Lydia Louisa Neal Dennett (August 17, 1798 - June 4, 1881) was an abolitionist and suffragist from Portland, Maine. Her home was a station on the Underground Railroad and Dennett helped Ellen Craft escape to England. Later, Dennett became involved in women's suffrage, serving as vice president of the executive committee of the American Woman Suffrage Association and leading Maine's first petition campaign for this cause.

Biography

Two-and-a-half-story 19th-century brick row house with granite steps and a brick storefront attached
Dennett home with later storefront addition

Lydia Louisa Neal Dennett was born in Eliot, Maine on August 17, 1798[1] and was the first cousin of John Neal.[2][3] She was educated by Quakers.[4] Lydia married Oliver Dennett and moved to Portland, Maine.[2] The Dennetts' home at 133 Spring Street[5] was a station on the Underground Railroad.[6] The couple kept a "closed carriage with a fine pair of horses" provided by the antislavery society to help aid escaped slaves reach safety.[7]

Lydia Dennett and abolitionist, Elizabeth Widgery Thomas, intervened in an anti-slavery riot that broke out in 1840s at a Portland Female Anti-Slavery Society meeting.[2] Dennett and Thomas helped lecturer, Stephen S. Foster, to safety during the riot.[2] Dennett also helped Ellen Craft, an escaped slave, and her husband flee to England.[6]

In 1852, Oliver Dennett died.[8] Lydia Dennett continued her work, especially for women's rights.[2] Dennett was on the executive committee of the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) in 1869.[2] The following year she served as vice president of the Woman's Suffrage Bazar [sic] in Boston.[9] By 1872, Dennett was selected to serve as vice president of the AWSA's executive committee.[2] That same year, she led the first petition campaign for women's suffrage in Maine,[10] as well as Maine's first petition campaign for indigenous suffrage.[9]

Lydia Dennett died on June 4, 1881, and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Portland.[2]

References

  1. ^ Brigham, Emma Elvira Neal (1938). Neal Family. Springfield, MA: [no publisher listed]. p. 243. OCLC 1670574.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h McNelly, Sue. "Biographical Sketch of Lydia Louisa Neal Dennett". Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920 – via Alexander Street.
  3. ^ Risk 2009, p. 88.
  4. ^ Beedy 1895, p. 239.
  5. ^ Woo 2023, p. 254.
  6. ^ a b Beedy 1895, p. 240.
  7. ^ Beedy 1895, p. 240-241.
  8. ^ Beedy 1895, p. 241.
  9. ^ a b Risk 2009, p. 73n25.
  10. ^ Risk 2009, pp. 49n64, 88.

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