Abigail Scott Duniway
Encyclopedia
Abigail Scott Duniway was an American women's rights advocate, newspaper editor and writer, whose efforts were instrumental in gaining voting rights for women.
, to John Tucker Scott and Anne Roelofson Scott. Of the nine children in her family who survived infancy, she was the second. She grew up on the family farm and attended a local school intermittently. In March 1852, against the wishes of Anne, who had concerns about her health, John organized a party of 30 people and 5 ox-drawn wagons to emigrate to Oregon, 2400 miles (3,862.4 km) away by trail. Anne died of cholera
near Fort Laramie, on the Oregon Trail
, in June, and Willie, age 3, the youngest child in the family, died in August along the Burnt River
in Oregon. In October, the emigrants reached their destination, Lafayette
, in the Willamette Valley
. After teaching school in Eola
in early 1853, Abigail married Benjamin Charles Duniway, a farmer from Illinois, on August 1. They had six children: Clara Belle (b. 1854), Willis Scott (1856), Hubert (1859), Wilkie Collins (1861), Clyde Augustus (1866), and Ralph Roelofson (1869).
The Duniways farmed in Clackamas County
until 1857, when they moved to a farm near Lafayette. They lost this second farm after Benjamin endorsed notes signed by a friend who defaulted. Soon afterward, Benjamin was permanently disabled in an accident involving a runaway team, and Abigail had to support the family. At first, she opened and ran a small boarding school in Lafayette. In 1866, she moved to Albany
where she taught in a private school for a year, then opened a millinery and notions shop, which she ran five years. Angered by stories of injustice and mistreatment relayed to her by married patrons of her shop, and encouraged by Benjamin, she moved to Portland in 1871 to found The New Northwest
, a weekly newspaper devoted to women's rights, including suffrage
; that is, the right of women to vote and run for office. She published the first issue on May 5, 1871, and continued The New Northwest for 16 years.
Duniway encountered personal setbacks such as poor health, money problems, and opposition from her brother Harvey W. Scott
, who also edited a Portland paper, The Oregonian
. She persisted despite political opposition in the form of local resistance, the consistent failure of women's suffrage referendum
s on state ballots, and divisions with Eastern suffrage organizations. She and her newspaper actively supported the Sole Trader Bill and the Married Women's Property Act which, when passed, gave Oregon women the right to own and control property.
Her persistence paid off in 1912 when Oregon became the seventh state in the U.S. to pass a women's suffrage amendment. Governor Oswald West
asked her to write and sign the equal suffrage proclamation. She was the first woman to register to vote in Multnomah County.
Duniway is buried at River View Cemetery
in Portland.
Works written by Duniway and published by others:
Serialized novels written by Duniway and published in the New Northwest:
Serialized novels written by Duniway and published in The Pacific Empire:
Biography
Duniway was born Abigail Jane Scott near Groveland, IllinoisGroveland, Illinois
Groveland is an unincorporated community in Tazewell County, Illinois, United States. It has a small library, a school which is now a church, 2 gas stations, a war memorial, country store with restaurant & chapel, churches, Woody's Restaurant, Pyramid Printing Inc.& a handful of other small...
, to John Tucker Scott and Anne Roelofson Scott. Of the nine children in her family who survived infancy, she was the second. She grew up on the family farm and attended a local school intermittently. In March 1852, against the wishes of Anne, who had concerns about her health, John organized a party of 30 people and 5 ox-drawn wagons to emigrate to Oregon, 2400 miles (3,862.4 km) away by trail. Anne died of cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
near Fort Laramie, on the Oregon Trail
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...
, in June, and Willie, age 3, the youngest child in the family, died in August along the Burnt River
Burnt River (Oregon)
The Burnt River is a tributary of the Snake River in eastern Oregon, United States. It enters the Snake near Huntington, Oregon, at a point upstream of the Powder River and downstream of the Malheur River, slightly more than from the Snake's confluence with the Columbia River...
in Oregon. In October, the emigrants reached their destination, Lafayette
Lafayette, Oregon
Lafayette is a city in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States on the Yamhill River and Oregon Route 99W. It was founded in 1846 and incorporated in 1878...
