Timeline of women's suffrage in Maine

1854

• Susan B. Anthony speaks in Bangor.[1]

1855

• Lucy Stone lectures in Augusta and Cornish.[2]

1857

• The first women's suffrage petition to the Maine Legislature is sent by Lucy Stone, Antoinette Brown Blackwell, and signed by both men and women from Bangor, Maine.[3]
• Ann F. Jarvis Greely and Sarah Jarvis create a women's rights lecture series in Ellsworth.[4]
• March: Anthony speaks at one of the Ellsworth lectures.[4]
• July 3–4: Hill, Greely and Jarvis host a women's rights ball at Whiting's Hall.
• July 15: Caroline B. Dall gives two speeches for the Ellsworth lectures.[5]

1858

• A second women's suffrage petition is presented to the Maine Legislature.[6]

1865

• Women factory workers march for the right to vote in the Lewiston Independence Day parade.[7]

1868

• Lavinia Snow and her sister, Lucy Snow, form the Equal Rights Association of Rockland.[1]

1869

• May: Lucy Snow attends the American Equal Rights Association (AERA) convention in New York.[1]

1870

• John Neal calls for a women's suffrage convention in Portland.[8]

1871

• November: Mary Livermore speaks to around 1,000 people in Portland on women's suffrage.[9]
• Margaret W. Campbell lectures on women's suffrage in Belfast and Freedom.[9]

1872

• Women's suffrage petitions are submitted to the Maine Legislature.[10]
• Campbell continues her suffrage lecture tour, visiting Bath, Belfast, Camden, Damariscotta, and Rockland.[9]

1873

• January 29: A women's suffrage convention is held in Augusta, with hundreds attending.[11][12]
• The Maine Woman Suffrage Association (MWSA) is established.[13]
• Lucy Snow presents a women's suffrage petition from Rockland to the Maine Legislature.[14]
• Adelaide Emerson presents a petition from Ellsworth to the legislature.[15]

1874

• March 5: Mrs. C. V. Crossman starts the first Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) chapter in Maine.[16]
• Suffragists have a float in the Centennial Parade in Bethel.[17]

1881

• June: The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) holds a convention in Portland, at City Hall.[18]

1884

• Thomas Brackett Reed writes a report in favor of a federal women's suffrage amendment.[18]

1885

"It Is Woman's Day" 1895-03-07 Lewiston Evening Journal

• September: The New England Woman Suffrage Association (NEWSA), helps reorganized and regenerate the state women's suffrage group.[18][13]

1887

• A women's suffrage petition is presented to the state legislature.[19] The legislature votes on a women's suffrage amendment, but it does not receive the necessary two-thirds vote.[19]

1889

• Elizabeth M. Young Allen writes to the state legislature for the right to vote.[20]
• A municipal suffrage bill fails in the state legislature.[19]

1891

• Hannah Johnston Bailey becomes president of MWSA.[13]
• The state women's suffrage convention is held in Portland.[13]

1892

• A suffrage club was formed in Portland.[13]
• The state women's suffrage convention is held in Portland.[13]

1893

• The state women's suffrage convention is held in Portland.[13]

1894

• The state women's suffrage convention is held in Portland.[13]

1895

• More than 9,000 names were collected by suffragists and members of the WCTU in support of municipal suffrage in Maine.[19] A municipal suffrage bill is not successful.[21]
• The state women's suffrage convention is held in Portland.[13]

1896

• The state women's suffrage convention is held in Portland.[13]

1899

• A bill to exempt women taxpayers from paying taxes was presented in the state legislature.[22] This was done since women could not vote, they were being taxed without being represented, according to the bill.[22]

Men's Equal Suffrage League of Maine

1900

• May: Public suffrage meetings were held in Cornish, Hampden, Monmouth, Old Orchard, Portland, Saco, Waterville, and Winthrop.[23] These were organized by Boston lawyer, Diana Hirschler, who also was the featured speaker.[23]
• August: During "Old Home Week," suffragists hosted around 232 people during an open house event.[23]
• August 24: Suffrage Day is held at Ocean Park in Old Orchard.[23]

