Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920

Biography of Eliza Ann Doyle, 1866-1956

By Emma Konken, Dr. Amy Forss, professor

Metropolitan Community College

Eliza Ann Doyle was born on February 11, 1866 in Russellville, Tennessee. She married Thomas John Doyle and they had 4 children, Kathleen Doyle Halligan, Lewis Raymond Doyle, Dorothy Cecelia Doyle Kelly, and Mary Virginia Doyle. The couple eventually had 18 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren. She died on March 26, 1956 in Lincoln, Nebraska at age 90.

Eliza Ann Doyle worked in the Democratic party and many organizations. She was a member and president of civic and church organizations, as stated in her obituary in The Lincoln Star. She was the president of the Lincoln Women's Club during World War 1 and honored with a lifetime membership in the City Welfare Society organization. Mrs. Doyle was also a member of Holy Family Parish and did work with the Red Cross. She was also a part of the National Council of Catholic Women.

Doyle was involved in many legal proceedings with other suffragists concerning women's rights and policies in place. In particular, the State Legislature passed a limited suffrage bill in April 1917, granting women in Nebraska the right to vote in Presidential elections and for many local and county offices. Anti-suffragists mounted a campaign to put the bill before the state's voters. Eliza Doyle was among nineteen suffragists who opposed the referendum petition and exposed so many instances of fraud and forgery in obtaining signatures that the State Supreme Court threw out the petition, refused to hold a referendum, and upheld the new suffrage law. Thus, Eliza Doyle was part of the legal struggle that secured the right to vote for Nebraska women even before the passage on the Nineteenth Amendment.

Sources:

"Mrs. Eliza Doyle Funeral Mass Set at Holy Family," (1956, March 30). The Lincoln Star, p. 19.

"Mrs. Doyle, Long Women's Leader, Dies," (1956, March 28). The Lincoln Star, p. 1.

Petersen, S. (2010, January 30). Eliza Ann Remine Doyle. Retrieved April 29, 2017, from Find a Grave website: https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=47313644

Ida Husted Harper, et al., eds., History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 6 (New York: National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1922), pp. 380-82.

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