealth Company, 1914, p.370.
^Woman’s Who’s Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada 1914-1915. Edited by John William Leonard. The American Commonwealth Company, 1914, p.370.
