Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920
Biography of Katherine (Mrs. Frederick G.) Paddock, 1868-1943
By Piers Lucker, undergraduate student, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Katherine Lovisa Barnhardt was born on August 5, 1868 in Potsdam, New York to Katharine and Samuel Barnhardt. Her sister Addie was born in 1872, and brother William in 1877. In 1880, the Barnhardts moved to Massena, New York. About two years following the Great Blizzard of 1888, Barnhardt married Frederick G. Paddock, an attorney and Judge in Potsdam, on April 7, 1890. They had two children: Katherine A. (b. 1895) and Alice (b. 1897). After briefly residing in Massena, the Paddock family moved to Malone, New York in 1900, where they lived until 1935.
While performing woman's suffrage work in the early 1900s, Paddock served as the Chairman of the Fourth Campaign District of the Empire State Campaign Committee in November of 1913. She temporarily acted as chairman for Franklin County in that year, where she polled 179 persons about the suffrage issue, of whom 104 declared in favor of "votes for women." Thirty-six declared against the proposition of women voting and 39 were undecided. A conference was then held in Franklin County in 1914, at which Carrie Chapman Catt spoke and a permanent assembly district organization formed to promote suffrage. Paddock's husband, Frank, also served as a suffrage organizer for the Pomona Grange in 1913.
On February 5, 1914, Paddock held a meeting in the Methodist church in Malone where she led a discussion on the subject of the “Political Equality Situation in North America.” Paddock's convinced the gathered crowd as to the importance of the issue and gained the pledge of 49 of them to push for the cause in the coming year. On February 9, 1914, The Malone Political Equality Club offered a Suffrage Tea at the Paddock residence. In April of 1915, at the Assembly District meeting, Paddock presented all matters connected with the practical workings of the finances, enrollments, organizations, etc., of the county's suffrage organization. She also announced that the Empire State Campaign Committee had engaged Miss Helen Todd, of California, to debate the suffrage question with Miss Lucy Price, of Ohio, at the Chautauqua in Malone in August. In addition, in May of 1915, Mrs. Frank Paddock made a suffrage address at Weiting Opera House in Syracuse, New York while attending a suffrage meeting.
After helping to win the franchise, Paddock suffered a series of deaths in her family. Her eldest daughter Katherine passed away in 1922 at the age of 27, her younger daughter Alice in 1929 at the age of 32, and her husband Frederick died in 1931 after suffering from heart disease for more than a year. In 1935, Paddock left Malone and moved to New York City. She died at age 75 on December 13, 1943, in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Sources:
United States Census Office. “1870 United States Federal Census.” Ancestry.com. 2009. Accessed April 24, 2018. https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/7163/4277092_00216/32420250?backurl=https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/120049567/person/310191448291/facts/citation/920425086121/edit/record.
United States Census Office. “1880 United States Federal Census.” Ancestry.com. 2010. Accessed April 24, 2018. https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/6742/4243469-00827/4004902?backurl=https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/120049567/person/310191448291/facts/citation/920425586415/edit/record.
United States Census Office. “1900 United States Federal Census.” Ancestry.com. 2004. Accessed April 24, 2018. https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/7602/4114519_00280/33085620?backurl=https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/120049567/person/310191448291/facts/citation/920425070585/edit/record.
United States Census Bureau. “1910 United States Federal Census.” Ancestry.com. 2006. Accessed April 24, 2018. https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/7884/4449346_00449/111141315?backurl=https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/120049567/person/310191448291/facts/citation/920425074204/edit/record.
United States Census Bureau. “1920 United States Federal Census.” Ancestry.com. 2010. Accessed April 24, 2018. https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/6061/4313444-00770/31563619?backurl=https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/120049567/person/310191448291/facts/citation/920425077236/edit/record.
United States Census Bureau. “1930 United States Federal Census.” Ancestry.com. 2002. Accessed April 24, 2018. https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/6224/4661108_00995/27622099?backurl=https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/120049567/person/310191448291/facts/citation/920425077553/edit/record.
United States Department of Labor Immigration and Naturalization Service. “New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957.” Ancestry.com. 2010. Accessed April 24, 2018. https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/7488/NYT715_5622-0122/30251678?backurl=https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/120049567/person/310191448291/facts/citation/920425584632/edit/record.
United States Census Bureau, “New York, State Census, 1905,” Ancestry.com. 2014. Accessed April 24, 2018. https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/7364/004518291_00438/1343750?backurl=https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/120049567/person/310191448291/facts/citation/920425077828/edit/record.
United States Census Bureau. “New York, State Census, 1915.” Ancestry.com. 2012. Accessed April 24, 2018. https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2703/32848_B094025-00445/4707716?backurl=https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/120049567/person/310191448291/facts/citation/920425083969/edit/record.
United States Census Bureau. “New York, State Census, 1925.” Ancestry.com. 2012. Accessed April 24, 2018. https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2704/32849_b094247-00341/23707025?backurl=https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/120049567/person/310191448291/facts/citation/920425071034/edit/record
Daughters of the American Revolution. “North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000.” Lineage Book: NSDAR 114, (1915): Accessed April 24, 2018. Ancestry.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Health Bureau of Vital Statistics. “Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1966.” Ancestry.com. 2014. Accessed April 24, 2018. https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/5164/42342_2421406271_0974-01327/4306714?backurl=https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/120049567/person/310191448291/facts/citation/920425085703/edit/record.
H.A. Manning Company Map and Directory Publishers. “U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.” Ancestry.com. 2011. Accessed April 24, 2018. https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2469/1933601/93305982?backurl=https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/120049567/person/310191448291/facts/citation/920425083181/edit/record.
Department of State Passport. “U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925.” Ancestry.com. 2007. Accessed April 24, 2018. https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/1174/USM1490_1559-0118/633459?backurl=https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/120049567/person/310191448291/facts/citation/920425625148/edit/record.
Harper, Ida Husted, et al., eds.. History of Woman Suffrage: 1900-1920. Fowler & Wells, 1922. [LINK].
“When Congress Speaks,” January 29, 1931, Page 3, Image 3.” The Sun, (1931): 3. Accessed April 24, 2018. NYS Historic Newspapers.
“Organizing the State for Woman's Suffrage”, December 24, 1913, Page 1, Image 1. The Malone Farmer, (1913): 1. Accessed April 24, 2018. NYS Historic Newspapers.
“Personal”, May 19, 1915, Page 5, Image 5. The Malone Farmer, (1915): 5. Accessed April 24, 2018. NYS Historic Newspapers.
#x200e“Suffrage Convention”, April 21, 1915, Page 4, Image 4. The Malone Farmer, (1915): 4. Accessed April 24, 2018. NYS Historic Newspapers.
“Local Department”, May 20, 1914, Page 3, Image 3. The Malone Farmer, (1914): 4. Accessed December 14, 2018. NYS Historic Newspapers.
“Church and Society”, February 04, 1914, Page 4, Image 4. The Malone Farmer, (1914): 4. Accessed April 24, 2018. NYS Historic Newspapers.
“Personal”, February 11, 1914, Page 3, Image 3. The Malone Farmer, (1914): 3. Accessed April 24, 2018. NYS Historic Newspapers.