The Woman's Suffrage Movement in Pelham During the Early 20th Century

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The 19th amendment to the United States Constitution, known as the woman's suffrage amendment, was ratified by Tennessee on August 18, 1920.  Tennessee was the 36th state to ratify the amendment, bringing the total number of ratifying states to the necessary three-fourths.  The presidential election of 1920 was the first presidential election during which women in all states were eligible to vote for president.

Women in the United States had been struggling for the right to vote for many, many years before ratification of the 19th amendment.  In 1840, after Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were barred from attending the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, the pair hosted a Women's Convention in the United States.  A few years later, in 1848, Seneca Falls, New York was the site of the first Women's Rights Convention for which Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote "The Declaration of Sentiments" outlining an activist agenda followed by women throughout the United States for many years thereafter.  

These early years of the Woman's Suffrage Movement in the United States eventually led the Congressional proposal of a Woman Suffrage Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1878.  Sadly, it took more than four decades thereafter for final ratification of the 19th amendment to the Constitution which was worded exactly the same as the proposed 1878 Amendment.

In the early twentieth century, as the women of New York intensified their efforts in support of women's suffrage, there were communities that granted women property owners the right to vote in local elections.  Pelham was one such community.  Women property owners in Pelham were granted the right to vote on matters that affected their taxes as early as 1881, if not earlier.  Cf. Patterson, Ethel Lloyd, Pelham Women Cast Fifty Votes, Ten Thrown Out, The Evening World [NY, NY], Feb. 17, 1909, p. 8, col. 1.  See also Thu., Jan. 29, 2009:  Suffrage for Pelham Women.  

The 1882 election for a seat on the local school board in Pelham is one particularly famous instance involving women voters.  In the years prior to 1882, some Pelham women attended and voted in local school board elections.  However, their numbers were small -- only nine women had voted in the school board election in 1881.  That changed, however, in 1882, when Pelham Manor feared that its candidate running for reelection as school board president, George H. Reynolds, might be ousted by an upstart candidate from Pelhamville.  In a surprise move, Pelham Manor women packed the election, voting for Reynolds, and ensuring his reelection.  For more about this historic and famous local election, see:

Tue., Oct. 14, 2014:  "There Is Endless Bitterness of Heart" -- Pelham Manor Women Pull a Fast One in 1882.  

Tue., Feb. 26, 2008:  Disputed Pelham School Board Election of 1882 Led to Charges of Fraud.

Voting in small local elections, however, was not enough for Pelham women as, of course, it should not have been.  Pelham women sought suffrage in State and National elections as well.  Thus, Pelham women were very involved in the Woman's Suffrage Movement at least during the decade leading up to the final ratification of the 19th amendment.  Records of this involvement are sparse and clearly incomplete, so it is difficult to piece together the involvement of Pelham women.  Incomplete records, however, should not discourage efforts to assemble what information can be found about such an important issue.  Since one purpose of the Historic Pelham Blog is simply to document research into aspects of Pelham history, today's posting summarizes the scant information available regarding the Woman's Suffrage Movement in the Town of Pelham.

By 1910, the Woman's Suffrage Movement in Pelham was in full swing.  The newly-established community paper, The Pelham Sun, reported on suffrage gatherings on its front page, detailing the events of such meetings.  A variety of women's groups advocated to the women of Pelham, New Rochelle, and Mount Vernon regarding what was known as the "militant movement in suffrage."  Such organizations included the Women's Political Union and the Woman's Trades Union League.  Other organizations also advocated for Woman's Suffrage including The Equal Suffrage League and the Woman's Suffrage Association of Westchester County.  

As one speaker noted in a suffrage meeting in a local residence on Pelham Road attended by Pelham and New Rochelle women on January 26, 1911:

"[T]he chief merit of the militant movement lay in its making a living and urgent issue of suffrage.  The militants . . . [see] clearly that the real obstacle to the suffrage lay not in any theoretic opposition, but in its practical acceptance as a fact realizable in the near future."

Pelham women joined with other women of Westchester County in efforts to pressure local State legislators to support proposals to amend the New York State Constitution and other legislative proposals to allow New York women to vote in State elections.  Among Pelham women who, references suggest, seem to have been particularly active in the local Woman's Suffrage movement were Joan E. Secor, Evelyn Randall, and Mrs. Henry E. Dey.  All three were from Pelham Manor and were social and cultural leaders of the community with great influence.  

