Adeline Morrison Swain

{{Infobox person

| name = Adeline Morrison Swain

| image = ADELINE MORRISON SWAIN A woman of the century (page 711 crop).jpg

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| birth_date = {{birth date|1820|5|25|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Bath, New Hampshire

| death_date = {{death date and age|1899|2|3|1820|5|25|mf=y}}

| death_place =

| resting_place = Fort Dodge, Iowa

| nationality = American

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| spouse = {{marriage|James Swain|1846|1878|end= died in}}

}}

Adeline Morrison Swain (1820-1899) was an American writer, politician and suffragist. She was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 2000.

Life

Swain née Morrison was born on May 25, 1820, in Bath, New Hampshire. After completing her education she took up teaching in Vermont at the age of 16. There, she taught drawing, painting, and modern languages. In 1846 she married James Swain and the couple settled in Fort Dodge, Iowa, in 1858.{{cite web |title=Swain, Adeline Morrison |url=http://uipress.lib.uiowa.edu/bdi/DetailsPage.aspx?id=372 |website=The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa |publisher=The University of Iowa |accessdate=10 October 2019}} In Fort Dodge she organized French, English, music, botany, and art classes specifically for young women.{{cite web |title=Adeline Morrison Swain |url=https://humanrights.iowa.gov/adeline-morrison-swain |website=Iowa Department of Human Rights |accessdate=10 October 2019}}

Swain's main interests lay in public affairs and social reforms rather than the arts and sciences, with a particular focus on women's rights.{{Cite web |title=Details Page - The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa - The University of Iowa Libraries |url=https://uipress.lib.uiowa.edu/bdi/DetailsPage.aspx?id=372 |access-date=2025-02-01 |website=uipress.lib.uiowa.edu}} In the early 1870s the couple built a large Victorian house in Fort Dodge. The house was grander than their income allowed and they rented out rooms to boarders and also made the house available for events.

Swain was an advocate for women's right to vote and handed in a ballot for several years despite it not ever being counted.{{Cite book |last=Stanton |first=Elizabeth Cady |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I4oEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=History of Woman Suffrage |last2=Anthony |first2=Susan Brownell |last3=Gage |first3=Matilda Joslyn |date=1886 |publisher=Susan B. Anthony |language=en}} In 1869, Swain organized the first woman suffrage meeting in Fort Dodge and Martha H. Brinkerhoff of Missouri delivered a lecture to the community.{{Cite book |last=Noun |first=Louise R. |url=https://archive.org/details/strongmindedwome0000noun_o8g0/mode/2up?q=Fort+Dodge |title=Strong-minded women; the emergence of the woman-suffrage movement in Iowa |date=1969 |publisher=Ames] : Iowa State University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-8138-1602-9}} In June 1871, and on two other occasions, Susan B. Anthony arrived in Fort Dodge to advocate for women's rights. Swain received Anthony as her guest in what was noted in her diary as a "bedbuggy room". Jane Swisshelm stayed with Swain in 1874. But by 1879 they sold the house to Webb Vincent. In 1977 the Swain-Vincent House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Vincent House.{{cite web |title=Swain-Vincent House, Fort Dodge City, Webster County, Fort Dodge, IA, 50501 |url=https://www.livingplaces.com/IA/Webster_County/Fort_Dodge_City/Swain-Vincent_House.html |website=LivingPlaces.com |accessdate=10 October 2019}}

Swain was appointed as a correspondent of the Entomological Commission of the U.S. Department of Agriculture which led her, in 1877, to write a report documenting the devastation of crops brought on by the Colorado grasshopper. She subsequently became a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and became the first woman to present a paper at their national convention.

Swain was active in politics where she was affiliated with the Greenback Party.{{cite web |title=Adeline Morrison Swain |url=http://www.herhatwasinthering.org/biography.php?id=6930 |website=Her Hat Was In The Ring |accessdate=11 October 2019 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} In 1883 Swain ran for Iowa Superintendent of Public Instruction. Though she lost, she was the first woman to run for statewide public office in Iowa and gained nearly 27,000 votes.{{cite web |title=Old Fort Dodge: The 19th Amendment |url=https://www.messengernews.net/life/local-lifestyle/2019/04/old-fort-dodge-the-19th-amendment/ |website=Messenger News |accessdate=11 October 2019}} By 1884, Swain was an accredited delegate of the Indianapolis National Greenback convention.

Swain died on February 3, 1899, in Illinois and was buried in Fort Dodge.

Legacy

Swain was included in the 1893 publication A Woman of the Century.{{cite book |last1=Willard |first1=Frances |last2=Livermore |first2=Mary |title=Woman of the Century |date=1893 |publisher=Moulton |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Woman_of_the_Century/Adeline_Morrison_Swain}} She was memorialized in the "Annals of Iowa, Vol. 4, No. 1 (1899)" and was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 2000.