Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920

Biography of Mrs. L. B. (Patricia Calbick) Elliott, 1878-1951

By Catherine Dean, Cataloger/System Administrator: University Library--Southern University at Shreveport, LA

Patricia Beatrice Calbick (later Mrs. L. B. Elliott) was born to James Arthur and Catherine Collister Calbick on November 29, 1878 in Milwaukee, WI. She died on September 8, 1951 in Riverside, CA. Mrs. Elliott's father was native of New York who became a captain and vessel agent on the Great Lakes, and her mother immigrated from the England in 1867. Mrs. Elliott spent her early years in Wisconsin before moving to Illinois, where she completed four years of college, likely at Lake Forest University. A pragmatic and energetic woman, Mrs. Elliott worked throughout her life and took on an active role in various women's organizations.

Patricia Calbick initially married August Frederick Wilhelm Siebel on May 16, 1903. Immigrating from Germany in his childhood, Siebel was educated in the United States and achieved the rank of captain in the Spanish-American War before studying law at Lake Forest University and Chicago-Kent College of Law. They had three children, Catherine Beatrice, Patricia Calbick, and Arthur Frances Siebel. During this time Mrs. Elliott managed the West Side Conservatory of Music, teaching violin and gaining recognition for being the first woman in Chicago's history to lead a band at the annual ball of the Licensed Tugman's Association of the Great Lakes. She was also elected Department President of the Ladies' Auxiliary of the United Spanish War Veterans (U. S. W. V.) at the organization's second annual encampment.

Reports attribute turbulence in Mrs. Elliott's first marriage to her insistence on keeping her job, and the union dissolved following an affair with Lorenzo Bull Elliott, another Chicago lawyer, in 1913. She and Mr. Elliott married sometime in 1914, following the death of his first wife, Margaret Catherine Harris. The Elliotts lived in New Orleans, LA for around twenty years beginning in 1914. There Mr. Elliott managed the credit department at Hibernia Bank and Trust Company and occasionally lectured. During this period Mrs. Elliott can be found in directories listed as working in the Membership Department of the Association of Commerce, which was established in 1913 to promote tourism and industry in New Orleans.

Mrs. Elliott was most active as a suffragist during her early years in New Orleans. She is listed in The Hand Book of the National American Woman Suffrage Association for the 47th and 48th annual conventions, serving as Ways and Means committee chairman for the latter in 1916. She is also noted among the workers and officers of the Louisiana suffrage organization, the Era Club, in 1919.

Always concerned with practicality, Mrs. Elliott was the state manager of the Louisiana chapter of the Girls' National Honor Guard around the same time. The organization encouraged women's contributions to the war effort through the provision of social services and the development of home economic skills for preparedness and efficiency. Newspaper accounts from 1917-18 document her recruitment efforts and personal philosophy in relation to the cause. For instance, she openly criticized the visiting council of the Federation of Women's Clubs, stating, “This is not the time for peacock clothes, long-tailed coats and silk hats. We need ha[r]d work. Cut the frills” (“Women Arraigned for Extravance [sic]” 1917, 1).

Mrs. Elliott and her husband moved to Seal Beach, CA around 1935 and later moved to nearby West Riverside, CA. Letters to her two surviving children indicate that she continued to teach and perform with a musical company through this period of her life. She died of heart complications related to kidney disease at the age of 73 and is buried in the Olivewood Cemetery in Riverside with her husband.

A collection of photographs, news clippings, letters, and other documents related to Mrs. Elliott can be found on the Siebel family website (siebelhistory.org) in the category devoted to Patricia Calbick.

SOURCES:

“Girls National Honor Guard.” 1917. In The World Almanac and Encyclopedia 1918. New York: Press Publishing Co., 816.

Harper, Ida Husted, ed. 1922. “Chapter XVII: Louisiana. Part I.” In Vol. 6 of The History of . New York: J. J. Little & Ives Co, 216-35. [LINK]

“New Orleans Association of Commerce, 1922” (finding aid). In “Correspondence and Subject Files, 1880-1946” (series). In “New Orleans (La.) Dept. of Law (collection)”. New Orleans Public Library City Archives (website). http://nutrias.org/inv/lawdept.htm.

Patterson, Hannah J. 1916. The Hand Book of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and Proceedings of the Forty-Eighth Annual Convention. New York: National Woman Suffrage Publishing Co., 177. Reproduced on Google Books (website). https://books.google.com/books?id=Z0ovAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA177&dq=%22L.+B.+Elliott%22+suffrage&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2oqrf_ZjiAhUhMnwKHbxpAcEQ6AEIWzAH#v=onepage&q=%22L.%20B.%20Elliott%22%20suffrage&f=false

“Patricia B. Elliott.” n.d. In 1940 United States Federal Census. Ancestry (website). Last accessed May 14, 2019.

“Patricia B. Elliott.” n.d. In U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995. Ancestry (website). Last accessed May 14, 2019.

“Patricia Calbick.” n.d. Siebel Family Albums (website). Last accessed May 14, 2019. http://siebelhistory.org/Category-9/index.html#&panel1-1.

Trust Companies Pub. Association. 1918. “New Publicity Manager for Hibernia Bank and Trust Company.” In Trust Companies, 27 (1): 208. Reproduced on Google Books (website). https://books.google.com/books?id=O7dGAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

“What Honor Guard Is Accomplishing.” 1918. The Monroe News-Star, March 4, 1918, 6. Reproduced on Newspapers.com (website).

Winslow, Helen M. (ed.). 1917. The Register of Women's Clubs. Shirley, MA: Helen M.

Winslow, 118. Reproduced on Google Books (website). https://books.google.com/books?id=z3wfAQAAIAAJ&q=%22L.+B.+Elliott%22+suffrage&dq=%22L.+B.+Elliott%22+suffrage&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiR0K6E_pjiAhUKsFQKHcKHBeA4ChDoAQg-MAQ

“Women Arraigned for Extravance [sic].” 1917. In The Jennings Daily Times-Record, April 21, 1917, 1. Reproduced on Newspapers.com (website).

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