1902

• The state women's suffrage convention is held in Saco.[24]

1903

• The state women's suffrage convention is held in Auburn.[24]

1904

• The state women's suffrage convention is held in Portland.[24]

1906

• The Maine Federation of Labor endorses women's suffrage.[25]
• The state women's suffrage convention is held in Saco.[25]

1907

• The state women's suffrage convention is held in Farmington and suffragists vote to support a federal suffrage amendment.[25]

1908

• The state women's suffrage convention is held in Portland.[25]

1909

• March 3: Fannie J. Fernald testifies in front of the United States Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage.[26]
• The state women's suffrage convention is held in Old Orchard.[25]

1910

• The state women's suffrage convention is held in Portland.[25]

1912

• October: The state women's suffrage convention is held.[27]

1913

• The Maine Association Opposed to Suffrage for Women (MAOSW) is formed.[7]
• The College Equal Suffrage League of Maine is formed.[25]
• The state women's suffrage convention is held in Portland.[25]
• March 3: Suffragists march in the Woman Suffrage Procession in Washington, D. C.[28]

Votes for Women - Maine Next 1917 Stamp

1914

• The Men's Equal Suffrage League of Maine is formed.[7]
• The state women's suffrage convention is held in Portland.[25]

1915

• A resolution to pass a full women's suffrage amendment passes the state legislature.[29]
• The state women's suffrage convention is held in Kennebunk.[25]
• Florence Brooks Whitehouse founds the Maine chapter of the Congressional Union.[30]

1916

• February: Suffrage conference held to discuss a federal suffrage amendment, with speakers Carrie Chapman Catt, Elizabeth Glendower Evans, and Maud Wood Park in attendance.[31]
• August: The first meeting of the Belfast Suffrage League is held.[32]

1917

• January: The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) held a suffrage school in Portland.[31]
• February: The state legislature submits a women's suffrage amendment.[31]
• September 10: The women's suffrage amendment fails in the voter referendum.[33]
• September: The state women's suffrage convention takes place in Augusta.[33]

1918

• October: The state women's suffrage convention takes place in Lewiston.[33]

1919

• March: An act for women to vote for presidential electors is proposed and passed.[29]
• The state women's suffrage convention takes place in Portland.[33]
• July 3: The presidential electors bill is placed on the next ballot as a referendum.[34]
• November 5: Maine ratifies the Nineteenth Amendment.[7]
• November 12: At a meeting in Augusta, MWSA dissolves and reforms as the League of Women Voters (LWV) of Maine.[35]

1920

Governor Milliken signing Maine's ratification, November 1920

• August 26: The Nineteenth Amendment is adopted by the United States.[34]
• August 30: Lewiston opens books for women to register to vote.[36]
• September 1: Portland starts registering voters, and Augusta M. Hunt was the first in line.[36]
• September 13: Women vote in the general election for the first time, and also vote on the presidential elector bill, which passes.[34]

1924

• Native Americans are finally considered United States citizens, but those in Maine still could not vote.[37]

1954

• Voter referendum for Native American suffrage in Maine passes.[38]

1955

• Lucy Nicolar Poolaw (Penobscot) is the first Native American living on a reservation to vote in Maine.[38]

• Anthony, Susan B. (1902). Anthony, Susan B.; Harper, Ida Husted (eds.). The History of Woman Suffrage. Vol. 4. Indianapolis: The Hollenbeck Press.
• Harper, Ida Husted (1922). The History of Woman Suffrage. New York: J.J. Little & Ives Company.
• Maine State Museum (2019). "Maine Suffrage Who's Who" (PDF). Women's Long Road.
• Risk, Shannon M. (2009). 'In Order to Establish Justice': The Nineteenth-Century Woman Suffrage Movements of Maine and New Brunswick (Thesis). University of Maine. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.428.3747.
• Spiker, LaRue (2012). "Women Got the Vote Fifty Years Ago" (PDF). Chebacco. 13: 21–27.