Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920
Biography of Margaret Louise Heyes Hall, 1883-1975
By Bethany Montgomery, undergraduate, Saint Martin's University, Lacey, WA
Natural leader, motivator, and passionate suffragist in Washington
Margaret Louise Heyes was born on January 20, 1883 in Wilmington, Delaware to George and Emily (Jackson) Heyes. Margaret had an older brother, George, and two younger sisters, Mary and Lucy. Records place her family in Seattle as early as the 1893, and in her twenties, Margaret attended University of Washington. There she studied Political Economy and was involved with several debating clubs/teams, in addition to being her class president.
In October 1908, Margaret married Charles Wilbur Hall, a lawyer from Vancouver, Wash. (originally from Ohio). At the time of her marriage, Margaret worked as a school teacher in Seattle. The two lived in Vancouver with their two children, Charles (1916) and Emily (1913).
Before the election in 1908, Margaret and other members of the Suffrage Association joined the Equal Suffrage League of Collegiate and Professional Women in movements to restore the political and voting rights of women in the state that were previously granted. Margaret was among a number of women in the county who on Election Day demanded voting rights at the clerk's office, and who brought "an action in mandamus" to any clerk who refused.
Margaret continued to be very involved in suffrage activity in 1908. The Seattle Times records her being one of six women on the committee in charge of distributing over 20,000 suffrage leaflets from the National American Woman Suffrage Association to women across the entire state, advocating women's rights.
During this time, Margaret served as secretary for the Washington College Equal Suffrage League, an auxiliary branch of the College Equal Suffrage in Washington. The league's goal, "to unite all collegiate and professional women in an effective appeal for equality of political rights" also appealed to undergraduates to form auxiliary branches as well.
Even after suffrage was granted in 1910, Margaret stayed involved in her support of suffrage, noted for attending Democratic speeches at a local theater in Seattle to hear and meet famous New York Judge Alton B. Parker, who spoke in favor of women's suffrage.
In the 1930s, she and Charles remained in Vancouver, Washington, though various travel records place them all over the United States, including Hawaii, New York, Los Angeles, Calif., Vermont, and Victoria, Canada. Charles died in May of 1955. Margaret died on January 1975 at the age of 91.
Photographs of Margaret can be found in several newspaper clippings found in the Emma Smith DeVoe Scrapbooks accessible on the "Primarily Washington" website.
SOURCES:
"New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24K4-ZFQ : 12 March 2018), Margaret L Hall, 1936; citing Immigration, New York, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication T715 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
"Page 005 : Suffrage Literature Will Be Distributed," PRIMARILY WASHINGTON, accessed November 19, 2018, http://primarilywashington.org/items/show/21963.
"Page 144 : Women Should Vote Says Parker," PRIMARILY WASHINGTON, accessed November 19, 2018, http://primarilywashington.org/items/show/23253.
"Page 038 : Officers of the Washington College Suffrage league," PRIMARILY WASHINGTON, accessed November 19, 2018, http://primarilywashington.org/items/show/22053.
"Page 012 : Seattle Women Will Carry Right to Vote Into Supreme Court (continued from page 11)," PRIMARILY WASHINGTON, accessed November 19, 2018, http://primarilywashington.org/items/show/21982.
Ancestry.com. Washington, Marriage Records, 1854-2013 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=2378&h=3321538&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=2378
Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002. https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=6224&h=111593843&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=1075
Ancestry.com. Washington, Death Index, 1940-2014 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2002. https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=6716&h=2650602&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=6224
"Vermont, St. Albans Canadian Border Crossings, 1895-1954," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK3T-TQH3 : 16 March 2018), Margaret L Hall, 1938; citing M1465, Soundex Index to Canadian Border Entries through the St. Albans, Vermont, District, 1895-1924, 19, NARA microfilm publications M1461, M1463, M1464, and M1465 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, publication year); FHL microfilm 1,549,405.
Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1990 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=1265&h=242115976&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=XFz2&_phstart=successSource
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "List of Advertised Letters," 23 May 1898, pg. 11. Newspapers Publisher Extra. https://www.newspapers.com/image/333245903/
Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 26 November 2018), memorial page for Charles Wilbur Hall (1878–6 May 1955), Find A Grave Memorial no. 76493554, citing Park Hill Cemetery, Vancouver, Clark County, Washington, USA ; Maintained by Scott Bolliger (contributor 46935216) .
"United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMPN-QZS : accessed 27 November 2018), George Heyes in household of George Heyes, Precinct 4 Seattle city Ward 2, King, Washington, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 89, sheet 4B, family 94, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,744.