Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920

Biography of Adella Tuttle Schloss, 1866-1905

By Jonathan Lemberg, undergraduate, University of California, Berkeley

Mrs. Aaron Schloss

Louis S. Lyons, Who's Who Among the Women of California, ed. Josephine Wilson (San Francisco: Security Publishing Company, 1922), 97.

Known for most of her life as Mrs. Aaron Schloss, Adella Tuttle Schloss was born January 1, 1866 in Vernon, Iowa to Owen and Mary Burns Tuttle. Her family stayed in Iowa until they moved to Pajaro, California during the 1870s, where her father worked as a farmer as in Iowa. On June 16, 1885, at age 19, Adella Tuttle married Aaron Schloss, 23, in Watsonville, California; the Schlosses would spend the rest of their lives living first in San Francisco and later in Berkeley. Dr. Schloss was a physician born in Columbus, Indiana in 1962. Throughout their marriage, Aaron practiced medicine in San Francisco and Berkeley, having acquired his license to work in 1883 at the age of 21. The Schlosses had one daughter, June, and two sons, Lynn and Owen. June, the eldest, was born in August 1886, followed by Lynn in March 1889, and Owen in April 1899. Aaron's practice easily sustained the family, so Adella spent many of the years following her marriage caring for her children until they were older and the Schlosses hired a servant.

Adella's first record of involvement with the women's movement was in 1906, as Chair of the Department of Civics for the General Federation of Women's Clubs, a national coalition of state women's organizations. In 1910, Adella took office as Vice President of the California Federation of Women's Clubs, the first of her many roles in the organization. Adella also served as treasurer of the California Civic League from 1912-1913, all while holding her position of Vice President in the California Federation through 1920. Adella was elected President of the California Federation from 1920-21, when the organization had around 60,000 members. Her successor, Mrs. W. A. Fitzgerald, took office in 1921 at the Yosemite Convention marking the Federation's twentieth anniversary. At the convention, "the name of Mrs. Aaron Schloss was placed on the Founders' Roll of the General Foundation as the highest honour which the club women of California have within their power to bestow."

Although national suffrage had been achieved and Adella had finished her term as President of the California Federation, she still was not done with her career of service. In 1923 she worked with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union as the chair and representative of the women's joint legislative committee of State organizations. In 1924 she was also the state chair of legislation for the California Federation and in place to succeed the current California Director on the General Federation Board because of her status as former President of the California Federation.

Despite her wider state and national activities, Adella never forgot about Berkeley. She constantly remained a prominent figure in local clubs, fighting for city issues and empowering her female neighbors to fight through her experience on a greater stage. In 1911, she served on an advisory committee and as chair of the Rally Committee of the Berkeley Suffrage League and actively campaigned for Amendment No. 8 to the California constitution, which granted women the right to vote in state elections and passed that November.

Aaron Schloss, her husband of forty-two years, died on April 30, 1927 at the age of sixty-five. On December 31, 1929, Adella Tuttle Schloss died of heart disease at the age of sixty-four at her home in Berkeley. Remembered in her obituary as a leader in the feminist movement for over a generation, Adella Schloss made a profound contribution to the women's rights movement she cared so deeply about.

Bibliography

Louis S. Lyons, Who's Who Among the Women of California, ed. Josephine Wilson (San Francisco: Security Publishing Company, 1922). https://books.google.com/books?id=Vi1NAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Ancestry.com. California, Biographical Index Cards, 1781-1990 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.

National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution. Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Books (152 Vols.) [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2000.

1870 U.S. census, Van Buren, Iowa, population schedule, Washington, p. 407A, Adel Tuttle, Owen Tuttle and Mary. E Tuttle; digital image, Ancestry.com, accessed April 5, 2017, http://ancestry.com

1880 U.S. census, Santa Cruz, California, population schedule, Pajaro, p. 541D, dwelling 732, family 928, Adella Tuttle and Owen Tuttle; digital image, Ancestry.com, accessed April 5, 2017, http://ancestry.com

American Medical Association, Directory of Deceased American Physicians, 1804-1929, ed. Arthur Wayne Hafner (Chicago, IL: American Medical Association, 1993). http://search.ancestrylibrary.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=DirDeceasedPhys_ga&h=117112&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&rhSource=60525

1900 U.S. census, San Francisco, California, population schedule, San Francisco, p. 8B, dwelling 129, family 155, Dela T. Schloss, Aaron Schloss, June Schloss, Lynn Schloss, Owen Schloss, and Louise Hilmann; digital image, Ancestry.com, accessed April 5, 2017, http://ancestry.com

Mary Ashe Miller, "General Federation of Women's Clubs Will Hold the Next Council at Jamestown." San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), Nov. 5, 1906. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19061105.2.50.7

"Mrs. Lovell White, Mrs. C. Mason Kinne and Mme. Tojetti Named for High Office" San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), Apr. 6, 1910. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1910-04-06/ed-1/seq-16/#date1=1860&index=3&rows=20&words=Aaron+Mrs+Schloss&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=California&date2=1924&proxtext=mrs.+aaron+schloss&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1912-10-12/ed-1/seq-17/#date1=1860&index=0&rows=20&words=Aaron+Mrs+Schloss&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=California&date2=1924&proxtext=mrs.+aaron+schloss&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

"Berkeley Center Wants to Expand" San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), Oct. 12, 1912. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1912-10-12/ed-1/seq-17/#date1=1860&index=0&rows=20&words=Aaron+Mrs+Schloss&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=California&date2=1924&proxtext=mrs.+aaron+schloss&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

"Attractive Girl of Berkeley Will Be Taken as Bride by Oakland Young Man" San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, CA), Oct. 7, 1917. http://search.proquest.com/docview/576641264/49DE0657B60B4F9CPQ/4?accountid=14496

"W. C. T. U. Congress of Reform Meets At Pacific Grove" Madera Mercury (Madera, CA), Aug. 3, 1923. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=MM19230803.2.5&srpos=16&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-mrs.+aaron+schloss-------1

"Biennial Aide At Meeting" Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA), Mar. 2, 1924. http://search.proquest.com/docview/161664183/49DE0657B60B4F9CPQ/3?accountid=14496

1910 U.S. census, Alameda, California, population schedule, Berkely [sic], p. 8B, dwelling 121, family 132, Adella T. Bellosi, Arron Bellosi, June R Bellosi, Lyan A Bellosi, Owen T Bellosi, and Henry Bellosi; digital image, Ancestry.com, accessed April 5, 2017, http://ancestry.com

History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 6: 1900-1920, ed. Ida Husted Harper (New York, NY: National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1922). 45. [LINK]

"Berkeley Suffrage Rally Set For Friday" San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), Sept. 14, 1911. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19110914.2.81.19&srpos=11&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-mrs.+aaron+schloss-------1

"Mrs. Aaron Schloss" The New York Times (New York, NY), Jan. 1, 1930. http://search.proquest.com/docview/98638288/49DE0657B60B4F9CPQ/2?accountid=14496

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