Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890–1920
Biography of Lutie C. Jones, 1876-1938
By Bethany L. Hawkins, Chief of Operations, American Association for State and Local History, Nashville, Tennessee
Member of the Nashville Equal Suffrage Association, Charter Member of Equal Suffrage Auxiliary (1917), Advisory Board, Democratic Ratification Committee (1920)
Lutie C. Jones was born March 1876 in Woodbury, TN, to James A. Jones and Harriett Morton Jones. Her father, born in Alabama and a Confederate veteran, moved to Woodbury, TN, in 1871 and became a prominent attorney. Active in politics as a Democrat, he served one term as State Senator in 1874-1875.
Lutie Jones never married. She moved to Nashville in the 1890s to attend Ward Belmont where she studied music and was a member of the Domestic Science Club. After graduating from school, she served as Assistant State Librarian from at least 1899 to 1930. In 1919, she was working as Assistant State Librarian to John Trotwood Moore when the state legislature passed a law to make the state library the official archives with a paid director and two paid assistants. It was noted that although Moore would be working to build the archives by interviewing war veterans, "the real work of the library will be under the supervision of Miss Lutie C. Jones, assisted by Mrs. Kirkpatrick. Miss Jones has been in the library for some years and knows the work well."
Jones became involved in the suffrage movement in Nashville around 1917. She joined many suffrage organizations, including the Nashville Equal Suffrage Association, and was a charter member of the Equal Suffrage Auxiliary connected to the work of the Red Cross. While Jones was not a public leader in the suffrage movement and there are no records of public speeches or published writings, she was a worker in the movement and is noted as one of several suffragists who worked in the Tulane Hotel to make muslin dressings for the war effort. She also served on the advisory board for the Democratic Ratification Committee in 1920. Her position with the State Library also included service as engrossing clerk to the Tennessee State Legislature which put her in a unique position to advocate directly to the legislators regarding women's suffrage.
Following the vote to ratify the 19th Amendment by the Tennessee State Legislature, Jones continued her work as Assistant State Librarian until 1930. She lived in Nashville in apartments and boarding houses including The Polk. In 1929, she was living at the Tulane Hotel, located at 8th Avenue North and Church St. in Nashville, known as the place where Anne Dallas Dudley and several other women founded the Nashville Equal Suffrage League. By 1929, the hotel was mainly residential.
It is unclear as to when she left Nashville. Lutie C. Jones died in Norris, Anderson County, TN, on January 24, 1938 at age 62 of pneumonia.
Sources:
Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Accessed March 15, 2018. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. And http://digital.library.nashville.org/cdm/ref/collection/nr/id/2263. Accessed March 15, 2018.
Goodspeed History, Cannon County http://www.usgennet.org/usa/tn/county/cannon/about/cancogsp.htm. Accessed March 31, 2018.
Harpeth Hall School Yearbook - "U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012"; Yearbook Title: Harpeth Hall School Yearbook, 1912; Year: 1912. Accessed March 15, 2018.The High School Quarterly Volume 7, University of Georgia, 1919, page 253. The Tennessean, April 16, 1909. https://www.newspapers.com/image/118942187. Accessed March 15, 2018.
Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, Tennessee; Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1959; Roll #: 1 Yellin, Carol Lynn and Janann Sherman. The Perfect 36: Tennessee Delivers Women's Suffrage. Vote 70 Press, Memphis, TN, 2013.