Mary Garrett Hay

Hay was born in Charlestown, Indiana, on August 20, 1857.{{Cite ANB|title=Hay, Mary Garrett (1857–1928), suffragist and reformer|first=Sandra|last=Opdycke|encyclopedia=American National Biography|id=1500314}}{{Cite news |date=September 2, 1928 |title=Mary Garrett Hay's Watchword to Women in Politics Was: "Be Nice to the Men"; Fought for Suffrage from Girlhood |work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9262629// |access-date=March 1, 2017 |via=Newspapers.com}} She was the eldest of five children of Andrew Jennings Hay, a physician, and Rebecca H. Hay ({{nee|Garrett}}).{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/americanreformer0000unse_f5r7 |title=American reformers : an H.W. Wilson biographical dictionary |date=1985 |publisher=H.W. Wilson Co. |isbn=978-0-8242-0705-2 |location=New York |pages=413–414}} Her mother died when she was young and she would travel with her father, who was an important Republican, when he visited patients or had political work. She was a devout Presbyterian.{{Sfn|Louis|1971|p=163}} Hay attended the Western Female Seminary in Oxford, Ohio, between 1873 and 1874, where she studied to become a pharmacist and later worked for her father's pharmacy.{{Sfn|Louis|1971|p=163}}

Hay moved home after graduation, at a time when the Women's Crusade was becoming popular in the Midwest. She became involved in the temperance movement, particularly in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). She served as the local secretary-treasurer before becoming the treasurer for the state chapter, a position that she held for seven years. She ran a department in the national organization by 1885. As the WCTU began to focus on a wider range of issues, including women's suffrage, Hay was persuaded by Zerelda Gray Wallace to join a suffrage group. She worked her way up from the local chapter to the state office.

She met Carrie Chapman Catt, who was organizing suffrage campaigns across the country, possibly while the pair were attending a National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) convention.{{Cite news |last=Beam |first=Amanda Hillard |date=September 1, 2015 |title=A lost daughter: How Charlestown's Mary Garrett Hay changed the world |work=News and Tribune |url=http://www.newsandtribune.com/opinion/beam-a-lost-daughter-how-charlestown-s-mary-garrett-hay/article_a1c643c4-5030-11e5-bdce-5f029571c1cb.html |access-date=March 2, 2017}}{{Sfn|Faderman|1999|p=62}} In the summer of 1895, Hay and Catt moved in together for a while.{{Sfn|Faderman|1999|p=62}} When Catt's husband, George, died in 1905, Hay moved in with Catt permanently and took over the household responsibilities.{{Sfn|Rupp|1997|p=585}}{{Sfn|Faderman|1999|p=63}}

In 1896, when California was creating its state constitution, Hay, along with women she organized, worked to have women's suffrage be included, though the referendum for women to vote was narrowly defeated.{{Cite news |last=Gray |first=Lillian |date=June 28, 1903 |title=Mary Garrett Hay: Organizer of Women's Associations |work=The Decatur Review |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9262061// |access-date=March 1, 2017 |via=Newspapers.com}} Her work in California gave her valuable experience in organizing.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nwhm.org/education-resources/biography/biographies/mary-garrett-hay/|title=Mary Garrett Hay|website=National Women's History Museum|access-date=1 March 2017}} Hay created suffrage groups across the country. In November 1895 she and the Rev. Henrietta G. Moore organized the state convention that founded the West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association. In 1899, she and Catt traveled through 20 different states, made numerous speeches and attended 15 conventions.{{Sfn|Faderman|1999|p=63}} At conventions, like one in Topeka in 1918, Hay advocated creating citizenship and civics classes for women.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9329622//|title=Five Thousand at the Biennial|last=Thomen|first=Kate|date=5 May 1918|work=The Topeka Daily Capital|access-date=4 March 2017|via=Newspapers.com}} Hay served as the president of the New York Equal Suffrage League from 1910 to 1918.{{Cite web|url=http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~sch01025|title=Hay, Mary Garrett, 1857–1928. Papers of Mary Garrett Hay in the Woman's Rights Collection, 1918–1923: A Finding Aid|website=Harvard University Library|access-date=4 March 2017}} In 1912, she was the president of the group, The Daughters of Indiana.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9329307//|title=Daughters of Indiana Elect|date=16 January 1912|work=The Indianapolis Star|access-date=4 March 2017|via=Newspapers.com}} She served as president of the Woman Suffrage Party (WSP) in 1915.{{Sfn|Van Voris|1987|p=118}} She also encouraged women to find employment by creating jobs as part of the Committee for Extending Business Opportunities to Women, founding in 1915.{{Cite web |last=Poletika |first=Nicole |date=2022-01-27 |title=“A Hundred Years From Now—What?:” Mary Garrett Hay Predicts Life in 2022 |url=https://blog.history.in.gov/a-hundred-years-from-now-what-mary-garrett-hay-predicts-life-in-2022/ |access-date=2024-06-05 |website=The Indiana History Blog |language=en-US}} During her time in WSP, she organized the enrollment of thousands of women to vote in the state of New York.{{Cite journal |last1=Blackwell |first1=Alice Stone |date=25 August 1917 |title=High Lights of the City Campaign |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YdERAQAAMAAJ&q=mary+garrett+hay&pg=PA228 |journal=The Woman Citizen |volume=1 |pages=228}} In 1919, she was also the president of the Women's City Club of New York (WCC).{{Cite news |date=August 20, 1919 |title=Liquors for Women |work=Hartford Courant |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9261815// |access-date=March 1, 2017 |via=Newspapers.com}} Hay was nominated to the WCC in order to bring a strong leadership role to the civic organization.{{Cite news |last=Simmons |first=Eleanor Booth |date=February 17, 1918 |title=Women's City Club May Come Into Its Own |work=New York Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9329744// |access-date=March 4, 2017 |via=Newspapers.com}} Hay was also the president of the New York City League of Women Voters between 1918 and 1923.