With the ratification of the 19th amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920, the Woman's Suffrage movement had achieved its long-sought objective.  Suddenly it was incumbent on women to vote in the upcoming presidential election.  The League of Women Voters was created with the object of encouraging better citizenship and better government through non-partisan political political education.  The organization was started in 1920 and was the direct "lineal descendant of the National Woman's Suffrage Amendment Association."  The League of Women Voters "took over the task of aiding the newly enfranchised 20 million, unpracticed in voting, to take part in the Presidential election of that year."  

Within a short time, Mrs. Henry E. Dey (who had been active in the Pelham Woman's Suffrage movement) established the Pelham Branch of the League of Women Voters.  Mrs. Dey served in that role for many years, continuing to carry the banner for women voters in the Town of Pelham.

Suffragette March in New York City on October 23, 1915.

Source:  Wikipedia -- The Free Encyclopedia:  Suffragette

(visited Oct. 4, 2015).  NOTE:  Click Image To Enlarge.

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Below is text from a number of articles relating to the Woman's Suffrage movement in Pelham and the surrounding region.  Each article is followed by a citation and link to its source.  

"CHAMPIONS HER SISTERS
-----
AND IN AN ENTHUSIASTIC AND ABLE MANNER DOES MRS. HALE BEFORE THE EQUAL FRANCHISE LEAGUE.  -- SOCIETY REPRESENTED.
-----

The Equal Suffrage League is to be congratulated on its happy choice of speaker for the meeting held on Thursday last at the house of the President, Mrs. Leigh H. French, Pelham Road.  A notable gathering which quite filled the big drawing room listened with enthusiasm to the brilliant speech of Mrs. Beatrice Forbes-Robertson Hale in behalf of woman suffrage, and it is safe to say that no more genial or persuasive advocacy of the woman's cause has yet been heard around here.  To the gift of clear and forcible expression, Mrs. Hale joins great eloquence, beauty of diction, and a gracious personality which from the outset won her audience to a sympathetic and charmed attention.

The tendency to look on woman as the weak, dependent creature and on man as the possessor of all the virile creative qualities is, said Mrs. Hale, a sentimental accretion of later centuries, justifiable neither by history nor by the facts of life,, and has resulted in a mischievous overstressing of sex.  The ealier ideals of the Greeks and Romans, until coloured by notions from the East, admitted no such conception; the German races made of woman the equal comrade of man.  The object of the present struggle is to restore this idea of mutual independence and comradeship and to establish a division in sex activities rather than in racial activities rather than in racial activities.  That the peoples which have reverted to this conception of woman have not suffered in their effectiveness is shown in the cases of the Scandinavian countries, which in their internal administration are actual objects of study on the part of other lands.

If women are weak to-day, Mrs. Hale says it is rather the result of artificial than of natural conditions.  The peasant woman, inured to hard labor, is physically the superior of the civilized woman, and performs her material functions with greater ease.  It is not rational work but aimless excitement that is the true enemy of health, and when the president of the Anti-Suffrage Association urged on the legislative committee at the Albany hearing the possible evil effect on women of political life, she might better have proposed and Anti-Bridge League or Anti-Afternoon Tea Association.  I have supposed myself, said Mrs. Hale, for a period of ten years, and never yet found a single day's work as fatiguing as a reception.

Says Spiritual Power is Highest.

Again, woman's weakness has been used as an argument against admitting her to the ballot on a conception of government based solely on physical force.  But, said the speaker, the history of such powers as ancient Greece and modern Japan demonstrates that it is spiritual and not physical force which rules the world.  If it were not so, we should be finding the strongest man in the highest office, a pugilist instead of a statesman.  I am sure, said Mrs. Hale, that Johnson could knowck out Mr. Taft before the second round.  And since many classes of male voters are now unfit for or excused from national defence, it would appear that even among men individual force is not an essential qualification for the franchise.

Mrs. Hale pointed out the inadequacy of an indirect representation, arguing that households made up of elements so diverse as, say, a solitary bachelor, a father with several dependent daughters, or a family of six male voters, cannot fairly be compared in representative power.  She excused the undemocratic view of those who maintain that the franchise is already too widely granted on the ground that Americans are too familiar with democracy to value it rightly; but the ideal of democracy is what other less favored nations are striving for to-day and the franchise, however faulty, is the real weapon in the hands of the weak and defenceless.

