Elise Clay Bennett Smith (September 9, 1871 – 1964) was President of the Kentucky Equal Rights Association from 1915 to 1916, and served as an Executive Committee member for the

National American Woman Suffrage Association The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was an organization formed on February 18, 1890, to advocate in favor of women's suffrage in the United States. It was created by the merger of two existing organizations, the National Woma ...

. Her last name changed several times as she married three men in succession: from her birth surname of Bennett she became Smith, then Jefferson, and finally Gagliardini.

Early life, first marriage, and motherhood

Elise "Fanny" Clay Bennett was the second of six children of

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 ...

s Sarah "Sallie" Lewis Clay Bennett (daughter of

Mary Jane Warfield Clay Mary Jane Warfield Clay (January 20, 1815 – April 29, 1900) was an American socialite, suffragist, abolitionist, and political activist. An early leader in the suffrage movement in Kentucky, she began by forming a suffrage club at her home in 18 ...

) and James Bennett of

Madison County, Kentucky Madison County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Kentucky. At the 2020 census, its population was 92,701. Its county seat is Richmond. The county is named for Virginia statesman James Madison, who later became the f ...

. She was also the niece of several nationally known activists, including Mary Barr Clay,

Laura Clay Laura Clay (February 9, 1849June 29, 1941), co-founder and first president of the Kentucky Equal Rights Association, was a leader of the American women's suffrage movement. She was one of the most important suffragists in the South, fav ...

, and

Belle Harris Bennett Belle Harris Bennett (December 3, 1852 – July 20, 1922) led the struggle for and won laity rights for women in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. She was the founding president of the Woman's Missionary Council of the Southern Methodist Chur ...

. She graduated from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

. She married Thomas Jefferson Smith Jr. of

, on February 3, 1898. They had two children together: Elise Bennett Smith Wenley and Thomas Jefferson Smith Jr. By 1900, the Smiths were renting a house on Fourth Street in

Richmond, Kentucky Richmond is a home rule-class city in Madison County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 34,585 as of the 2020 census, making it the state's seventh-largest city. It is the principal city of the Richmond–Berea micropolitan area, wh ...

, while he worked as a lawyer. Elise was a housekeeper and taking care of their baby daughter, Elise (born 13 July 1899). Their son Thomas Jefferson Smith was also born in

in 1904. In 1912 the family moved to

Frankfort, Kentucky Frankfort is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city and the county seat, seat of Franklin County, Kentucky, Franklin County in the Upland Sou ...

since her husband had been appointed to a four-year post as a State Banking Commissioner which oversaw regulations of banking. As the niece of the widower Kentucky Governor

James B. McCreary James Bennett McCreary (July 8, 1838 – October 8, 1918) was an American lawyer and politician from Kentucky. He represented the state in both houses of the U.S. Congress and served as its 27th and 37th governor. Shortly after graduating ...

, she served as the hostess of gatherings at the executive mansion at Frankfort. She also served as the chairman of the promotion committee for the "Woman's Shop" at the Kentucky State Fair in Louisville in September 1915. After her first husband died, she moved with her two children (Elise was 30 and Thomas 15) to a high society neighborhood of the

St. James–Belgravia Historic District The St. James–Belgravia Historic District, within Old Louisville, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. It comprises St. James Court (north) and Belgravia Court (south). It is bordered to the north by Louisville's ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, renting an apartment at Saint James Court. She was financially stable, holding stock in the Clay's Ferry Bridge Company.

Club and suffrage activities

1912

Elise Bennett Smith, a member of the

Daughters of the American Revolution The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (often abbreviated as DAR or NSDAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-p ...

, was elected President of Federation of Women's Clubs in Kentucky. Confident of the Kentucky legislature in early 1912 passing school suffrage for Kentucky women (with educational qualification), she would start planning a campaign for full suffrage thereafter.

1913

She was appointed chairman of Kentucky Day at the National Conservation Exposition in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

. She was also invited as a delegate to the fourth American Peace Congress, held at

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

in May.

1914

Smith served as a founding member of the Woman's Forward Kentucky Movement, a campaign to support Cora Wilson Stewart's Illiteracy Commission and combat adult illiteracy in Kentucky.

