Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920

Biography of Sarah Ann Robbins Raynolds (Mrs. Joshua S.), 1845-1933

By Victoria Currey and Angelina Montes, undergraduate students, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM

Sarah Ann Robbins was born on December 12, 1845, in Ohio to John and Martha Maria Marshall Robbins, both English immigrants. She married Joshua Saxon Raynolds in 1869. The couple moved to the Colorado Territory and added four children to their family. The family relocated to the Territory of New Mexico, and their last child was born around 1885. Joshua Raynolds made a career in finance, and he helped create banks in Las Vegas and Albuquerque, serving as president of several institutions. One of the Raynolds's sons would become New Mexico's Chief Justice; one of their daughters would become an opera singer.

Among many of her social endeavors, Sarah Raynolds advocated for woman suffrage. In February 1916, the Congressional Union for Equal Suffrage sent national organizer, Doris Stevens, to Santa Fe. Sarah Raynolds was selected as chair of the New Mexico branch of the Congressional Union, and the Santa Fe New Mexican reported that she "will put on business-like campaign for cause." In April 1916, the Evening Herald reported on the strategy implemented by Raynolds in the New Mexico Congressional Union: she invited a "delegation of eastern envoys" to Albuquerque on April 11. These women from the East were meant to energize the women in New Mexico in support of the federal suffrage efforts. In February 1917, Albuquerque women's groups, including the Congressional Union led by Raynolds, endorsed a bill that would give women the right to vote on amendments proposed for the state's constitution. These legislative efforts were thwarted, but New Mexico ratified the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.

By 1920, Sarah and Joshua Raynolds had retired to Coconut Grove, Florida. Joshua S. Raynolds died on November 2, 1932, in Plandome, New York, while visiting their daughter. Sarah Robbins Raynolds died on November 26, 1933, also at her daughter's in New York. Both were buried in West Lawn Cemetery in Canton, Ohio.

SOURCES:

"435 National Lawmaker-Politicians Hard to Control, Suffrage Leader Finds; Telling Blows for Votes for Women." Santa Fe New Mexican. February 29, 1916, p.2. Newspapers.com.

Find a Grave. Joshua Saxton Raynolds. Accessed March 8, 2019. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/109019392/joshua-saxton-raynolds.

Find a Grave. Sarah Ann Robbins Raynolds. Accessed March 8, 2019. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/109019821/sarah-ann-raynolds.

Harper, Ida Husted, ed. "New Mexico." Chapter XXX in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 6: 1900-1920. New York: National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1922, 434-439. [LINK]

Inventory of the Raynolds Family Papers, 1886-1918. Center for Southwest Research, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N. Mex. Available online through the Rocky Mountain Online Archive. https://rmoa.unm.edu

"Joshua S. Raynolds, Retired Banker, Dead." New York Times. November 4, 1932, p. 4. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.

"Mrs. George Wheeler Rounds Up 313 New Members of the Red Cross in Just Twelve Days; To Double Number." Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N. Mex.). March 18, 1917, City ed., Society Section, p.2. Newspapers.com.

"Prominent Women of State To Be at Suffrage Rally This Evening." Santa Fe New Mexican. Feburary 28, 1916, p.9. Newspapers.com.

Steinberg, David. "Library Came at a Price." Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N. Mex.). April 8, 2006, p.E2. Newspapers.com.

United States Census 1850, 1860, s.v. "Sarah Ann Robbins, Canton, Ohio." HeritageQuest.

United States Census 1870, s.v. "Sarah Raynolds, Central City, Colo." HeritageQuest.

United States Census 1880, s.v. "Sarah Raynolds, Georgetown, Colo." HeritageQuest.

United States Census 1900, s.v. "Sarah Raynolds, Las Vegas, N. Mex." HeritageQuest.

United States Census 1920, s.v. "Sarah Raynolds, Coconut Grove, Fla." HeritageQuest.

"Widow of Bank Pioneer of the Southwest Dies." Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N. Mex.). November 27, 1933, p.1. Newspapers.com.

"Woman Suffrage Special Coming to City Monday." Evening Herald (Albuquerque, N. Mex.). April 10, 1916, p.6. Newspapers.com.

"Women Urge Passage of Bill Giving Them Vote on Amendments." Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N. Mex.). February 25, 1917, p.6. Newspapers.com.

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