Mrs. Hale's address was received with warm applause, and at its conclusion the speaker answered many interested questions put to her by the audience.

At Mrs. French's request, Mrs. Jas. R. McAfee, President of the Woman's Suffrage Association of Westchester County, acted as chairman of the meeting, and Mrs. Arthur L. Livermore, of Yonkers, Vice-President of the State Suffrage Association, made a brief address introducing Mrs. Hale.

Among Those Present.

Among those present were Mrs. John C. Hazen, Mrs. Henry B. Welsh, Mrs. Gen. Wm. Smith, Miss Emily Lindsley, Mrs. Herman Kobbe, Mrs. Geo. P. Robbins, Mrs. Walter Marvin, Mrs. Edward P. Fowler, Mrs. E. C. Mueller, Mrs. William B. Randall, Mrs. H. L. Moore, Mrs. Chas. H. Margerum, Mrs. Jas. F. Secor, Miss Currie, Mrs. Jos. C. Wilberding, Mrs. M. L. Sullivan, Mrs. F. L. Peter, Mrs. Chas F. Roper, Mrs. John Massey, Miss [remainder illegible]." 

Source:  CHAMPIONS HER SISTERS -- AND IN AN ENTHUSIASTIC AND ABLE MANNER DOES MRS. HALE BEFORE THE EQUAL FRANCHISE LEAGUE.  -- SOCIETY REPRESENTED, The Pelham Sun, Dec. 17, 1910, Vol. 1, No. 37, p. 1, col. 5.  

"SEEKS VOTES FOR WOMEN
-----
MILITANT SUFFRAGE AND TRADES UNIONS DISCUSSED WITH CLEARNESS AT THE EQUAL FRANCHISE LEAGUE -- LARGE AUDIENCE ATTENDS
-----

A public meeting of the Equal Franchise League was held at the residence of Mrs. Leigh French, Pelham Road on Thursday afternoon at which Miss Alice Perkins, of the Women's Political Union and Miss Rose Schneiderman, of the Woman's Trades Union League, spoke on the militant mmovement in suffrage and on Trades Unions for working girls.  The attendance was large and the audience put many interesting questions to the speakers at the close of the meeting.  

Miss Perkins, who is also a member of the English W. P. U., said that the chief merit of the militant movement lay in its making a living and urgent issue of suffrage.  The militants, she said, saw clearly that the real obstacle to the suffrage lay not in any theoretic opposition, but in its practical acceptance as a fact realizable in the near future.  They have, therefore, devoted their energies to rousing a sense of the immediateness of the sufferage claim, leaving to others the slow task of winning over popular approval.  We think we have enough popular approval, said the speaker, the real need is to put that popular approval to the practical test.  Hence with the militants, the question is not, 'Do you believe in the suffrage for women?' but 'Are you going to give it?'

Like the English, the American militant confines hersefl to practical ends, the attacking of the machinery by which the vote is conferred.  The Women's Political Union played a prominent part in the recent hearing at Albany in getting the suffrage bill out of Committee and so brining into the open the friends and opposers of Woman Suffrage.  Their campaign later against the New York Assemblyman who voted against the bill, further attested the practical nature of their activity.

Miss Perkins quoted the Newcomb bill for suffrage as, on the whole, the best suffrage measure yet proposed.  By applying the same qualifications to alien males and females.  Senator Newcomb, she said, had fairly met the objection of inequality raised to the striking out of the word 'male' from the constitution.  She urged the League to give the bill its hearty support by bringing it to the notice of all voters and by calling on the Assemblymen of Westchester County to stand for it.  

Miss Schneiderman spoke briefly of the conditions of the unorganized girl in factory and shop, the long hours, the inadequate pay, the intimidation of the boss which made to 'submit or get out,' the only alternative.  The remedy for all this, she said, was not in individual effort, but in organization.  Men have disbelieved in women's power for organization, and doubted the value of union for women, but the trouble has been largely in their manner of presenting the subject to the working girl.  'Girls,' said Miss Schneiderman, 'are not naturally business like, and must be appealed to on grounds of humanity, the wrong they inflict on others by refusing to co-operate.  The men also will have to see that it is to their interest to help women to organize since by consenting to a lower standard of living on the part of women, they are cutting the ground from under their own feet.'

