Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890–1920
Biography of Dr. Nellie B. Shafter Hascall, 1875-1930
By Mona Reno, Nevada Women's History Project
Vice-president of the Churchill County, NV Equal Franchise Society; President of the Churchill County Civic League
Nellie B. Shafter was born in Michigan in 1875. At age 22, she married Dr. Charles A. Hascall on March 13, 1897, in Esmeralda County, Nevada. In 1905, Nellie Hascall became a medical doctor, graduating on May 17, from the California Medical College in San Francisco. That same year, she was issued a certificate to practice medicine, surgery, etc., in the State of Nevada. She was the only woman listed of 26 new medical certificates issued in 1905.
Having come to Fallon following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, Drs. Charles and Nellie Hascall were very active in Fallon, Nevada, during their lives. They are listed as Hascall & Hascall, Physicians in 1907-08. They were both progressive and encouraged agricultural and economic advancement in Nevada.
In June 1913, a suffrage meeting was held in Fallon, Churchill County, Nevada, under the direction of Miss Anne H. Martin, head of the Nevada Equal Franchise Society. Mrs. H.C. Taylor was elected county president; Dr. Nellie Hascall, was elected vice president; Miss Sophie Baumann was elected secretary; and Miss Sutton was elected treasurer. A large attendance of men looked on with approval, and the women were enthusiastic. Fourteen out of 16 counties in the state were now organized for campaign work with all but White Pine and Douglas Counties having organized suffrage committees. In the 1914 vote for equal suffrage, Churchill County passed suffrage by only 4 percent. The county suffrage committee was crucial to that successful vote.
As with other equal franchise organizations across Nevada, in 1915 the Churchill County group became a civic club which affiliated with the Nevada Women's Civic League. Dr. Nellie B. Hascall was elected their president at that reorganizational meeting.
Dr. Charles Hascall died in 1928, and Dr. Nellie Hascall died two years later, on March 5, 1930, at the age of 70. She had spent the winters in San Francisco, and they are both buried at the Cypress Lawn cemetery in Colma, CA.
Sources:
“C.A. Hascall, Aged 77, Dies at Home.” The Fallon Standard (Fallon, Nev.). July 18, 1928, p.1.
California, Occupational Licenses, Registers, and Directories, 1876-1969. Ancestry.com.
Census of the United States. 1910. Ancestry.com.
“Churchill Has Suffrage Talk.” Nevada State Journal 59, no. 163. June 12, 1913, p.8. Newspapers.com.
“Civic Leagues Being Formed, State Organization of Women Growing; New Branches Being Started.” Reno Evening Gazette 39, no. 75. March 28, 1915, p.4. Newspapers.com.
“Dr. Hascall Dies Quite Suddenly.” The Fallon Standard (Fallon, Nev.). March 12, 1930, p.5.
Fallon, Churchill Col, NV – 1907-1908 Business Directory. R.L. Polk & Co.'s Nevada State Gazetteer and Business Directory, First Edition, 1907-1908.
“Fallon Resident Succumbs Today.” Reno Evening Gazette 54, no. 55. March 5, 1930, p. 12. Newspapers.com.
Field, Sara Bard. “The Clash in Nevada—A History of Woman's Fight for Enfranchisement.” Out West: Where Nature Helps Industry Most. August 1914, pp.51-66. HathiTrust.org
Harper, Ida Husted, ed. “Nevada.” Chapter XXVII in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 6: 1900-1920. New York: National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1922, 383-399. [LINK]
Nevada, Death Certificates, 1911-1965. Ancestry.com.
Nevada Equal Franchise Society. “Equal Suffrage News.” Reno Evening Gazette 37, no. 141. June 17, 1913, p.3. Newspapers.com.
Nevada Equal Franchise Society. “Equal Suffrage News.” Nevada State Journal 59, no. 280. October 7, 1913, p.4. Newspapers.com.
“New Medicos.” The Morning Appeal (Carson City, Nev.). November 1, 1905, p.3.
“Organization is Effected.” Reno Evening Gazette 37, no. 127. June 12, 1913, p. 5. Newspapers.com.
Western States Marriage Record Index. Special Collections and Family History. Brigham Young University website.