Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920

Biography of Anna R. (Mrs. Frank M.) Hall, 1857-1928

By Thomas Dublin, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Binghamton University

Anna Reid was born in September 1857 in Nebraska Territory to Ephraim and Mary Reid. According to the 1860 census for Peru, Nebraska, Anna was the fourth-born among five children between 8 and 1 and Ephraim was a farmer. Anna married Frank M. Hall, a lawyer, in 1883 and the 1900 census found the couple residing in ward 5 of Lincoln, Nebraska, with no children, but two live-in servants. The couple continued to live in Lincoln in 1910 and 1920, owning their home, free of a mortgage. Frank maintained his legal practice and the couple, in their sixties in 1920, had no children. Frank and Anna both died in Lincoln in 1928.

Anna Reid Hall had a very active intellectual and social life in Lincoln. She belonged to several art clubs and gave numerous talks and slide presentations on art themes. She served for a period as president of the Young Women's Christian Association of Nebraska. She also served as president of the Woman's Club of Lincoln and attended statewide meetings of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. Between 1913 and 1917, numerous newspaper accounts spoke to Hall's active schedule of suffrage speeches. She served as chairman of the Lancaster county campaign committee in 1913 and reported at a statewide meeting in November 1913 on a woman suffrage petition campaign that had garnered 1,786 signatures in the city and county. At this meeting, "Mrs. Hall declared that she had never worked so hard in her life for a cause as she had for woman suffrage." She noted as well "much gratification that suffragists obtained great encouragement and backing from the leading professional and business men of Lincoln." The 1914 referendum on woman suffrage was defeated by 10,000 of the 191,000 votes cast. Suffrage supporters next got to speak at hearings organized by the state legislature in February 1917, when Mrs. Hall testified before state senators. The state legislature approved the bill, granting Nebraska women the vote in municipal and presidential elections. The state legislature extended the ballot for women when it ratified the 19th Amendment in August 1919 and Nebraska women first voted in a presidential election in November 1920.

Sources:

Federal Manuscript Censuses of Nebraska, 1860, Ephraim Reed household; Lincoln, 1880, Frank M. Hall; Lincoln, 1900-1920, Frank M. and Anna E. Hall households. Accessed via Ancestry Library Edition.

Find-a-Grave entry for Anna Elizabeth Reid Hall, 22 Nov. 1928. Accessed via Ancestry Library Edition.

"Annual Convention. Young Women's Christian Associations of Nebraska," Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln, NE), 28 October 1899, p. 6.

"Not Going Into Politics," Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln, NE), 7 Nov. 1913, p. 3.

"Suffragists Announce List of Meetings," Lincoln Journal Star, 22 Oct. 1914, p. 10.

"Mrs. F.M. Hall Is Made President," Lincoln Star, 28 March 1916, p. 8.

"Among the Clubs," Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln, NE), 8 Oct. 1916, p. 23.

"Waived Away Their Rights," Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln, NE), 9 Feb. 1917, p. 8.

Ida Husted Harper, et al., eds., History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 6 (1922) [LINK]

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