Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1876-1920
Biography of Cynthia Diana Gallup, 1831-1919
By Jake Noren, Student, University of California San Diego
Cynthia Diana Smith was born on September 7, 1831 in British Canada to Bandana Benjamin Smith and Rosalinda Comings, and arrived in the United States in 1837. Her parents, however, were born in Vermont and most likely moved back with their daughter which is most likely the reason she spent most of her life moving through Vermont and why her parents died in Vermont. She married Nelson Gallup, a Vermont sawmill overseer, on November 1, 1852, and had three children, Julia, Lillian, and Bandana, born in 1853, 1859, and 1860 respectively. They moved around quite a bit after their marriage in Vermont, listing different residences in each of the census records from 1860 to 1910. Her listed occupation in these records is often "Keeping House" or no occupation at all, which reflects women's expected role in the era as mothers and caretakers. She became a widow in 1896 at the age of 65.
Cynthia Gallup was active as a suffragist mostly at the local level, representing her local Barton Landing Committee at state meetings of the Vermont Women's Suffrage Association from 1891 to 1894. Her husband Nelson was also among those advocating for women's suffrage, being memorialized in the minutes of the annual state meeting in 1897. She even held an executive position in the VWSA. Furthermore, Gallup was a lead organizer of an 1890 petition to the Vermont State Legislature asking for women's suffrage for municipal elections, after a municipal elections bill was defeated for a third time.
Gallup had an influence in regard to her role in imbuing the importance of suffrage work to her children., This could be seen when her daughter, Lillian, donated to the VWSA in 1906. It seems that Gallup gave up much active suffrage work after the death of her husband in 1896. Cynthia Gallup passed away on July 7, 1919, about a month after the passage of the 19th Amendment in the US Congress.
Sources:
"Chapter LXVII: Vermont." History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. 6: 1900-1920, edited by Ida Husted Harper. New York, NY: National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1922, pp. 957. [LINK]
Ancestry.com. "1860 United States Federal Census." Ancestry. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. https://www.ancestry.com/. Year: 1860; Census Place: Swanton, Franklin, Vermont; Page: 691
Ancestry.com. "1870 United States Federal Census." Ancestry. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. https://www.ancestry.com/. Year: 1870; Census Place: Barton, Orleans, Vermont; Roll: M593_1623; Page: 26B
Ancestry.com. "1880 United States Federal Census." Ancestry. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. https://www.ancestry.com/. Year: 1880; Census Place: Brownington, Orleans, Vermont; Roll: 1346; Page: 317A; Enumeration District: 151
Ancestry.com. "1900 United States Federal Census." Ancestry. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. https://www.ancestry.com/. Year: 1900; Census Place: Barton, Orleans, Vermont; Page: 11; Enumeration District: 0157; FHL microfilm: 1241693
Ancestry.com. "1910 United States Federal Census." Ancestry. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. https://www.ancestry.com/. Year: 1910; Census Place: Brattleboro, Windham, Vermont; Roll: T624_1618; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 0246; FHL microfilm: 1375631
"Cynthia D. Smith Gallup (1831-1919)." Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6314271/cynthia-d.-gallup
"Minutes of the Eighth Annual Meeting of Vermont Woman's Suffrage Association, Held in Baptist Church, Sutton, Vermont, Thursday Evening and Friday, June 9 and 10, 1892." Accessed Online via The University of Vermont Libraries Digital Collections.
"Minutes of the Ninth Annual Meeting of Vermont Woman's Suffrage Association, Held in the Methodist Episcopal Church, Hardwick, Vermont, Tuesday Evening and Wednesday, June 27 and 28, 1893." Accessed Online via The University of Vermont Libraries Digital Collections.
"Minutes of the Seventh Annual Meeting of Vermont Woman's Suffrage Association. Held in Methodist Chapel, Lyndonville, Vermont, Thursday Evening and Friday, January 29 and 30, 1891." Accessed Online via The University of Vermont Libraries Digital Collections.
"Minutes of the Tenth Annual Meeting of The Vermont Woman's Suffrage Association, Held in the Congregational Church, Barton, Vermont, Thursday Evening and Friday, June 28 and 29, 1894." Accessed Online via The University of Vermont Libraries Digital Collections.
"Minutes of the Thirteenth Annual Meeting of The Vermont Woman's Suffrage Association Held at Burlington, Vt., June 14 and 15, 1897." Accessed Online via The University of Vermont Libraries Digital Collections.
"Twenty-Second Annual Report of Vermont Woman's Suffrage Association and Minutes of the Annual Convention Held at Brattleboro, Vermont, June Six and Seven, 1906." Accessed Online via The University of Vermont Libraries Digital Collections.
"Legislature of Vermont," The Daily Journal (Montpelier, VT), 20 October 1890, p. 1. Newpapers.com. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/402663565/