Lydia Louisa Neal Dennett (August 17, 1798 - June 4, 1881) was an

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

and

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 v ...

from

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metro ...

. Her home was a station on the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

and Dennett helped Ellen Craft escape to England. Later, Dennett became involved in

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to gran ...

, serving as vice president of the executive committee of the

American Woman Suffrage Association The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) was a single-issue national organization formed in 1869 to work for women's suffrage in the United States. The AWSA lobbied state governments to enact laws granting or expanding women's right to vote ...

and leading Maine's first petition campaign for this cause.

Biography

Lydia Neal Dennett House 133 Spring Street Portland Maine

Lydia Louisa Neal Dennett was born in

Eliot, Maine Eliot is a town in York County, Maine, United States. Originally settled in 1623, it was formerly a part of Kittery, Maine, to its east. After Kittery, it is the next most southern town in the state of Maine, lying on the Piscataqua River across f ...

on August 17, 1798 and was the

first cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

John Neal John Neal may refer to: * John Neal (writer) (1793–1876), American writer, critic, and activist * John R. Neal (1836–1889), American politician * John Randolph Neal Jr. (1876–1959), American lawyer * John Neal (politician) (1889–1962), Br ...

. She was educated by

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

. Lydia married Oliver Dennett and moved to

. The Dennett's home on Spring Street was a station on the

. The couple kept a "closed carriage with a fine pair of horses" provided by the antislavery society to help aid escaped slaves reach safety. Lydia Dennett and

, Elizabeth Widgery Thomas, intervened in an anti-slavery

riot A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property target ...

that broke out in 1840s at a Portland Female Anti-Slavery Society meeting. Dennett and Thomas helped lecturer, Stephen S. Foster, to safety during the riot. Dennett also helped Ellen Craft, an escaped slave, and her husband flee to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. In 1852, Oliver Dennett died. Lydia Dennett continued her work, especially for

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countr ...

. Dennett was on the executive committee of the

(AWSA) in 1869. The following year she served as vice president of the Woman's Suffrage Bazar in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

. By 1872, Dennett was selected to serve as vice president of the AWSA's executive committee. That same year, she led the first petition campaign for women's suffrage in Maine, as well as Maine's first petition campaign for indigenous suffrage. Lydia Dennett died on June 4, 1881, and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Portland.

References

Sources

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External links

Find A Grave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dennett, Lydia Neal 1798 births 1881 deaths Activists from Portland, Maine American suffragists Burials at Evergreen Cemetery (Portland, Maine) People from Eliot, Maine Underground Railroad people Underground Railroad in Maine Women civil rights activists