Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1880-1920
Biography of Dr. Emma G. Holloway, 1874-1962
By Whitney Duynslager, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI. Prepared for History 5200/7200, "Women, Gender, and Sexuality in Modern America," Prof. Liette Gidlow
Physician, Quaker, Suffragist
Emma G. Holloway was born on September 24, 1874 in North Manchester, Indiana to Silas Holloway and Ellen Gillingham Holloway. The family moved to Illinois in the late 1870s where her father worked at a creamery as a cheese maker. Her family later moved back to Indiana and Holloway decided to pursue a career in medicine. At that time there were not many female physicians. By 1906 she opened her own practice in North Manchester.
Dr. Holloway's family belonged to the Society of Friends (the Quakers) and Emma herself remained active in the faith throughout her life. She took part in Quaker meetings and larger conventions and participated in committees on Philanthropic Labor, the Advancement of Friends' Principles, and Nominations. She sometimes hosted Quaker meetings at her house. She often spoke on the topics of schools and youth and once called parenthood "the most vital business of all." In 1922 at a general conference, she assisted in leading a roundtable discussion on social morality and narcotics. Dr. Holloway also worked for the Indiana School for Feeble-Minded Youth in Fort Wayne. In 1915 she worked, along with a group of doctors, to aid soldiers in need of medical care.
In 1912 she attended the state suffrage convention at Logansport, Indiana, where she was elected vice president.
Dr. Holloway never married and remained active in her community throughout her life. She died on August 25, 1962 in Dayton, Ohio. Her papers are available at the Indiana State Historical Society.
SOURCES:
"Emma G. Holloway." Social Networks and Archival Context Cooperative, available at http://snaccooperative.org/view/20073472.
Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy, vol. 8 (1916).
"Minutes." Indiana Yearly Meeting, 1908.
North Manchester Journal, August 2, 1906, available at http://www.nmanchesterhistory.org.
Proceedings of the Friends' General Conference, 1922.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930-Population. Ancestry.com website.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940-Population. Ancestry.com website.