1915

Still serving in the role of First Lady of Kentucky, Smith organized the Cotton Ball at the Capital Hotel in

as a fundraiser for the

Kentucky Equal Rights Association Kentucky Equal Rights Association (KERA) was the first permanent statewide women's rights organization in Kentucky. Founded in November 1888, the KERA voted in 1920 to transmute itself into thKentucky League of Women Votersto continue its many and ...

(KERA) in February. In November at the KERA convention, she was elected president.

1916

As KERA president she recruited Senator Thomas A. Combs of Lexington to introduce a full suffrage bill in the Kentucky Senate; and, working from the McClure Building in

together with former KERA president Madeline McDowell Breckinridge she managed the distribution of literature to legislators on suffrage. Smith invited suffragist Beatrice Forbes-Robertson Hale to speak on January 18, 1916, in the Kentucky Assembly. The legislature adjourned at noon to hear Hale speak and the galleries filled with women wearing sashes with "Votes for Women." Smith invited the Governor

Augustus Owsley Stanley Augustus Owsley Stanley I (May 21, 1867 – August 12, 1958) was an American politician from Kentucky. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 38th governor of Kentucky and also represented the state in both the U.S. House of Repre ...

to attend. However, the Governor actively worked against the campaign, even as the bill for woman suffrage in Kentucky passed the Senate, and the bill died. Smith was meanwhile elected state chairman of the Political Science Department of the Federation of Women's Clubs of Kentucky. Her regional and national standing was strengthened when she presented at "Dixie Night" at the

NAWSA convention in Atlantic City on September 7. She was being considered for NAWSA first auditor but was elected NAWSA corresponding secretary instead.

Carrie Chapman Catt Carrie Chapman Catt (born Carrie Clinton Lane; January 9, 1859#Fowler, Fowler, p. 3 – March 9, 1947) was an American women's suffrage leader who campaigned for the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave U.S. women t ...

chose for the new headquarters for NAWSA a historic home at 1626 Rhode Island Ave. NW owned by Mrs. Christian Hemmick; and Catt planned for Smith to live there as a member of the NAWSA Executive Board assigned to the work of local organization. Her daughter Elise joined her there as she worked at the NAWSA national headquarters. Smith and

represented Kentucky at the Susan B. Anthony memorial program at the NAWSA headquarters.

1917

Smith had stepped down as president in order to live in Washington and work for NAWSA. When she moved back to Kentucky, she stayed active in organizing the woman suffrage campaign by serving as the KERA corresponding secretary.

Leaving politics

In the summers of 1920 and 1922, she and her two children, daughter Elise and son Thomas Jr., traveled throughout Europe for the purpose of "recreation and education." On the ship over to Europe she met George David Jefferson of London; she was on her way to France to undertake "reconstruction work in the regions of France under the direction of Miss Anna Morgan, of New York." On November 25, 1920, she married George David Jefferson, a retired secretary (age 58), of Oxford, England. Jefferson was originally from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and had worked in

Ayer, Massachusetts Ayer ( ) is a New England town, town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Originally part of Groton, Massachusetts, Groton, it was incorporated February 14, 1871, and became a major commercial railroad junction. The town was home t ...

as the school secretary at

Groton School Groton School is a Private school, private, college-preparatory school, college-preparatory, day school, day and boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts, United States. It is affiliated with the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcop ...

. They were lived with his daughter Miss R.M. Jefferson in London and traveled to the U.S. often. While living in England, they also traveled to Italy in 1923 and Algeria in 1925. They had settled in Rome, Italy when they left in December 1930 to live at 380 Riverside Drive, New York, New York. George Jefferson died in England in July 1932. At the age of 66 and with her brother Warfield C. Bennett as a witness, she married an Italian investment broker, Alessandro Gagliardini, on January 15, 1938, in Manhattan, New York; and, he petitioned for his naturalization papers that day. They lived at 1212 Fifth Avenue in New York, New York. They often traveled to Italy where they would stay half the year.

Death

She died in New York on August 25, 1964.