Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920

Biography of Lucinda H. Corser, 1849-1935

By Jamie Domnick, student: University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, WI

20th-Century Activist for Woman Suffrage

Lucinda Hewson was born in September 1849 in New York to English immigrants, George Hewson and Eliza Holliday Hewson. She married Frederick Gardner Corser in 1880. They had four children: Caleb, Jean, Frederick, and John. The Corser family resided in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Lucinda Corser remained in Minnesota for a significant duration of her life. She died in December 1935 in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

According to The History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. 6, Lucinda Hewson Corser directed the "great petition to Congress" for the Federal Amendment by the National American Woman Suffrage Association. In November 1908, the Association's convention led to the formation of the National College Equal Suffrage League. In 1911, Corser served as a member of the first board of directors for the Minnesota Woman's Suffrage Party. The Party was organized to secure equal suffrage for women, as well as advance the welfare of the people of Minnesota.

Lucinda Corser was socially prominent, and appeared financially secure. She attended Elmira College in New York, graduating in 1871. Her family was listed in The Dual City Blue Book. She hosted social events, aiding the suffrage movement through her hospitality. Her social prominence enabled her to voice opinions in news articles regarding the work of women. Lucinda spent a summer in Cordova, Alaska, where she witnessed the activity of women in municipal and civic affairs. Through her writing, she described those women as resourceful, as well as having incredible spirit.

SOURCES:

1900 United States Federal Census.
www.ancestrylibrary.com/interactive/7602/4120277_00788?pid=26410186&backurl=https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/family-tree/person/tree/6797343/person/5023289064/gallery&usePUB=true&_phsrc=leL4&usePUBJs=true.

1920 United States Federal Census.
www.ancestrylibrary.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=1920usfedcen&h=26871358&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=leL8&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&rhSource=7884.

Dual City Blue Book, 1899-1900.
books.google.com/books?id=lFk0AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA221&dq=%22Mrs.%2BFG%2BCorser%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjA3qm6jqPXAhXD64MKHYc1AJ4Q6AEIPjAD#v=onepage&q=%22Mrs.%20FG%20Corser%22&f=false.

"Women Organize Suffrage Party," Duluth Herald, February 20, 1911, p. 14

Harper, Ida Husted, et al., eds, History of Woman Suffrage. Vol. 6. [LINK]

Minneapolis Morning Tribune, October 18, 1914.
newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/viewer.jsp?doc_id=mnhi0005%2F1DFC5G5B%2F14101801&page_name=53.

Minneapolis Morning Tribune, December 8, 1916.
newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/viewer.jsp?doc_id=mnhi0005%2F1DFC5G5B%2F16120801&query1=&recoffset=0&collection_filter=All&collection_name=addabf07-f848-43e3-a488-2782562f220d&sort_col=relevance&cnt=0&CurSearchNum=3&recOffset=0.

Register of The Alumnae of Elmira College, 1851-1905.
www.lib.utulsa.edu/digital/robertson/series_iii/pdf/ar3_01_05_36.pdf

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