Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920
Biography of Dora Bosart (Leighton), 1886-1969
By Evan Hawk, student, Indiana State University
Secretary and the treasurer of the Legislative Council of Women
Dora Ellen Bosart was born January 31, 1886, in Fountain City, Indiana. Her parents were Timothy Lewis Bosart, Jr., and Ruth Murray. She married Arthur Campbell Leighton. Later in life Dora and Arthur were divorced and she remarried Alfred Ernest Evans, Jr., in December of 1919. Other names Dora was recognized by included Dora Leighton and Dora Evans. Some of her publications and other work can be found under these names, as well. For the majority of her life, Dora lived and worked in the Indianapolis, Indiana area. This is where Dora spent her time fighting for women's rights during the suffrage movement. Years later, Dora moved to Long Beach, California where she passed away on November 19, 1969, at the age of 82. She is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Dora Ellen Bosart attended Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree at Smith College in 1908. In 1914, many groups were organized under the Legislative Council of Women. This council served nearly eighty thousand women, of different organizations that fought for the same cause. Bosart served as both the secretary and the treasurer for the council. She positively influenced the way women were treated and supplemented the council as much as she could in order to gain additional women's rights in the state of Indiana.
Sources:
Catalog of Officers, Graduates and Non Graduates of Smith College, Northampton, Mass. 1875-1910. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=NVVAAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA171&lpg=PA171&dq=Dora%2BEllen%2BBosart&source=bl&ots=SLd0cE1NsQ&sig=s-pExH3ecrHhHWOE2KcHVuEXcAc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjz28CuzbfVAhUqxoMKHWV2CoQQ6AEIOzAE#v=onepage&q=Dora%20Ellen%20Bosart&f=false
Family: Alfred E. EVANS / Dora Ellen BOSART (F32419). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://reidgen.com/familygroup.php?familyID=F32419&tree=ReidFamilyTree
R. (2015, August 19). RetroIndy: The women's suffrage movement in Indiana. Retrieved from http://www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2015/08/19/retroindy-womens-suffrage-movement/31985599/
Ida Husted Harper, ed. The History of Woman Suffrage, volume 6 (1922). LINK to Indiana report.
Webster, N. C. (2016, March 11). Suffrage movement took root in Indiana in 1859. Retrieved from http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-bicenternnial-women-st-0313-20160311-story.html