Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920

Biography of Daisy Stephenson Peadro, 1881-1959

By Lindsay Sawka and Suzan B. Gingery, Undergraduate Students, California University of Pennsylvania

Daisy M. Stephenson was born in Parkersburg, Wood County, West Virginia, on March 9, 1881. She was the sixth of seven children born to Andrew Clark Stephenson, a farmer, and Ruth Ann (Dorsey) Stephenson, a homemaker. She had six siblings: Agnes, Anna, Lucy, George, Kenner, and Mildred. She was educated at the Miss Kinney Private School, Parkersburg Public Schools and business college. Daisy lived in Parkersburg all her life and was a member of Saint Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church.

Daisy married (John) Thomas Peadro on November 10th, 1908, in Wirt County, West Virginia. Thomas was also a Parkersburg native, born there on February 8th, 1857. Though Thomas operated the Peadro Insurance Agency in Parkersburg before their marriage, Daisy joined him in running their office in the Union Trust building in Parkersburg for the next fifty years. Daisy and Thomas resided at 941½ Juliana Street, Parkersburg, West Virginia during their married life.

Daisy's suffrage activities included several positions in the West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association. She was elected recording secretary of the WVESA in 1915, and again at their convention in 1917 where the leaders committed to both the suffrage campaign and support of the war effort. She was on the Ratification Committee of the legislature and lobbied for ratification of the 19th Amendment, which West Virginia did in March 1920.

Daisy was very involved in West Virginia Republican politics. In 1922, she was the secretary of the state GOP Convention in Huntingdon, West Virginia, and secretary of the State Republican Committee. She was the Women's Chairman of the State Republican Committee in 1923. She was the state chairman of the Women's Republican Clubs in 1924. She was a part of the Coolidge-Dawes Club. She was co-chairman of the Hoover-Curtis campaign. She was secretary of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in 1924. Daisy had the honor of being appointed to West Virginia's Capitol Building Commission in 1926 under Governor Howard M. Gore and was the only woman to serve on the Commission during the years the state capitol was being built.

Daisy was a charter member of the Parkersburg Business and Professional Women's Club and the Parkersburg Woman's Club. She was also a member of the Wood County Chapter of Colonial Dames, the James Wood Chapter of the DAR, and the Republican Women's Club. She was very active in the Red Cross and other charitable organizations. After Thomas's passing in 1943, Daisy continued to run their insurance agency and served as the District Agent of Penn Mutual Life.

Daisy died on March 11th, 1959, in the Haught Memorial Home in Parkersburg after an extended illness. Her funeral was held at the residence of her sisters Misses Anna and Mildred Stephenson at 939 Juliana Street in Parkersburg and her estate was willed to those same sisters.

Sources:

"Capitol Building Commission Members." The West Virginia Capitol: A Commemorative History, West Virginia Legislature. http://www.wvlegislature.gov/educational/capitol_history/commission.cfm

"Mrs. Peadro Dies After Long Illness." The Parkersburg News (WV), March 12, 1959, 29.

"West Virginia Women Prepare to Vote." Fighting the Long Fight: West Virginia Women and the Right to Vote, West Virginia Archives & History, 2019. http://www.wvculture.org/history/exhibitsonline/suffrage/suffrage7.html

1900 U.S. Census, Parkersburg, Wood, West Virginia, p. 5, Enumeration District 0135. Digital Images. Ancestry.com.

1920 U.S. Census, Parkersburg Ward 2, Wood, West Virginia, p.9B, Enumeration District 167. Digital Images. Ancestry.com.

1930 U.S. Census, Parkersburg, Wood, West Virginia, p. 6B, Enumeration District 0017. Digital Images. Ancestry.com.

1940 U.S. Census, Parkersburg, Wood, West Virginia, p. 4A, Enumeration District 54-24. Digital Images. Ancestry.com.

Parkersburg, West Virginia, City Directory, 1948. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995. Digital Images. Ancestry.com.

back to top