Martha L. Addis

Martha Lillian Addis was born in Ellis, Kansas, the daughter of Edward S. Addis and Alice L. Reynolds Addis (later Jeffrey). Her father was from Ohio, and was a wounded veteran of the American Civil War. Her mother was born in Wisconsin. "Miss Addis was self educated and has achieved unusual success in spite of the greatest handicaps," noted a 1925 newspaper report, without elaborating on the nature of the obstacles she faced.{{Cite news|date=1925-04-10|title=Third Annual B. P. W. C. Banquet|pages=1|work=The Jewell County Monitor|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79131736/third-annual-b-p-w-c-banquet/|access-date=2021-06-07|via=Newspapers.com}}

In 1906,{{Cite news|date=1907-09-08|title=Jewelry Store Window Attractive|pages=6|work=The Topeka Daily Capital|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79132725/jewelry-store-window-attractive/|access-date=2021-06-07|via=Newspapers.com}} M. L. Addis opened the Addis Jewelry and Gift Store in Topeka, and was described as "one of the few women jewelers in the United States" in 1920.{{Cite news|date=1920-05-10|title=Kansas Jewelers Coming to Topeka This Morning|pages=1|work=The Topeka Daily Capital|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79132448/kansas-jewelers-coming-to-topeka-this/|access-date=2021-06-07|via=Newspapers.com}} She was vice-president of the Kansas Retail Jewelers Association,{{Cite journal|date=April 20, 1921|title=Kansas Jewelers Hold Two-Day Convention|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dFUcAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA10-PA111|journal=The Jewelers' Circular|volume=82|pages=111}}{{Cite news|date=1921-04-13|title=Fearl is Elected By The Jewelers|pages=5|work=The Hutchinson Gazette|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79132312/fearl-is-elected-by-the-jewelers/|access-date=2021-06-07|via=Newspapers.com}} and active in the American National Retail Jewelers Association (ANRJA).[https://books.google.com/books?id=j2McAQAAMAAJ&dq=M.+L.+Addis+Topeka&pg=RA3-PA121-IA15 "Full Report of the ANRJA Convention"] The Jewelers' Circular 81(September 1, 1920): 136-137.[https://cot-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/planning/HistoricPreservation/LandmarkRecordBook.pdf "Hopkins & Holland Building"] Topeka Landmarks Registry (January 2014): 4.[https://books.google.com/books?id=j2McAQAAMAAJ&dq=M.+L.+Addis+Topeka&pg=RA3-PA150-IA1 "Full Report of the A.N.R.J.A. Convention"] The Jewelers' Circular 81(September 1920): 151.{{Cite news|date=1919-09-11|title=Miss Addis Returns|pages=11|work=The Topeka Daily Capital|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79133444/miss-addis-returns/|access-date=2021-06-07|via=Newspapers.com}} In 1922, she addressed the Nebraska Retail Jewelers' convention, the only woman on the program.{{Cite news|date=1922-02-19|title=Topeka Woman Addresses Convention|pages=37|work=The Topeka Daily Capital|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79153488/topeka-woman-addresses-convention/|access-date=2021-06-08|via=Newspapers.com}} In addition to designing, selling, and repairing jewelry, she had a noted business in phonograph machines, painted china, cut glass, clocks, watches and silverware.{{Cite journal|date=November 15, 1915|title=Has Her Own Methods of Selling|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Talking-Machine/10s/Talking-Machine-1915-11.pdf|journal=The Talking Machine World|volume=11|pages=64}}

As a well-known woman jeweler, she was the target of crimes: in 1915, her purse was snatched, but she chased the thief and cornered him under a porch.{{Cite news|date=1915-12-04|title=Purse Snatcher Held|pages=5|work=The Topeka State Journal|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79133137/purse-snatcher-held/|access-date=2021-06-07|via=Newspapers.com}} In 1921, she suffered a loss when $2000 worth of rings were stolen in a store robbery.{{Cite news|date=1921-01-19|title=Loss of $2000 in Jewelry|pages=6|work=The Topeka State Journal|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79132879/loss-of-2000-in-jewelry/|access-date=2021-06-07|via=Newspapers.com}} Two men were suspected of robbing $600 worth of jewelry from Addis in 1927.{{Cite news|date=1927-08-25|title=Combing Wichita for Capital City Jewelry Thieves|pages=5|work=The Wichita Eagle|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79154032/combing-wichita-for-capital-city/|access-date=2021-06-08|via=Newspapers.com}}

Addis offered her store as a meeting place for various community groups. She was president of the Business and Professional Women's Club of Topeka.{{Cite news|date=1925-04-03|title=B. P. W. C. Annual Banquet|pages=1|work=The Jewell County Monitor|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79121841/b-p-w-c-annual-banquet/|access-date=2021-06-07|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|date=1925-04-26|title=Topek B. P. W. to Give Vaudeville Review Here|pages=1|work=The Morning Chronicle|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79131993/topek-b-p-w-to-give-vaudeville/|access-date=2021-06-07|via=Newspapers.com}} She was president of the Shawnee County Old Settlers' Association.[https://www.kshs.org/p/kansas-historical-notes-february-1936/12665 "Kansas Historical Notes: February 1936"] Kansas Historical Society.

Addis's home burned down in 1923.{{Cite news|date=1923-02-09|title=Bad Fire in Topeka|pages=1|work=The Wichita Eagle|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79153597/bad-fire-in-topeka/|access-date=2021-06-08|via=Newspapers.com}} In 1935, she was injured in a car accident.{{Cite news|date=1935-10-18|title=Localettes|pages=8|work=The Emporia Gazette|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79154220/localettes/|access-date=2021-06-08|via=Newspapers.com}} She died in 1942, aged 64 years, in Topeka.

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• [https://www.kshs.org/km/items/view/203959 A panoramic photograph of the 900 block of South Kansas Avenue, Topeka], taken in the 1930s by Harold Wolfe, showing the Addis Jewelry and Gift Store and its neighbors during Martha L. Addis's lifetime

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Category:1878 births

Category:1942 deaths

Category:American jewelry designers

Category:20th-century American jewellers

Category:People from Topeka, Kansas

Category:American women jewellers