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Sarah Sophia Chase Platt-Decker (1856 – July 7, 1912) was an American suffragist. Mostly active in
Platt-Decker married a third time in 1899, to Westbrook Schoonmaker Decker (1839-1903), a Denver judge who died in 1903. Before his death, she helped to found the Denver Women's Club, served as its first president, and established the Denver Home for Dependent Children. In 1904, she was elected the national president of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. In her four years as president, she gave hundreds of speeches persuading members to take up the cause of women's suffrage.
Denver, Colorado
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
, she also served as the national president of the Federation of Associated Women's Clubs from 1904 to 1908.
Career
Platt-Decker was born Sarah Sophia Chase in McIndoe Falls, Vermont, in 1856. Her father was a strong prohibitionist and her mother was a descendant of the Adams political family. Her first husband, Charles Bond Harris (1843-1878), died after two years of marriage; the loss of her own possessions when her husband's estate was given to other members of his family inspired her to become an activist for women's rights. In 1884, Platt-Decker moved toQueens, New York
Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
, where she worked in children and orphans' welfare.
She married James Henry Platt Jr. (1837-1894), a widower, physician, former U.S. Congressman and director of the Mineola Children's Home in 1884. They moved to Denver, Colorado
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
in 1887. The couple were active in Denver politics, and Platt-Decker led a relief effort for unemployed silver miners and spoke at a political rally during the Denver Depression of 1893. After James Platt's death in 1894, Platt-Decker became the first woman appointed to the Colorado Board of Pardons and served on the Board of Charities and Corrections from 1898 onwards.
Platt-Decker married a third time in 1899, to Westbrook Schoonmaker Decker (1839-1903), a Denver judge who died in 1903. Before his death, she helped to found the Denver Women's Club, served as its first president, and established the Denver Home for Dependent Children. In 1904, she was elected the national president of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. In her four years as president, she gave hundreds of speeches persuading members to take up the cause of women's suffrage.
Death and legacy
Platt-Decker died inSan Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
in 1912 after a bout of kidney disease while attending the General Federation of Women's Clubs convention. An obituary in a Denver newspaper described her as "Colorado's foremost woman citizen and the real leader of the suffrage movement in the United States". Another wrote that she deserved "a great share of the credit that Colorado became the first state in the Union to realize the political rights of women". Platt-Decker was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1990. The Decker Branch Library of Denver Public Libraries is named after her.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Platt-Decker, Sarah 1856 births 1912 deaths Suffragists from Colorado People from Barnet, Vermont Activists from Denver Colorado pioneers