Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920
Biography of Gwendolyn Lewis Little, 1876-1918
By Linda Thatcher, retired librarian, co-editor, Women in Utah History: Paradigm or Paradox? Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2005.
Member, Democratic Party and supporter of labor rally.
Gwendolyn Lewis Little was born on September 8, 1876 in Salt Lake City to John S. Lewis and Emma Agnes Price. She was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church). On June 14, 1900 she married William McLaws Little (1866-1941). Their children were Gwendolyn, John, Kent, and Louis. Gwendolyn served in the juvenile court as a probation officer and court reporter. She was active in the Democratic Party and other causes. The Salt Lake Tribune reported in 1916 that:
"Owing to a conflict in meetings and a consequent shortage in attendance at the Democratic women's rally scheduled to have been held in Barratt hall last night, those in attendance at that meeting went in a body to the Salt Lake theater and joined in the big labor rally being held there.
Mrs. P. B. Clarke and Mrs. Gwendolyn L. Little were scheduled to have spoken at the Barratt hall meeting. Miss Laura Hadley, chairman of the meeting, was about to call it to order when J. R. Letcher brought an invitation from the Salt Lake theater that the women march over in a body and join in the theater meeting. The invitation was accepted and the audience of about fifty women went over to the theater."
Gwendolyn passed away unexpectedly at the Holy Cross Hospital on April 3, 1918 and is buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.
SOURCES:
"Juvenile Court Official is Dead," Salt Lake Tribune, April 4, 1918, p. 8.
"Funeral of Mrs. Little," Salt Lake Tribune, April 9, 1918, p. 20.
"Women Adjourn and Join Rally," Salt Lake Tribune, November 4, 1916, p. 18.
Harper, Ida Husted, et al., eds., History of Women Suffrage: 1900-1920, vol. 6 [LINK]