Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1913-1920
Biography of Charlotte A. Baldridge, 1850-1923
Jessica Tyler, undergraduate student, SUNY Oneonta
Charlotte Ann Strachan was born in March 1850 in New York State. Though little information is available about her family, it is known that she was of Irish and American descent. In 1880, Charlotte married Alexander A. Baldridge, also born in 1850. Together they had one daughter, Anna, born in 1881. The family lived with Charlotte's sister, Mary J. Strachan, and her aunt, Charlotte B. McCullough, in Geneva, Ontario County, New York.
Charlotte Baldridge belonged to the Geneva Political Equality Club. In 1906, she was elected as the director of this club, and in 1907 she was elected president. As the president of the Geneva Political Equality Club, she was active in the suffrage movement in New York. In 1907, Baldridge gave an address of welcome to the 100 Delegates at the New York State Women's Suffrage Association Convention, held in Geneva. In this address, she spoke of the importance of remaining inspired and continuing to fight for women's rights, and she spoke about the importance of wage equality between women and men, particularly for teachers. In 1911, Charlotte A. Baldridge helped to lead a civics class organized by the Geneva Political Equality Club. The class informed women about parliamentary practice and the functions of government.
In 1923, her husband Alexander passed away and she inherited his $5,000 estate. She died later that year.
Sources:
"Governor B. B. Odell to Mrs. Charlotte A. Baldridge, Geneva Political Equality Club Corresponding Secretary." B. B. Odell to Mrs. Charlotte A. Baldridge. 1901. Geneva, New York;
"100 Delegates at New York State Woman Suffrage Association Convention," (Geneva, NY), October 15, 1907;
"Officers Were Elected. Organization Completed by the Geneva Humane Society," Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), February 10, 1906; "Surrogate Court - Baldridge Estate," Daily Messenger (Canandaigua, New York), April 23, 1923; "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSLM-4Q6, accessed February 7, 2017), Charlotte A. Baldridge in household of Alexander Baldridge, Geneva city Ward 3, Ontario, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 61, sheet 6B, family 133, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,138; "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVG1-ST1R : 11 July 2016); Charlotte Ann Strachan Baldridge, Burial, Geneva, Ontario, New York, United States of America, Glenwood Cemetery; citing record ID 131324824, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com. Published October 15-18 1907;
Miller NAWSA Suffrage Scrapbooks, 1897-1911; Scrapbook 6; page 3, Library of Congress;
Geneva, New York, before January 13, 1911, Miller NAWSA Suffrage Scrapbooks, 1897-1911; Scrapbook 9; page 30, Library of Congress.