Frances Sevilla Cleveland Axtell (June 12, 1866 – May 27, 1953) was an American

clubwoman The club movement is an American women's social movement that started in the mid-19th century and spread throughout the United States. It established the idea that women had a moral duty and responsibility to transform public policy. While wome ...

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vo ...

, politician, and federal official. She was one of the first female legislators in the United States of America, elected to the

Washington House of Representatives The Washington House of Representatives is the lower house of the Washington State Legislature, and along with the Washington State Senate makes up the legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is composed of 98 Representatives from 49 ...

in 1912. She was an appointed member of the Federal Employees' Compensation Commission during the

Wilson administration Woodrow Wilson served as the 28th president of the United States from March 4, 1913, to March 4, 1921. A History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat and former governor of New Jersey, Wilson took office after winning the 1912 Uni ...

Early life and education

Cleveland was born in

Sterling, Illinois Sterling is a city in Whiteside County, Illinois, United States, along the Rock River. The population was 14,782 at the 2020 census, down from 15,370 in 2010. Formerly nicknamed "Hardware Capital of the World", the city has long been associate ...

, the daughter of William A. Cleveland and Mary Humaston Cleveland. Her father was a farmer and stock-raiser. Axtell earned a bachelor's degree ( Ph.B.) in 1889 and a master's degree in 1892, both at

DePauw University DePauw University ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Greencastle, Indiana, United States. It was founded in 1837 as Indiana Asbury College and changed its name to DePauw University in 1884. The college has a Methodist heritage and was ...

in Indiana, where she was a member of

Kappa Alpha Theta Kappa Alpha Theta (), commonly referred to simply as Theta, is an international Fraternities and sororities, sorority founded on January 27, 1870, at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. It was the first Greek-letter fraternity established ...

Career

Cleveland taught Latin and mathematics at Northwest Normal School as a young woman. She moved to

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the county seat of Whatcom County, Washington, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It lies south of the Canada–United States border, U.S.–Canada border, between Vancouver, British Columbia, ...

, then known as New Whatcom, with her husband and two young daughters in 1894. She was the first president of the New Whatcom Ladies Cooperative Society, and a founding member of the city's Aftermath Club. She unsuccessfully ran for school district district in Bellingham in 1897, and worked for women's suffrage in Washington State. Running on the Republican ticket, with poet

Ella Rhoads Higginson Ella Rhoads Higginson ( – December 27, 1940) was an American author of award-winning fiction, poetry, and essays characteristically set in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. She was the author of 2 collections of short stories, ...

as her campaign manager, Axtell was elected to the 54th District of the

representing Bellingham in 1912. Axtell was an advocate for a

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. List of countries by minimum wage, Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation b ...

, the banning of

child labor Child labour is the exploitation of children through any form of work that interferes with their ability to attend regular school, or is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such exploitation is prohibited by legislation w ...

workers' compensation Workers' compensation or workers' comp is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her emp ...

, and

pensions A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a "defined benefit plan", wher ...

for the elderly, disabled, and widows. She also helped change aspects of criminal law, especially violent assault."Frances C. Axtell"
''Celebrating 100 Years of Women in the Legislature''. Axtell nearly became a U.S. senator in 1916, losing by about three thousand votes. Her relationship with her brother Frederick, who worked in the administration of President

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices. ...

, coupled with the publicity surrounding her 1916 attempt as a senator, brought her to the attention of President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

. On January 5, 1917, President Wilson appointed her to the Federal Employees' Compensation Commission. She was one of the highest ranked women in the Wilson administration. She served as chair of the Commission in 1918 to 1921. In 1917, she spoke at the national meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). After her term of office in Washington, D.C., ended, Axtell returned to Washington State, and ran for another Senate seat in 1922, again without success. From about 1930 to 1936, she was Supervisor of Mothers' Pensions and a probation officer in Bellingham. She moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

in 1944, where she continued active in clubs and churchwork.

Personal life and legacy

Cleveland married physician William Henry Axtell in 1891. The couple had two daughters, Ruth Axtell (née Burnett), born 1892, and Helen "Grace" Frances Axtell, born 1901. She died on May 27, 1953, in Seattle. Her house in Bellingham, known as the Axtell House, was divided into apartments in her later years, and is considered a historic site in the city.

References

External links

"Minimum Wage Board (April 17, 1918)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Axtell, Frances Cleveland 1866 births 1953 deaths Women in Washington (state) politics DePauw University alumni 19th-century American women politicians 19th-century Washington (state) politicians 20th-century American women politicians History of women in Washington (state) People from Sterling, Illinois Women state legislators in Washington (state) 20th-century members of the Washington State Legislature