From "The Arrow", Newsletter of the Historical, Natural History and Library Society of Natick, Massachusetts, Vol 29, No. 4.
Tales from the archives: Augusta Cheney, Fighter for Women's Rights, by James W. Morley.
You may know Horatio Alger, Jr, the famed nineteenth century author of rags-to-riches boys stories. But do you know his sister Augusta, who like Horatio, Jr, moved to Natick when their father became minister in the South Parish (now The Eliot Church), married Amos Cheney, the florist (no, no relation to the Cheneys of Elm Bank that we know of), and became one of the most active social reformers in Natick's history?
Like her father in his earlier years, Augusta was a champion of temperance and women's rights. She founded the Natick branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union and in 1877, the Natick Women's Suffrage League. In 1881 Augusta and her supporters succeeded in getting an article on the warrant for Town Meeting, proposing that Natick petition the Commonwealth for permission for women to vote at least in local elections and hold Town offices. The Town Meeting, all men, voted, No. She tried again in 1882. Again, No. And in 1883. And again, No.
But Augusta was a fighter. For years she campaigned in a regular column in the Natick Bulletin, where she took no prisoners. As she wrote on March 6, 1891:
"Home is not the place for every woman. If a woman can do more for her fellows by a public life (and many can) then it is her duty to live her life for the public; If she can do more at home, then her duty is there, and the same will apply to men. There are many men today who would do the country immeasurable good if they would sink into oblivion."
Amen to that - me.
Tales from the archives: Augusta Cheney, Fighter for Women's Rights, by James W. Morley.
You may know Horatio Alger, Jr, the famed nineteenth century author of rags-to-riches boys stories. But do you know his sister Augusta, who like Horatio, Jr, moved to Natick when their father became minister in the South Parish (now The Eliot Church), married Amos Cheney, the florist (no, no relation to the Cheneys of Elm Bank that we know of), and became one of the most active social reformers in Natick's history?
Like her father in his earlier years, Augusta was a champion of temperance and women's rights. She founded the Natick branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union and in 1877, the Natick Women's Suffrage League. In 1881 Augusta and her supporters succeeded in getting an article on the warrant for Town Meeting, proposing that Natick petition the Commonwealth for permission for women to vote at least in local elections and hold Town offices. The Town Meeting, all men, voted, No. She tried again in 1882. Again, No. And in 1883. And again, No.
But Augusta was a fighter. For years she campaigned in a regular column in the Natick Bulletin, where she took no prisoners. As she wrote on March 6, 1891:
"Home is not the place for every woman. If a woman can do more for her fellows by a public life (and many can) then it is her duty to live her life for the public; If she can do more at home, then her duty is there, and the same will apply to men. There are many men today who would do the country immeasurable good if they would sink into oblivion."
Amen to that - me.
From "The Arrow", Newsletter of the Historical, Natural History and Library Society of Natick, Massachusetts, Vol 29, No. 4.
Tales from the archives: Augusta Cheney, Fighter for Women's Rights, by James W. Morley.
You may know Horatio Alger, Jr, the famed nineteenth century author of rags-to-riches boys stories. But do you know his sister Augusta, who like Horatio, Jr, moved to Natick when their father became minister in the South Parish (now The Eliot Church), married Amos Cheney, the florist (no, no relation to the Cheneys of Elm Bank that we know of), and became one of the most active social reformers in Natick's history?
Like her father in his earlier years, Augusta was a champion of temperance and women's rights. She founded the Natick branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union and in 1877, the Natick Women's Suffrage League. In 1881 Augusta and her supporters succeeded in getting an article on the warrant for Town Meeting, proposing that Natick petition the Commonwealth for permission for women to vote at least in local elections and hold Town offices. The Town Meeting, all men, voted, No. She tried again in 1882. Again, No. And in 1883. And again, No.
But Augusta was a fighter. For years she campaigned in a regular column in the Natick Bulletin, where she took no prisoners. As she wrote on March 6, 1891:
"Home is not the place for every woman. If a woman can do more for her fellows by a public life (and many can) then it is her duty to live her life for the public; If she can do more at home, then her duty is there, and the same will apply to men. There are many men today who would do the country immeasurable good if they would sink into oblivion."
Amen to that - me.
Tales from the archives: Augusta Cheney, Fighter for Women's Rights, by James W. Morley.
You may know Horatio Alger, Jr, the famed nineteenth century author of rags-to-riches boys stories. But do you know his sister Augusta, who like Horatio, Jr, moved to Natick when their father became minister in the South Parish (now The Eliot Church), married Amos Cheney, the florist (no, no relation to the Cheneys of Elm Bank that we know of), and became one of the most active social reformers in Natick's history?
Like her father in his earlier years, Augusta was a champion of temperance and women's rights. She founded the Natick branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union and in 1877, the Natick Women's Suffrage League. In 1881 Augusta and her supporters succeeded in getting an article on the warrant for Town Meeting, proposing that Natick petition the Commonwealth for permission for women to vote at least in local elections and hold Town offices. The Town Meeting, all men, voted, No. She tried again in 1882. Again, No. And in 1883. And again, No.
But Augusta was a fighter. For years she campaigned in a regular column in the Natick Bulletin, where she took no prisoners. As she wrote on March 6, 1891:
"Home is not the place for every woman. If a woman can do more for her fellows by a public life (and many can) then it is her duty to live her life for the public; If she can do more at home, then her duty is there, and the same will apply to men. There are many men today who would do the country immeasurable good if they would sink into oblivion."
Amen to that - me.
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