Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920
Biography of Celeste Claiborne Carruth, 1870-1965
By Alexa Rummel, undergraduate student, Tulane University
Corresponding Secretary for Louisiana State Suffrage Association, New Roads, Louisiana, Pointee Coupee; R.M. Carruth, Louisiana Historical Society
Celeste Claiborne was born December 20, 1870 in Louisiana to Lewis B. and Reny Claiborne. She had seven siblings: Ferdinand (b. February 1875), Ruffin (b. June 1879), Ernest (b. February 1881), Jenetta/Janetta (b. June 1884), Norbert (b. July 1885), Roland (b. August 1888), and Ethel (b. August 1890).
She married Dr. Robert McGimsey Carruth on September 14, 1901 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Around 1892, she had a son, Bruce Carruth, and later had two daughters, Udell (b. 1903) and Joy D (b. 1905).
Celeste Claiborne Carruth was a corresponding secretary for the Louisiana State Suffrage Association in 1913. She was elected a New Member of the Louisiana Historical Society in 1917. Carruth was also involved with legislative work surrounding age of consent laws. In 1922, Claiborne Carruth spoke alongside Mrs. R. G. Pleasant at a large gathering of women at New Orleans's City Hall about the Southern Conservation League.
Celeste Claiborne Carruth died on June 16, 1965 and was buried at the Garden of Memories cemetery in Metairie, LA. Her grave marker is pictured below.
Sources:
Louisiana chapter, History of Woman Suffrage 1900-1920, vol. 6. LINK
Publications of the Louisiana Historical Society. Accessed through Google Books.
Ancestry Library accessed through Howard Tilton Memorial Library Databases: 1900, 1920, and 1920 United States Federal Census; New Orleans, LA. Marriage Records Index 1831-1964
Woman's Enterprise from Baton Rouge. LA, Vol. I. No. 9, March 10, 1922
The New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, Volume 5.
Celeste Claiborne Carruth's grave marker at the Garden of Memories cemetery in Metairie, LA.
Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=112081561