Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920

Biography of Eliza Edel, 1844-1921

By Anna Assogba, Research Librarian, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Member of Suffrage Club of Belair, Maryland

Eliza Jane Edel (sometimes spelled Edell) was probably born in November 1844, in Maryland. She married Samuel T. Edel, a butter and eggs dealer, in 1863. They had 9 children, 8 of whom survived childhood: Samuel Jr., Sarah, John, Lillian, Alma Grace, Harry, Anna, and Helen. The three sons took over their father's business when he retired.

Eliza was a member of the Suffrage Club of Belair, Maryland, at its founding in November 1904. She represented Montgomery County in the Maryland state suffrage conventions and she assisted with the effort by the Baltimore City Woman's Suffrage Club to present a bill to the 1910 Maryland legislature to give women the vote. Unfortunately, the bill did not pass.

Eliza most likely died sometime in 1921 or 1922.

Sources:

"1870 United States Federal Census - AncestryLibrary.Com," Accessed March 5, 2020.

"1880 United States Federal Census - AncestryLibrary.Com," Accessed March 5, 2020.

"1900 United States Federal Census - AncestryLibrary.Com," Accessed March 5, 2020.

Harper, Ida Husted, ed. History of Woman Suffrage. Vol. 6. New York: National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1922. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100566161.

Lantz, Emily Emerson. "Demand The Right To Vote: National Convention Of The Woman's Suffrage Association To Be Held In Baltimore--Leading Local Representatives." The Sun. January 7, 1906.

National American Woman Suffrage Association. Forty-Second Annual Report of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, given at the Convention, Held at Washington, D.C., April 14 to 19, Inclusive. New York: National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1910. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.rslfdy.

"Obituary." The Sun. June 3, 1912.

"U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 - AncestryLibrary.Com," Accessed March 19, 2020.

"U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 - AncestryLibrary.Com," Accessed March 19, 2020.

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