Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920
Biography of Anna Virginia Funk Huey, 1893-1973
By Kalya Herring, undergraduate student, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
Anna Virginia Funk was born in Illinois on June 15, 1893, to actor Charles Thurber Watrous and suffragist Marie Antoinette (Leland). Watrous died on December 10, 1893, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Antoinette Funk married Issac Lincoln Funk shortly thereafter. Antoinette Funk pursued a law degree and left her children, Anna and Rey, to live with relatives, the Keaches. Sometime after 1910, Anna Funk married Howard Huey, a manager at the Toltec Oil Company in Pennsylvania, and the couple moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1916.
Anna Huey, sometimes Hughey, followed her mother's activism into the suffrage movement. On February 15, 1917, Mrs. Huey gave a speech about Antoinette Funk's important suffrage work in Illinois and of their success with attaining full suffrage. This speech inspired local legislators and suffrage workers to continue working for the cause. Huey became the chair of the New Mexico state suffrage legislative committee and attended many functions hosted by prominent suffrage worker, Amanda "Deane" Lindsey, to forward the suffrage cause. On March 10, 1917, Huey attended a suffrage meeting with the governor of New Mexico, a couple of legislators, and some of her fellow suffragists, a meeting featured prominently in papers across the state.
During World War I, Huey took on voluntary war work. As she did with suffrage, she followed her mother's activism. Antionette Funk was the national vice chair of the Women's Liberty Loan Committee, and Anna Huey became chair of the Woman's Liberty Loan Committee of New Mexico. This organization raised money, mostly through war bonds, for the United States war effort. Besides fundraising, Huey volunteered as a Red Cross nurse, accompanying her husband to France, where he drove an ambulance donated to the Red Cross by his father.
After the war, Anna Huey was active in the League of Women Voters. She and husband, Howard Huey, also participated in the local theater scene. Anna Huey became the chair of the executive committee of the Drama League of the Woman's Club. In 1921, the executive committee also included fellow suffragists Kate Hall, Ina Cassidy, Katie Laughlin, and Jean Happ. The Drama League presented several shows a year, which were covered in the local papers.
For the rest of her life, Anna Huey traveled around the country and lived in several different places. She lived in Manhattan in 1930, and she returned to Chicago by 1936. By 1940, her mother had begun living with her, and by 1942, they had moved in San Diego, California. Antoinette Funk died there on March 27 of that year. On January 5, 1946, Howard Huey also died there. Far outliving her husband, Anna V. Huey died in San Diego on August 26, 1973, at the age of 80. Her final resting place is at Mount Hope Cemetery in San Diego.
SOURCES:
"Address and Tea Thursday Afternoon." Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N. Mex.). January 6, 1918, p.10. Newspapers.com.
BillionGraves. Anna V. Huey. Accessed December 6, 2018. https://billiongraves.com/grave/Anna-V-Huey/12898638.
"Early Illinois Woman Lawyer Dies on Coast." Decatur Daily Review (Decatur, Ill.). March 28, 1942, p.19. Newspapers.com.
Find a Grave. Charles T. Watrous. Accessed December 11, 2018. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/138354969/charles-t_-watrous.
Funk, Kathryn. "A Woman's Place." IWU Magazine. Spring 2012. https://www.iwu.edu/magazine/2012/spring/antoinette-funk.html.
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, 434-39. [LINK]
"It Was a Sorry Day When the Suffrage Bill Lost, But a Glad Day Too Because It Lost by So Little; Keep Trying." Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N. Mex.). March 11, 1917, Society Section, p.2. Newspapers.com.
"Leaves Estate to Wife." Santa Fe New Mexican. May 6, 1946, p.2. Newspapers.com.
"People Going and Coming in Old Santa Fe. Santa Fe New Mexican. November 5, 1936, p.8. Newspapers.com.
"Pithy News Items Gathered from All Over New Mexico." Clayton News (Clayton, N. Mex.). March 16, 1918, p.10. Newspapers.com.
"Potatoes, Cows, Silos and Farm Problems Are Up." Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N. Mex.). January 15, 1918, p.5. Newspapers.com.
"Santa Fe Drama League Achieves Triumph in Presenting 'Grumpy'; Exhibit of New Davey Paintings." Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N. Mex.). February 6, 1921, Section 2, p.4. Newspapers.com.
"Santa Fe Society Notes: Drama League Meeting." Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N. Mex.). September 21, 1918, Section 2, p.4. Newspapers.com.
"Santa Fe Women Keep Suffrage Question Hot." Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N. Mex.). February 16, 1917, Section 2, p.4. Newspapers.com.
"Santa Fean to Drive Ambulance at Front." Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N. Mex.). June 2, 1917, p.2. Newspapers.com.
United States Census 1900, s.v. "Annie V. Funk, Pontiac, Ill." HeritageQuest.
United States Census 1930, s.v. "Anna V. Huey, Manhattan." HeritageQuest.
United States Census 1940, s.v. "Anna V. Huen [Funk], Chicago." HeritageQuest.