Mary Seymour Howell

Mary Catherine Seymour Howell (August 29, 1844 – February 18, 1913) was a leader, lecturer, and activist for women's suffrage in the United States.

She was the only daughter of Norman and Frances Metcalf Seymour, who were prominent members of the local community.

In the 1890s, she spoke in Kansas and the Dakotas with her colleague, the national suffrage advocate Susan B. Anthony, who was from Rochester, New York.

[4][8] The American Society for Psychical Research (1913) published this "ACCOUNT OF AN APPARITION WHICH APPEARED TO MARY SEYMOUR HOWELL IN 1871":—[9] In the year 1865 I had a lover by the name of John A. Broadhead.

In 1868, I married George R. Howell, a presbyterian minister who knew all about my affection for John Broadhead.

Suddenly, I felt a pressure against my knee and limb as though some one had come very close to me and I looked up expecting to see one of my brothers but to my great surprise I saw my old lover, John Broadhead, standing there beside me.

I noticed every detail of his dress and can even now distinctly remember the black and white necktie which he wore.

Then lifting his left hand he pointed to a newspaper which lay at the other end of the sofa about three feet away from me, and said "You will find my death in that paper."

I was not at all afraid, but felt completely overcome by the shock of suddenly learning that he was dead for much as I loved my husband, I had never gotten over my old feeling for John Broadhead; and if it had not been for the baby in my arms I think I should have fainted away.

As it was, I could not speak or call my husband, but I managed to hitch along the sofa till I could reach the paper to which he had pointed.

I tore it open and there, among the death notices I found this paragraph:— "Died in Burlington, Iowa, March 22nd, 1871, John A. Broadhead of this city in the 34th year of his age."