Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920
Biography of Clara Belle Evans Worthington, 1855-1926
By Nancy Alexander Simmons, Fairfax Station, Virginia
Woman Suffragist
Clara Belle Evans was born June 1855 in Ohio to John and Elizabeth Evans; her father was a brick mason and contractor in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the family lived. She married there on June 2, 1874, to Charles Carter Worthington, a native of Michigan who was on the staff of the Cincinnati Star. After they married, they moved to Michigan for several years, where they had four children: Justin Evans (J. E.), Elizabeth, Clara, and Marie. But by the 1910 census, Worthington's family had moved to Tampa, Florida, where her husband was a newspaper editor.
In 1913, the Florida Equal Suffrage Association was formed at a meeting in Orlando, Florida. And in October 1919, Worthington was elected treasurer of the association. At the association's final annual convention in Orlando, Florida, in October 1920, Worthington was again treasurer. In fact, she continued as treasurer in the successor organization, namely, the Florida League of Women Voters.
Worthington died May 9, 1926, in Tampa a few days after having a stroke. Her obituary noted that she was very active in "club work" in Tampa and was one of the founders of the Tampa Civic Association. Worthington is buried beside her parents in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her husband died on June 6, 1928, and is also buried there.
SOURCES:
1860 U.S. Census, Ohio. Cincinnati Ward 5, Hamilton County, p. 418. Digital images. Ancestry.com.
1870 U.S. Census, Ohio. Cincinnati Ward 15, Hamilton County, p. 478A. Digital images. Ancestry.com.
1910 U.S. Census, Florida. Precinct 3, Orange County, p. 7B. Digital images. Ancestry.com.
"'Dad' and 'Mother' Worthington Celebrate Golden Wedding Day." The Tampa Times (Tampa, Florida), June 3, 1924, p. 8.
"Florida Equal Suffrage Association." The Tampa Times (Tampa, Florida), October 19, 1920, p. 6.
Harper, Ida Husted, et al., eds. The History of Woman Suffrage. Vol. VI (1900-1920). N.p.: National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1922, p. 118. [LINK]
"Mrs. C. C. Worthington Dies at Tampa Home." The Tampa Tribune (Tampa, Florida), May 10, 1926, p. 2.
"Mrs. Edgar Lewis at Head Women Voters in Place Mrs. Fuller." The Tampa Tribune (Tampa, Florida), September 20, 1920, p. 4.
"Services to be Held." The Cincinnati Inquirer (Cincinnati, Ohio), May 12, 1926, p. 11.