Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920
Biography of Guilhelma Hoag Barnum, 1854-1911
By Andrew J. Mattson, Student Development Staff: Albion College, Albion, MI
President of Michigan State Suffrage Association
Guilhelma Hoag Barnum, also known as "Julia," was born in New York in 1854, and died in February, 1911 in Eaton County, Michigan. Her most prominent service to the cause of women's suffrage is her time as Michigan State Suffrage Association President, from 1904-1906.
She married Alonzo B. Barnum, child of early Eaton County pioneers Alonzo Barnum and Sophia Crippen. His father, also named Alonzo, was a "man of religious earnestness and zeal," and had been one of the founders of the Hasting Methodist Episcopal Church. He recorded in his diary that both services and classes were held in his home after moving to the area in 1839.
Guilhelma and Alonzo did not have any recorded children, although he had two children in his first marriage. They are recorded as living in Roxand, Eaton County, Michigan in 1880, and later in 1900 and 1910 remained in Eaton County.
She may have been involved in the "Pioneer Society of Eaton and Ingham Counties," which began in 1872 as a place for yearly addresses to teach and memorialize the early pioneers of the area. In 1897, the record states "Mrs. Nancy Ward read a paper on 'Pioneer Mothers,' and, was followed by Mrs. G. Barnum with one on 'Pioneer Daughters'."
Guilhelma was buried on February 21, 1911, in the Maple Hill Cemetery in Charlotte, Michigan, the same cemetery as her parents, Lewis and Esther Hoag.
SOURCES:
Michigan Historical Commission. Collections and Researches Made by the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society. Michigan Historical Commission, vol. 22, pgs. 566-574 ("History of the Hastings M.E. Church"). Lansing, Michigan: Robert Smith & Co. State Printers and Binders, 1894. Earl W. and Florence C. De La Vergne Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.
Williams, Reverend Wolcott B. The past and present of Eaton County, Michigan, historically together with biographical sketches of its leading and prominent citizens and illustrious dead. Lansing, Michigan: Historical Publishing Association. Hammond Press, W.B. Conkey Company. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/micounty/ARX3600.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext
Guilhelma "Julia" Hoag Barnum. Grave site record. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/62410539/gulielma-barnum
United States Census, 1880, 1900, 1910.