Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920
Biography of Lena Vashti Newman, 1845-1921
By Hannah Neece
Women's Empowerment Center Coordinator
YWCA Greater Green Bay
Green Bay, WI
Born in Fayette County in Pennsylvania in 1845, Lena Vashti (Vashte) Newman was the second youngest of nine children by Isaac and Adaline (Sparks) Newman . The Newman family moved from Pennsylvania to Green County, Wisconsin, when Lena was five years old. According to the 1850 census, Isaac Newman was farmer. Presumably, the family made the cross-country move to take advantage of rich and abundant farmland Wisconsin provided.
Lena Newman moved to Monroe, Wisconsin at age 55. At age 65, Newman was listed as a resident of Brodhead, Wisconsin. This is where Newman worked as editor of the Wisconsin Citizen, a publication of the Wisconsin Woman's Suffrage Association. Newman is listed as an editor between 1899 and 1913. This paper included four pages with four columns to a page. It was published monthly and had an annual fee to subscribers of 25 cents. The journal were first published in Racine, then Brodhead, and finally Waukesha.
Newman died in 1921 in Albany, Green County, Wisconsin. Newman is buried in Juda, Green County, Wisconsin. She was 76 years old. Her headstone features the name "Lena V Newman,", so one would presume she never married. She rests in the same site as her parents and several siblings.
Sources
1. "Lena V Newman." Lena Vashti Newman (1845 - 1921) - Find A Grave Memorial, Constance Brault, 24 May 2010, www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=52764945.
2. Year: 1850; Census Place: Decatur, Green, Wisconsin; Roll: M432_999; Page: 249B; Image: 112. 1850 United States Federal Census - Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009, Provo, UT, USA
3. Year: 1900; Census Place: Monroe, Green, Wisconsin; Roll: 1789; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 0124; FHL microfilm: 1241789. 1900 United States Federal Census - Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2004, Provo, UT, USA
4. Year: 1910; Census Place: Brodhead Ward 2, Green, Wisconsin; Roll: T624_1704; Page: 13B; Enumeration District: 0003; FHL microfilm: 1375717. 1910 United States Federal Census - Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2006, Provo, UT, USA
5. "How Wisconsin Women Won the Ballot." Browse – UW Digital Collections, UW-Madison General Library System Digital Production Facility, 1 Jan. 1998, digicoll.library.wisc.edu/WIReader/WER0124-9.html.
6. Elizabeth V. Burt, "Dissent and Control in a Woman's Studies Periodical," American Journalism, 16:2 (April 1999), 39-61.