LETTER: Autograph letter signed to Betsey Voorhees, February 16, 1855.
Susan B. Anthony to Betsey Voorhees about
an Upcoming Meeting
Anthony, Susan B. Autograph Letter Signed “Susan B. Anthony” to “Mrs. [Betsey] Voorhees.” Albany: Feb. 16, 1855; one leaf; 5x8 inches; recto only; ink slightly smudged; creased where folded; with original mailing envelope.
Anthony writes to Voorhees of Amsterdam, New York (presumably the head of her county women’s rights chapter), cancelling an upcoming meeting, “We are compelled to abandon our Montgomery County Woman’s Rights meeting on Friday the 23d. Will you please have the notice recalled through such of your papers as have published it – I am very, very sorry, but there is no help for it…” Anthony goes on to explain, “Mrs. Rose, upon whom I had depended to attend one series of the meetings, is too much indisposed to meet the appointments – It is too bad, but we all make the best of it.”
After the New York State Assembly’s refusal to act favorably on the petitions for more equitable rights for women, Anthony canvassed every county in New York, holding meetings and gathering additional signers for future petitions; she would cover 54 counties between Christmas 1854 and May 1855. The “Mrs. Rose” her letter refers to is Ernestine Rose (1810-1892), a Russian feminist who began working and travelling with Anthony in the 1850s. Rose, one of the “leading orators of the day,” was sometimes referred to as ‘the Queen of the Platform’ (Notable American Women. Harvard University Press,1974. 190).
(#4653392)
Print Inquire