, in the Willamette Valley
Willamette Valley
The Willamette Valley is the most populated region in the state of Oregon of the United States. Located in the state's northwest, the region is surrounded by tall mountain ranges to the east, west and south and the valley's floor is broad, flat and fertile because of Ice Age conditions...
. After teaching school in Eola
Eola, Oregon
Eola is an unincorporated community in Polk County, Oregon, United States four miles west of Salem on Oregon Route 22 at the confluence of Rickreall Creek and the Willamette River....
in early 1853, Abigail married Benjamin Charles Duniway, a farmer from Illinois, on August 1. They had six children: Clara Belle (b. 1854), Willis Scott (1856), Hubert (1859), Wilkie Collins (1861), Clyde Augustus (1866), and Ralph Roelofson (1869).
The Duniways farmed in Clackamas County
Clackamas County, Oregon
Clackamas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. The county was named after the Native Americans living in the area, the Clackamas Indians, who were part of the Chinookan people. As of 2010, the population was 375,992...
until 1857, when they moved to a farm near Lafayette. They lost this second farm after Benjamin endorsed notes signed by a friend who defaulted. Soon afterward, Benjamin was permanently disabled in an accident involving a runaway team, and Abigail had to support the family. At first, she opened and ran a small boarding school in Lafayette. In 1866, she moved to Albany
Albany, Oregon
Albany is the eleventh largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon, and is the county seat of Linn County. It is located in the Willamette Valley at the confluence of the Calapooia River and the Willamette River in both Linn and Benton counties, just east of Corvallis and south of Salem. It is...
where she taught in a private school for a year, then opened a millinery and notions shop, which she ran five years. Angered by stories of injustice and mistreatment relayed to her by married patrons of her shop, and encouraged by Benjamin, she moved to Portland in 1871 to found The New Northwest
The New Northwest
The New Northwest was an American weekly newspaper published in Portland, Oregon from 1871 to 1887 by Abigail Scott Duniway, an active voice of reform and suffrage on the West Coast of the United States. Its motto was Free Speech, Free Press, Free People.The paper included news reports, essays,...
, a weekly newspaper devoted to women's rights, including suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
; that is, the right of women to vote and run for office. She published the first issue on May 5, 1871, and continued The New Northwest for 16 years.
Duniway encountered personal setbacks such as poor health, money problems, and opposition from her brother Harvey W. Scott
Harvey W. Scott
Harvey Whitefield Scott was an American pioneer, newspaper editor, and historian.Scott was born in on a farm in Illinois and migrated to Oregon with his family in 1852, settling in Yamhill County. He and his family moved near Olympia, Washington in 1853. At age 18, he fought in the American Indian...
, who also edited a Portland paper, The Oregonian
The Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
. She persisted despite political opposition in the form of local resistance, the consistent failure of women's suffrage referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
s on state ballots, and divisions with Eastern suffrage organizations. She and her newspaper actively supported the Sole Trader Bill and the Married Women's Property Act which, when passed, gave Oregon women the right to own and control property.
Her persistence paid off in 1912 when Oregon became the seventh state in the U.S. to pass a women's suffrage amendment. Governor Oswald West
Oswald West
Oswald West was an American politician, a Democrat, who served most notably as the 14th Governor of Oregon. Called "Os West" by Oregon writer Stewart Holbrook, who described him as "by all odds the most brilliant governor Oregon ever had."- Early life and career :West was born in Ontario, Canada...
asked her to write and sign the equal suffrage proclamation. She was the first woman to register to vote in Multnomah County.
Duniway is buried at River View Cemetery
River View Cemetery (Portland, Oregon)
River View Cemetery in the southwest section of Portland, Oregon, United States, is a non-profit cemetery founded in 1882. It is the final resting place of many prominent and notable citizens of Oregon, including many governors and United States Senators...
in Portland.
Publications
Duniway's Captain Gray's Company; or, Crossing the Plains and Living in Oregon (1859), was the first novel to be commercially published in Oregon. This and others that she wrote drew repeatedly on her experiences as a young woman on the Oregon Trail. Her last novel to tell the story was From the West to the West: Across the Plains to Oregon (1905). She wrote a booklet called My Musings after attending a convention of the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1872. Her last publication was Path Breaking: An Autobiographical History of the Equal Suffrage Movement in Pacific Coast States, in 1914.Works written by Duniway and published by others:
- Captain Gray's Company, or Crossing the Plains and Living in Oregon. Portland, Oregon: S.J. McCormick, 1859.
