Eliza Wright Osborne
{{Short description|American suffragist and feminist (1829-1911)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Eliza Wright Osborne
| image = File:HOWS V4 D0921 Eliza Wright Osborne.png
| caption = Osborne in 1902
| birth_name = Eliza Wright
| birth_date = {{birth date|1829|09|03}}
| birth_place = Aurora, Erie County, New York, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1911|07|19|1829|09|03}}
| death_place = Auburn, New York, U.S.
| occupation = Suffragist and women's rights activist
| spouse = David Munson Osborne (m. 1851)
| children = 4
| parents = Martha Coffin Wright and David Wright
| relations = Lucretia Mott (aunt)
}}
Eliza Osborne ({{nee}} Wright; September 3, 1829 – July 19, 1911) was an American suffragist and feminist, who became vice president of the New York Woman Suffrage Association. [https://documents.alexanderstreet.com/d/1010113822 Biographical Sketch of Eliza Wright Osborne | Alexander Street Documents. (n.d.)]. Accessed February 24, 2024.Wellman, Judith. [https://books.google.com/books?id=IV6rt59asF8C The Road to Seneca Falls: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the First Women's Rights Convention], University of Illinois Press, 2004; {{ISBN|0-252-02904-6}}
The niece and daughter, respectively, of prominent women's rights activists Lucretia Mott and Martha Coffin Wright, she was also a colleague of suffragists Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw,[https://www.newspapers.com/image/543823807/?terms=%22Eliza%20Wright%20Osborne%22&match=1 Eliza Wright Osborne, Suffragist, Is Dead]". Brooklyn, New York: The Standard Union, July 19, 1911, p. 2 (subscription required). and was credited by her contemporaries with having helped to expand the women's suffrage movement across the nation and with the founding of the Women's Education and Industrial Union in Auburn, New York.[https://www.newspapers.com/image/20497834/?terms=%22Eliza%20Wright%20Osborne%22&match=1 "Tribute to Suffrage Leader: Memorial Services at Auburn, N.Y., to the late Eliza Wright Osborne"]. New York, New York: The New York Times, October 16, 1911, p. 9 (subscription required).
Formative years and family
Born as Eliza Wright in Aurora, Erie County, New York on September 3, 1829,{{Cite web |title=Living in Aurora |url=https://www.niche.com/places-to-live/aurora-erie-ny/ |access-date=2023-04-13 |website=Niche |language=en}} Eliza Wright Osborne was a daughter of David Wright and Martha Coffin Wright and the eldest sister of Tallman, Ellen, William, and Francis Wright. In 1848, her mother and her maternal aunt, Lucretia Mott, played key roles in organizing the Seneca Falls Convention, which was the first women's rights convention ever held in the United States. Wright fell under their influence and the influence of the other suffragists with whom they regularly interacted.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/report-of-the-womans-rights-convention.htm|title = Report of the Woman's Rights Convention – Women's Rights National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)}}Wellman, Judith. [https://books.google.com/books?id=IV6rt59asF8C The Road to Seneca Falls: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the First Women's Rights Convention], University of Illinois Press, 2004; {{ISBN|0-252-02904-6}}
In 1851, Wright married David Munson Osborne, a farm machinery manufacturer.Osborne Family Papers. [https://library.syracuse.edu/digital/guides/o/osborne_fam.htm An inventory of the collection at Syracuse University. (n.d.)]. Accessed February 24, 2024. They had four children: Emily, Florence, Thomas, and Helen. Her son, Thomas Mott Osborne, became a prison reformer and a forest, fish and game commissioner; her grandson, Lithgow Osborne, became a diplomat and environmentalist.Eliza Wright Osborne. [https://www.womenandthevotenys.com/1suffragists-vetted/Eliza-Wright-Osborne WATVNYS], womenandthevotenys.com. Accessed February 24, 2024.
Inheriting Suffrage Legacy
Eliza Wright Osborne participated in the women's suffrage movement as the vice president of the New York State Women Suffrage Association. The founder of Auburn's Woman's Educational and Industrial Union, she also donated $200,000 to erect the building used by that organization for its programs and services for women.[https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbcmil.scrp7009902/ Eliza Wright Osborne dies at age 82. (n.d.)]. The Library of Congress. Accessed February 24, 2024.[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/10/16/104839607.html?pageNumber=9 TRIBUTE TO SUFFRAGE LEADER; Memorial Services at Auburn, N.Y., to the Late Eliza Wright Osborne. (1911, October 16). TimesMachine.] Along with other prominent New York suffragists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eliza Wright Osborne was one of the seventy-two women on the national roll of honor of the National League of Women.[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1931/03/26/98327412.html?pageNumber=5 WOMEN WILL UNVEIL HONOR ROLL TABLETS; Voters' League's National and State Lists at Capital Will Include 79 New Yorkers. (1931, March 26). TimesMachine.]
Death, estate resolution and memorial service
Eliza Wright Osborne died on July 19, 1911, in her residence, No. 99 South Street in Auburn. She died at the age of 81. Her will, which was made public on July 23, 1911, made provisions for family, friends and former associates from the suffrage movement, and also provided the following bequests:"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/374453518/?terms=%22Eliza%20Wright%20Osborne%22&match=1 Mrs. Osbrne's Will]", Buffalo, New York: The Buffalo Courier, July 24, 1911, p. 2 (subscription required)."[https://www.newspapers.com/image/275813761/?terms=%22Eliza%20Wright%20Osborne%22&match=1 Institutions Are Well Remembered]", Elmira, New York: Elmira Star-Gazette, July 25, 2011, p. 5 (subscription required).
- Auburn City Hospital: $5,000;
- Auburn Home for the Friendless: $10,000;
- Cayuga Orphan Asylum/Cayuga Asylum for Destitute Children: $5,000;
- George Junior Republic, Freeville: $20,000; and the
- Women's Educational and Industrial Union of Auburn: $25,000 plus the building that Elizabeth Wright Osborne built for the Auburn Women's Union at a cost of $200,000.
Her memorial service was held in Auburn on October 15, 1911. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, one of the first women to be ordained as a Methodist minister in America and a suffrage movement colleague of Osborne's, was one of the primary speakers at the service."[https://www.newspapers.com/image/431040356/?terms=%22Eliza%20Wright%20Osborne%22&match=1 Honor Suffrage Leader: Memorial Service for Mrs. Eliza Wright Osborne at Auburn]." Boston, Massachusetts: The Boston Globe, October 16, 1911, p. 16 (subscription required)."Tribute to Suffrage Leader: Memorial Services at Auburn, N.Y., to the late Eliza Wright Osborne", The New York Times, October 16, 1911, p. 9.
References
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Category:American social reformers
Category:Suffragists from New York (state)
Category:American women's rights activists
Category:American women civil rights activists
Category:People from Aurora, Cayuga County, New York