Ellen Lawson Dabbs

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Ellen Lawson Dabbs
Ellen Lawson Dabbs.jpg
Dabbs, c. 1890
Born(1853-04-25)April 25, 1853
Rusk County, Texas
DiedAugust 19, 1908(1908-08-19) (aged 55)
Resting place Quay County, New Mexico

Mary Ellen Lawson Dabbs (April 25, 1853 – August 19, 1908) was a Texas physician, women's rights activist and writer. Dabbs was an advocate of women's suffrage and of the temperance movement. [1] She was an officer in the Texas Equal Rights Association (TERA). [2] Dabbs also believed that African American women deserved the right to vote in the same manner as white women. [3]

Contents

Biography

Dabbs was born in Rusk County in Texas the only girl of 8 siblings. [1] She grew up on a cotton plantation and was allowed to participate in activities normally reserved for men at the time. [4] Her primary education was in Rusk County and when she was fourteen, she attended school in Gilmer. [1] Dabbs taught for a short time. [5] Then she attended the Furlow Masonic College in Georgia where she was a valedictorian. [1] She taught for five years at Melrose Academy in Nacogdoches County. [6]

Dabbs met her husband in Galveston and she helped him in his business ventures, raised his children from a previous marriage and bore him five more children. [1] Her marriage to Joseph Wilkes Dabbs, who was 20 years older than she, was described as "tempestuous" by historian Ruth Karbach. [7] When his sons were of age, her husband deeded over his property to them and she decided she needed her own income. [1] In March 1885, most of the family moved to St. Louis. [6] She became very interested in medicine in 1886 as she became friends with the family physician. [8] She decided to end her "unsatisfactory marriage" and pursue medicine. [8] Her choice to not have sexual intercourse (the only acceptable form of birth control at the time) had enraged her husband who began to physically abuse her. [9] The last time he assaulted her, Dabbs reported that it was "life threatening" and moved to Sulphur Springs where she filed for divorce on the grounds of cruelty. [10] The couple fought over finances and custody of Ellen Dabbs' girls, which she finally was awarded full custody. [11]

Dabbs attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Keokuk for two years starting in 1888. [12] Later, she took midwifery in St. Louis. [1] She completed her medical degree after she returned to the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1890. [12] For some time, she attempted to practice medicine in Dallas, but was unsuccessful. [12] Her divorce was not finalized, and when the final hearing was set up, Joseph Dabbs and his sons bribed the Sulphur Springs sheriff and district clerk not to notify her of the hearing which resulted in a dismissed divorce case. [12] Dabbs had to resort to representing herself as a widow and carried on as a single working mother in Sulphur Springs, setting up a practice there. [13]

In Sulphur Springs, she "acquired an interest in a newspaper." [5] Dabbs was inspired by the "inequitable results" of her divorce to work towards women's rights. [13] She sold her interest in the newspaper in 1891 and moved to Fort Worth with her children. [1] Dabbs was the eighth woman to practice medicine in Fort Worth. [14] The Texas Health Journal states that she "has already met with great encouragement in her special line of work." [15]

She became a writer for the National Economist, a newsletter of the National Farmers' Alliance. [5] Dabbs was a delegate from Texas for both the Farmers' Alliance and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in 1892. [5] Dabbs also was the state chair of the Woman's Southern Council. [5] Dabbs was involved in creating the first women's suffrage society in Texas in 1893, called the Texas Equal Rights Association (TERA). [5] Dabbs worked with Rebecca Henry Hayes in TERA, and together they were able to sign up 48 men and women at the first meeting in May 1893. [16] They attended the Congress of Representative Women at the Columbian Exposition along with Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone and others. [16] The following year, she served as president of the "Women's Congress," renamed the State Council of Women of Texas, at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas. [17] She also promoted age-of-consent legislation for Texas in 1894. [18] Dabbs became involved in 1897 in promoting a bill which would establish a women's industrial school in Texas. [19] This school later became Texas Woman's University. [20]

During the Spanish–American War, Dabbs volunteered as a "contract nurse" and served at Camp Cuba Libre in Jacksonville, Florida. [21] However, her contract was annulled after six weeks for "unknown reasons." [22] Dabbs contracted tuberculosis while at Camp Cuba Libre, where the hygiene conditions were poor. [23] Her house in Fort Worth was destroyed by fire in 1899, though no one was injured; and Dabbs returned to Rusk County to practice medicine for some time. [23]

Dabbs eventually moved to Oklahoma. [14] She had traded her farm in Rusk County for a place to live in Waurika, where she continued to practice medicine, including delivering her first grandchild in March 1906. [24] Her tuberculosis was getting worse, and so she moved to a ranch in northeast New Mexico for her health. [24] In 1908, Dabbs knew that she was in an advanced stage of the disease and would face an "agonizing death by massive hemorrhaging." [24] She saw each of her daughters and said goodbye before she took her own life on August 19, 1908, with chloroform. [24] Her body was buried in Quay County, New Mexico in an anonymous grave for victims of tuberculosis. [24]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's suffrage in Texas</span>