- David and Anna Matson. New York: S.R. Wells & Co., 1876.
- From the West to the West: Across the Plains to Oregon. Chicago: A.C. McClurg, 1905.
- My Musings. Portland, Oregon: Duniway Publishing Co., 1875.
- Path Breaking: An Autobiographical History of the Equal Suffrage Movement in Pacific Coast States, 2nd ed. Portland, Oregon: James, Kerns & Abbott, 1914. Reprint New York: Schocken Books, 1971.
- "The Stage Driver's Story." Phrenological Journal. August 1879, pp. 85–90.
Serialized novels written by Duniway and published in the New Northwest:
- Judith Reid: A Plain Story of a Plain Woman. May 12 – December 22, 1871.
- Ellen Dowd: The Farmer's Wife (in two parts). January 5, 1872 – September 26, 1873.
- Amie and Henry Lee: or, The Spheres of the Sexes. May 29 – November 13, 1874.
- The Happy Home: or, The Husband's Triumph. November 20, 1874 – May 14, 1875.
- One Woman's Sphere, or The Mystery of Eagle Cove. June 4 – December 3, 1875.
- Madge Morrison, The Molalla Maid and Matron. December 10, 1875 – July 28, 1876.
- Edna and John: A Romance of Idaho Flat. September 29, 1876 – June 15, 1877.
- Martha Marblehead: The Maid and Matron of Chehalem. June 29, 1877 – February 8, 1878.
- Her Lot, or How She Was Protected (later revised in manuscript form as Ethel Graeme's Destiny: A Story of Real Life). February 1 – September 19, 1878.
- Fact, Fate and Fancy: or, More Ways of Living Than One. September 26, 1878 – May 15, 1879.
- Mrs. Hardine's Will. November 20, 1879 – August 26, 1880.
- The Mystery of Castle Rock , A Story of the Pacific Northwest. March 2 – September 7, 1882.
- Judge Dunson's Secret, An Oregon Story. March 15 – September 6, 1883.
- Laban McShane, A Frontier Story. January 3 – March 6, 1884.
- Dux: A Maiden Who Dared. September 11, 1884 – March 5, 1885
- The De Launcey Curse: or, The Law of Heredity—A Tale of Three Generations. September 10, 1885 – March 4, 1886.
- Blanche Le Clerq: A Tale of the Mountain Mines. September 2, 1886 – February 24, 1887.
Serialized novels written by Duniway and published in The Pacific Empire:
- Shack-Locks: A Story of the Times. October 3, 1895 – March 26, 1896.
- Bijah's Surprises (later revised in manuscript form as Margaret Rudson, A Pioneer Story. Book one, April 2 – September 26, 1896; Book two, October 1 – December 31, 1896.
- The Old and the New. January 7 – December 30, 1897.
Works cited
- Johnson, L.C.; James, Edward T., ed; (1971). "Duniway, Abigail Jane Scott" in Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary, Vol. 1, A–F. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-62734-2.
- Moynihan, Ruth Barnes (1983). Rebel for Rights: Abigail Scott Duniway. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-03478-4.
- Shein, Debra (2002). Abigail Scott Duniway (Western Writers Series No. 151). Boise, Idaho: Boise State University. ISBN 0-88430-151-6.
External links
- Biography as a Notable Oregonian, from the Oregon Blue BookOregon Blue BookThe Oregon Blue Book is the official directory and fact book for the U.S. state of Oregon copyrighted by the Oregon Secretary of State and published by the Office of the Secretary's Archives Division. As Governor Ted Kulongoski notes in his introduction for the 2005–2006 edition, it "provides...
- Image of her tombstone
- Guide to the Abigail Scott Duniway papers at the University of Oregon
- Oregon Public Broadcasting material about Duniway
- 1912 Women's Suffrage Proclamation Transcription, Oregon Blue Book