Biographical Database of Militant Woman Suffragists, 1913-1920
Biography of Maud D. (Mrs. Edward M.) Jarrett, 1888-1970
(sometimes referred to as Mrs. Norman Edward Jarrett)
By Lynn Cole, Writer, Florence, Italy
Suffragist, Chairman for Executive Committee of Arkansas, activist;
Maud D'Alma Hickman was born in Bradley County, Arkansas on February 7, 1888 to Frank Marion Hickman and Mother Frances Artelia H. Hickman (nee Osment). Maud had seven siblings: Ida, William Webster, Beulah M, Frances Jr., Edwin L. and two from her father's previous marriage to Martha Susan Hickman (nee Wilkinson), William Thomas and Jennie.
On July 24, 1906 Maud D. Hickman married Norman Edward Jarret (name and spelling as given in the marriage record) in Bradley County, Arkansas at the age of 17. Her husband was the Assistant Manager of the local Mill Store in Pennington. They lived on Mill Quarters Street, in a house which may have been provided by the mill due to his position. The Ouachita and Saline rivers provide Bradley County with a natural watershed, and with the advent of the railroad, the heavily wooded area became a boon for the lumber mills.
As an activist and young mother, Maud, attended the Women's Suffrage Day celebration on May 2, 1914 at the Old Statehouse in Little Rock. At that event she gave a five-minute speech on the steps of the statehouse. Her continued efforts in the movement garnered her the position as the first Chairman of the Arkansas branch of the National Woman's Party. The organizing event, held at the Marion Hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas on January 25, 1916, officially joined Arkansas to the efforts by Alice Paul and the NWP to secure the ratification of the 19th Amendment. On July 28, 1919, Arkansas became the 12th state to ratify the 19th Amendment.
The 1920 census recorded the couple living in Pennington, Arkansas with three daughters between the ages of 7 and 12. The couple are not evident in the 1930 Federal Manuscript Census, but in 1940 were living in Fresno, CA with their married daughter Ruth. Maud resided in California until her death on August 24, 1970 and was survived by her husband Edward, daughters Virginia, Juanita, and Ollie Ruth.
Sources:
Birth record: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:1biguqm5qisJ:mcdade.bravepages.com/i124.html+&cd=17&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=it
Cahill, B. (2015). Marion Hotel, 200 Block, West Markham Street (north side). In Arkansas Women and the Right to Vote: The Little Rock Campaigns: 1868-1920 (pp. 44-53). Little Rock, Arkansas: Butler Center for Arkansas Studies.
"Suffrage Day is Celebrated Here" Daily Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas, United States) Sunday, May 3, 1914, pg. 1
"Local Women Join National Campaign" Daily Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas, United States) Wednesday, Jan. 26, 1916, pg. 1
United States Census, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1940:
Year: 1900; Census Place: Warren, Bradley, Arkansas; Page: 1; Enumeration District: 0021; FHL microfilm: 1240051
Year: 1910; Census Place: Pennington, Bradley, Arkansas; Roll: T624_44; Page: 16A; Enumeration District: 0023; FHL microfilm: 1374057
Year: 1920; Census Place: Pennington, Bradley, Arkansas; Roll: T625_55; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 23
Year: 1940; Census Place: Fresno, Fresno, California; Roll: m-t0627-00201; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 10-26
Arkansas, County Marriages Index, 1837-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
California, Death Index, 1940-1997 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. Original data: State of California. California Death Index, 1940-1997. Sacramento, CA, USA: State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics.