Mary Birdsall
Mary B. Birdsall (née Thistlethwaite; born 1828, Chester, Pennsylvania – died February 1, 1894, Philadelphia) was an American suffragette, temperance worker, and journalist.
[10] Her Richmond home, a model of progressive architecture as espoused by Catherine Beecher, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
[2] The year after their marriage, the Birdsalls moved briefly to Chester, Clinton County, Ohio, where Thomas's family lived.
[13] Thomas Birdsall also partnered with the Thistlethwaite family in constructing a three-story commercial building in downtown Richmond at the corner of Main and Front Streets.
Their eldest son, Alvin T. Birdsall, was born there in 1849 and died at age 25 in Brooklyn, New York, where he was working as a dry-goods salesman.
[20] Mattie, who returned to Indiana, remained close to her mother-in-law, even making extended visits to Birdsall in Philadelphia in the 1880s.
Birdsall encouraged her female readers to support women-owned newspapers, such as The Genius of Liberty, published by Elizabeth A. Aldrich in Cincinnati.
Birdsall editorialized and published stories urging women to improve their minds and find challenging professions, which she believed would contribute to the betterment of their families, rather than detracting from their roles as wives and mothers.
[3][30][31] About 1848, the newly formed women's temperance society in Seneca Falls, New York, decided they wish to promote their cause with a local newspaper of their own device.
Bloomer visited Richmond, Indiana, on an extension of that trip, giving her ample opportunity to meet Birdsall.
[37] Like many Quakers, the Birdsalls were active in a number of social reform movements including temperance, suffrage, and abolition.
[41] The attendees at the second convention discussed and passed more than a dozen resolutions pertaining to "elevating" women to equal status with men.
[6] Birdsall served as one of a group of vice presidents at the fourth National Women's Rights Convention that was held in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1853.
[43] In 1858, the convention returned to Richmond, largely due to Birdsall's efforts, and it was during this meeting that members of the group composed a petition to the Indiana General Assembly advocating women's rights.
The Speaker of the House initially had difficulty moving through the large crowd, which included many women, to convene the meeting and many legislators had to stand during the presentation.
More than one thousand individuals signed the petition, including women residents and legal male voters of Wayne County.
Following Cook's brief introductions, Thomas, who noted the large, boisterous crowd, urged the assembly to take the forthcoming presentation seriously before reading the petition aloud.
No known copy of Birdsall's address exists, but detailed information about the presentation was published in the February 1859 issue of The Lily.
[53] She also pointed out that any "inferior" female characteristics were actually caused by lack of opportunity for women in education and employment, not the reason for it, and the only way to ensure self-protection was through the right to vote.
After Cook finished her presentation, the joint session resolved into a committee of the whole to discuss adding the petition to the legislative agenda, after which the meeting was adjourned and members of the Indiana Senate retired to their own chamber.
Although there had been some measure of decorum throughout the proceedings, once concluded, the men began loudly ridiculing the entire notion of women's rights.
[36] Trustees of the Whitewater Monthly Meeting, Religious Society of Friends, acquired the house in 1927 and named it Lauramoore for the previous owner.
[59] Birdsall continued her community service activities through a committee of women who formed the Union Relief Association.
This organization was founded to aid the destitute by finding them employment, and they established a home for orphans and other needy children.
When the Whitewater Monthly Meeting inquired about her absence in the summer of 1872, she reported that she no longer felt connected with the religion.
[52][62] Thomas Birdsall and their son, William, retained their membership and formally requested a transfer to a meeting in Philadelphia in 1886.
[citation needed] Mary Birdsall died suddenly in Philadelphia on February 1, 1894; her remains were returned for burial in Richmond.
[66] Thomas Birdsall spent his later years in a Society of Friends old-age home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