Women's suffrage in Texas was a long term fight starting in 1868 at the first Texas Constitutional Convention. In both Constitutional Conventions and subsequent legislative sessions, efforts to provide women the right to vote were introduced, only to be defeated. Early Texas suffragists such as Martha Goodwin Tunstall and Mariana Thompson Folsom worked with national suffrage groups in the 1870s and 1880s. It wasn't until 1893 and the creation of the Texas Equal Rights Association (TERA) by Rebecca Henry Hayes of Galveston that Texas had a statewide women's suffrage organization. Members of TERA lobbied politicians and political party conventions on women's suffrage. Due to an eventual lack of interest and funding, TERA was inactive by 1898. In 1903, women's suffrage organizing was revived by Annette Finnigan and her sisters. These women created the Texas Equal Suffrage Association (TESA) in Houston in 1903. TESA sponsored women's suffrage speakers and testified on women's suffrage in front of the Texas Legislature. In 1908 and 1912, speaking tours by Anna Howard Shaw helped further renew interest in women's suffrage in Texas. TESA grew in size and suffragists organized more public events, including Suffrage Day at the Texas State Fair. By 1915, more and more women in Texas were supporting women's suffrage. The Texas Federation of Women's Clubs officially supported women's suffrage in 1915. Also that year, anti-suffrage opponents started to speak out against women's suffrage and in 1916, organized the Texas Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (TAOWS). TESA, under the political leadership of Minnie Fisher Cunningham and with the support of Governor William P. Hobby, suffragists began to make further gains in achieving their goals. In 1918, women achieved the right to vote in Texas primary elections. During the registration drive, 386,000 Texas women signed up during a 17-day period. An attempt to modify the Texas Constitution by voter referendum failed in May 1919, but in June 1919, the United States Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment. Texas became the ninth state and the first Southern state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment on June 28, 1919. This allowed white women to vote, but African American women still had trouble voting, with many turned away, depending on their communities. In 1923, Texas created white primaries, excluding all Black people from voting in the primary elections. The white primaries were overturned in 1944 and in 1964, Texas's poll tax was abolished. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passed, promising that all people in Texas had the right to vote, regardless of race or gender.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of women's suffrage in Texas</span>

This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Texas. Women's suffrage was brought up in Texas at the first state constitutional convention, which began in 1868. However, there was a lack of support for the proposal at the time to enfranchise women. Women continued to fight for the right to vote in the state. In 1918, women gained the right to vote in Texas primary elections. The Texas legislature ratified the 19th amendment on June 28, 1919, becoming the ninth state and the first Southern state to ratify the amendment. While white women had secured the vote, Black women still struggled to vote in Texas. In 1944, white primaries were declared unconstitutional. Poll taxes were outlawed in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965, fully enfranchising Black women voters.

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Willard, Frances Elizabeth; Livermore, Mary A., eds. (1893). A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life. Charles Wells Moulton. pp.  224. ellen lawson dabbs.
  2. ↑ McArthur, Judith N. (1998). Creating the New Woman: The Rise of Southern Women's Progressive Culture in Texas, 1893-1918 . University of Illinois Press. pp.  12. ISBN   9780252066795. ellen lawson dabbs.
  3. ↑ Karbach 2015, p. 186.
  4. ↑ Karbach 2015, p. 177.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Wiedenfeld, Melissa (12 June 2010). "Dabbs, Ellen Lawson". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  6. 1 2 Karbach 2015, p. 179.
  7. ↑ McDonald, Bobby. "Life of Early Hopkins County Female Physician Explored at Thursday Night Genealogical Meeting". Front Porch News Texas. Retrieved 1 April 2016.[ permanent dead link ]
  8. 1 2 Karbach 2015, p. 180.
  9. ↑ Karbach 2015, p. 180-181.
  10. ↑ Karbach 2015, p. 181.
  11. ↑ Karbach 2015, p. 181-182.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Karbach 2015, p. 182.
  13. 1 2 Karbach 2015, p. 183.
  14. 1 2 "Genealogy Success Story-Ruth Karbach". Fort Worth Library. City of Fort Worth. 18 February 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  15. ↑ "Personals". The Texas Health Journal. 4 (11): 332. May 1892. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  16. 1 2 Karbach 2015, p. 188.
  17. ↑ Christian, Stella R. (1919). The History of the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs, volume 1. Dealy-Adey-Elgin Company.
  18. ↑ Dunlap, Leslie K. (1999). "The Reform of Rape Law and the Problem of White Men". In Hodes, Martha (ed.). Sex, Love, Race: Crossing Boundaries in North American History . NYU Press. pp.  357. ISBN   9780814735565. ellen lawson dabbs.
  19. ↑ "School Legislation". Texas School Journal. 15 (1): 70. January 1897. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  20. ↑ Karbach 2015, p. 196.
  21. ↑ Bellafaire & Graf 2009, p. 28.
  22. ↑ Bellafaire & Graf 2009, p. 27.
  23. 1 2 Karbach 2015, p. 194.
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 Karbach 2015, p. 195.

Sources

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