File:Mary Garrett Hay 1921.png

Hay became one of the first women in the Eastern United States to join a political party when she became a Republican. She served as chair of the Republican Women's National Executive Committee in 1919 and 1920. Hay ensured that women's suffrage remained an important plank in the Republican Party of the time.{{Cite news |last=Taaffe |first=Lillian E. |date=June 10, 1920 |title=Women Given '50-50' Share in G.O.P. Party |work=Star Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9327823// |access-date=March 4, 2017 |via=Newspapers.com}} She encouraged other women to join the party.{{Cite news |date=April 3, 1919 |title=Cheers Greet Women as They Enter Politics |work=The Indianapolis Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9329374// |access-date=March 4, 2017 |via=Newspapers.com}} In 1920, Hay and Catt cast ballots for the first time for president, together.{{Cite news |date=November 5, 1920 |title=Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt and Miss Mary Garrett Hay, suffrage workers |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9327496/st_louis_postdispatch/ |access-date=March 4, 2017 |via=Newspapers.com}}

During the 1910s, Hay was considered as a potential presidential candidate.

Hay died in Pelham at home of a heart attack. She was found by Catt inside of their home.{{Sfn|Van Voris|1987|p=208}} Catt created a monument to Hay where she was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.{{Sfn|Van Voris|1987|p=219}} After Catt died in 1947, she was buried next to Hay.{{Sfn|Rupp|1997|p=585}} Their headstone reads, "Here lie two, united in friendship for 38 years through constant service to a great cause".{{Cite news |last=Wade |first=Betsy |author-link=Betsy Wade |date=December 30, 2005 |title=History Opens Its Heart to Carrie Chapman Catt |work=Women's eNews |url=http://womensenews.org/2005/12/history-opens-its-heart-carrie-chapman-catt/ |access-date=March 4, 2017}}

A historic marker honoring Hay was unveiled in the town square in Charlestown on November 15, 2021.{{Cite news |last=Selinsky |first=Jen |date=November 15, 2021 |title=Charlestown unveils marker honoring suffragist |work=News and Tribune |url=https://www.newsandtribune.com/news/charlestown-unveils-marker-honoring-suffragist/article_334423a8-4638-11ec-bb2b-1b17fd36746e.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115201847/https://www.newsandtribune.com/news/charlestown-unveils-marker-honoring-suffragist/article_334423a8-4638-11ec-bb2b-1b17fd36746e.html |archive-date=November 15, 2021}}

Winter Wheat, a musical by Cathy Bush about the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in Tennessee, premiered at the Barter Theatre in 2016. The original version of the play had a limited run at the Barter in 2014. Hay and Carrie Chapman Catt are characters in the play. The show also features anti-suffragist Josephine Anderson Pearson and Tennessee state representative Harry T. Burn, who cast the deciding vote for ratification in Tennessee.{{Cite web|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/norfolk/article/World-Premiere-of-WINTER-WHEAT-Begins-Performances-729-at-Barter-Theatre-20140723|title=World Premiere of WINTER WHEAT Begins Performances 7/29 at Barter Theatre|first=Tyler|last=Peterson|website=BroadwayWorld.com}}

The 2022 musical Suffs, depicting several historical suffragists in the final years before the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment, features Hay as a supporting character. The role was originated by Jaygee Macapugay Off-Broadway and in the 2024 Broadway production. The musical explicitly depicts her and Catt as being in a romantic relationship.{{cite web |last1=Dilella |first1=Frank |title=What Pride Means to Suffs Star Jenn Colella |url=https://broadwaydirect.com/what-pride-means-to-suffs-star-jenn-colella/ |website=Broadway Direct |access-date=12 June 2024}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/tobelieveinwomen1999fade|url-access=registration|title=To Believe in Women: What Lesbians Have Done for America – A History|last=Faderman|first=Lillian|author-link1=Lillian Faderman|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|year=1999|isbn=9780547348407|location=New York}}
• {{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/notableamericanw02jame_0|url-access=registration|title=Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary|last=Louis|first=James P.|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1971|isbn=978-0674627345|editor-last=James|editor-first=Edward T.|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|pages=[https://archive.org/details/notableamericanw02jame_0/page/163 163]–165|chapter=Hay, Mary Garrett|editor-last2=James|editor-first2=Janet Wilson|editor-last3=Boyer|editor-first3=Paul S.}}
• {{Cite journal|last=Rupp|first=Leila J.|author-link1=Leila J. Rupp|year=1997|title=Sexuality and Politics in the Early Twentieth Century: The Case of the International Women's Movement|jstor=3178388|journal=Feminist Studies|volume=23|issue=3|pages=577–605|doi=10.2307/3178388|hdl=2027/spo.0499697.0023.309|hdl-access=free}}
• {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s2SkL2HNuwEC&q=%22woman+suffrage+party%22&pg=PA118|title=Carrie Chapman Catt: A Public Life|last=Van Voris|first=Jacqueline|publisher=The Feminist Press at The City University of New York|year=1987|isbn=9781558611399|location=New York}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Mary Garrett Hay}}
• {{Find a Grave|32329231}}
• [http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~sch01025 Papers of Mary Garrett Hay]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hay, Mary Garrett}}

Category:1857 births

Category:1928 deaths

Category:People from Charlestown, Indiana

Category:American suffragists

Category:American women in politics

Category:Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)

Category:American Presbyterians

Category:American temperance activists

Category:Clubwomen

Category:Activists from New York (state)

Category:New York (state) Republicans

Category:People from Pelham, New York

Category:Members of the League of Women Voters

Category:Woman's Christian Temperance Union people