Mary Barr Clay was a leader of the American women’s suffrage movement. She also was known as Mary B. Clay and Mrs. J. Frank Herrick.

A daughter of Cassius Marcellus Clay

Cassius Marcellus Clay (abolitionist)

Cassius Marcellus Clay , nicknamed "The Lion of White Hall", was an emancipationist from Madison County, Kentucky, United States who served as the American minister to Russia...

 and his wife Mary Jane Warfield, Clay married John Francis “Frank” Herrick, of Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

, in 1866. The couple had three sons and then divorced.

In 1878, Clay’s parents also divorced, leaving her mother Mary Jane Clay homeless after she had managed White Hall

White Hall, Kentucky (home of Cassius Marcellus Clay)

White Hall was the home of Cassius Marcellus Clay. He was an abolitionist, newspaper publisher and Minister to Russia. His daughter, Laura Clay , was born at White Hall in 1849....

, the family estate, for 45 years. This inequality galvanized Clay into joining the women’s rights movement, and she soon brought her three younger sisters with her. Laura Clay, the youngest, also became very active in the movement.

In 1879, Mary Clay Herrick went to St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

 to attend the tenth anniversary of the National Woman Suffrage Association. There she met Susan B. Anthony

Susan B. Anthony

Susan Brownell Anthony was a prominent American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrage into the United States. She was co-founder of the first Women's Temperance Movement with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as President...

 and arranged for the suffrage leader to speak in Richmond, Kentucky

Richmond, Kentucky

There were 10,795 households out of which 24.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.2% were married couples living together, 12.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 48.6% were non-families. Of all households, 34.7% were made up of individuals and 8.8% had...

.

Herrick was elected president of the American Woman Suffrage Association in 1883. She corresponded with Anthony, Lucy Stone

Lucy Stone

Lucy Stone was a prominent American abolitionist and suffragist, and a vocal advocate and organizer promoting rights for women. In 1847, Stone was the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a college degree. She spoke out for women's rights and against slavery at a time when women were discouraged...

, Alice Stone Blackwell

Alice Stone Blackwell

Alice Stone Blackwell was an American feminist, journalist and human rights advocate.-Biography:The daughter of Henry Brown Blackwell and Lucy Stone, she was born in East Orange, New Jersey....

 and other leading suffragists. She is credited with drawing her younger sister Laura Clay

Laura Clay

Laura Clay , co-founder and first president of the Kentucky Equal Rights Association, was a leader of the American women’s suffrage movement...

 into the women’s rights movement. The younger Clay became so active that she became better known as a women's rights advocate.

Clay Herrick is interred at Lexington Cemetery.

External links

• Lexington Cemetery Web site http://www.lexcem.org/index.cfm/hnotable.html?article_ID=7093C7A4-2CDB-11D7-8011-0004AC4C1EA1
• Filson Historical Society http://www.filsonhistorical.org/guide2.html