Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920
Biography of MARY M. CRAPSEY HARVEY, 1860-?
By Linda D. Wilson, Independent Historian
Oklahoma suffragist Mary M. (Crapsey) Harvey worked for woman's suffrage while living in Indian Territory during the 1890s. Born in 1860 in Cincinnati, Ohio, she was the daughter of attorney Jacob Crapsey and his wife Rachel (Morris) Crapsey. Mary Crapsey married David Archibald Harvey on March 15, 1881, in Cincinnati. They had three children: George, David Kent, and Jeanette. David Harvey served in Company B of the Ohio Volunteer Cavalry during the Civil War. Mary received a widow's pension following his death in 1916.
The Harveys made the 1889 land run into Oklahoma Territory and in 1890 they lived in Oklahoma City. Previously, they had lived in Kansas where their daughter Jeanette was born in 1882. David Harvey, a Republican, entered Oklahoma politics and served as the first territorial delegate to the U.S. Congress from 1890 to 1893. When Harvey was defeated in the 1892 election, the family moved to Wyandotte, Indian Territory, where he served as mayor.
After moving to Wyandotte, Mary Harvey became involved in woman's suffrage, joining the Indian Women's Woman Suffrage League. She served as auditor for the first and second conventions of the Equal Suffrage Association of Oklahoma and Indian territories. The first annual convention was held in Oklahoma City in December 1904, with an address by Reverend Anna Shaw, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), on "The Statehood Bill." Chickasha, Indian Territory, hosted the second convention in October 1905. Harvey represented Indian Territory at the woman's suffrage convention held in Baltimore, Maryland, in February 1906.
Mary C. Harvey was preceded in death by her husband who died May 24, 1916 and by her daughter Jeanette who died at the age of eighteen on December 25, 1900. In 1920 Mary Harvey was living in Miami, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Her death date is unknown.
SOURCES: Baltimore (MD) Sun, 11 February 1906. Chickasha (Indian Territory) Daily Express, 19 October 1905. Cincinnati (OH) Enquirer, 15 March 1881. First Territorial Census of Oklahoma, 1890, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Territory. Ida Husted Harper, ed., The History of Woman Suffrage, 1900-1920, Vol 6 (National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1922), 521. [LINK] Kansas State Census, 1885, Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas. Oklahoma State Register (Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory), 22 December 1904. U.S. Federal Census, 1860, 1870, and 1880, Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio. U.S. Federal Census, 1900, Wyandotte Indian Reservation, Wyandotte Nation, Indian Territory. U.S. Federal Census, 1910, Wyandotte, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. U.S. Federal Census, 1920, Miami, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Linda D. Wilson, "David Archibald Harvey," The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, www.okhistory.org (accessed April 8, 2018).