She cited the gains already manifested in such unions as the book-binders and hatters and urged all purchasers to ask for the union label on clothes.  Finally she referred her audience to the headquarters of the Trades Union League, 43 East 22nd street, for all information concerning the various unions for women.  Both speakers were greeted with hearty applause."

Source:  SEEKS VOTES FOR WOMEN -- MILITANT SUFFRAGE AND TRADES UNIONS DISCUSSED WITH CLEARNESS AT THE EQUAL FRANCHISE LEAGUE -- LARGE AUDIENCE ATTENDS, The Pelham Sun, Jan. 28, 1911, Vol. 1, No. 43, p. 1, col. 1.  

"COUNTY SUFFRAGISTS MEET.
-----

A meeting of the Westchester County Woman's Suffrage Association was held in White Plains Club Hall, corner of Railroad and Mamaroneck avenues yesterday afternoon at 3.30 o'clock.  There were good speakers and all friends and others were invited."

Source:  COUNTY SUFFRAGISTS MEET, The Pelham Sun, Feb. 11, 1911, p. 3, col. 5.  

"FORM SUFFRAGE SOCIETY.
-----

The Woman's Suffrage meeting held at the White Plains Club rooms on Friday afternoon was well attended.  

Mrs. Arthur I. Livermore, State Vice President of the Woman's Suffrage Association presided.  She said White Plains being the County Seat, the members of the Westchester County Woman's Suffrage Association felt that they had some claim upon the people here, and it was very essential that a suffrage organization should be established in this vicinity for where the centre of the county is, there is the political influence, and women being affected by legislation the same as men, they should be represented, and she hoped before the close of the eeting there would be established in White Plains a Woman's Suffrage organization.  

Mrs. James R. McAfree, of Mount Vernon, President of the Westchester County Woman's Suffrage Association, Mrs. H. A. Robinson, of Yonkers, and Mrs. Carl Osterheld address[ed]  . . . reasons why women should have equal rights with men, and stated the advantages to be gamed thereby.

Dr. G. F. M. Bond of Yonkers, delighted the audience by a recitation of two poems on Woman's Suffrage."

Source:  FORM SUFFRAGE SOCIETY, The Pelham Sun, Feb. 18, 1911, Vol. 1, No. 46, p. 3, col. 4.  

"Women's Organizations of the Pelhams
By
MARGARET LEARY
-----
PELHAM BRANCH OF THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS
-----

The Pelham Branch of the League of Women Voters, is one of the most active and interesting of the local women's groups.  It was founded in 1922 by Mrs. Henry E. Dey, who is now honorary president of the Branch.

Miss Eleanor Seed of Pelham, who succeeded Mrs. Dey as chairman in 1926, held that position through consecutive years of service until last Spring, when she formally resigned her post.  Miss Seed is acting as temporary chairman of the League branch until the appointment in the near future of a permanent chairman.  

The League of Women Voters, which is active in 42 states, the District of Columbia and Hawaii has for its object better citizenship and better government through non-partisan political education.  Started in 1920 the organization is the lineal descendant of the National Woman's Suffrage Amendment Association and it took over the task of aiding the newly enfranchised 20 million, unpracticed in voting, to take part in the Presidential election of that year.

It is the contention of the League that intelligent interest and personal responsibility in matters of government are the duties of every citizen and that honest and wise government is the best safeguard for human welfare.

The League of Women Voters, which numbers about 125 members in the Pelham Branch, is not a political party, nor is it connected with any party.  It does not support or oppose candidates, but holds that for the nomination and election of members citizens should join the parties of their choice and work actively in them.

By means of round-tables, discussion groups, open meetings and the publication of brief, up-to-date information on current questions, as well as radio lectures, the organization seeks to keep its members informed.  

The League of Women Voters tries to increase intelligent interest in public affairs and an outgrowth of such study and interest is naturally action for improved government methods, increase in social services and interest in international cooperation for the prevention of war.

The county and local branch of the League have been especially interested in the Child Labor Amendment, Unemployment Insurance, Women's Juror bill, State Aid to Education and the bill to raise the age at which children are permitted to leave school.

The Pelham Branch will hold its first meeting of the season in November and monthly meetings thereafter.  Meetings are held at the Manor Club and the homes of the members.  The local League sponsors one social function annually, a bridge party, musicale, fashion show, etc.

Mrs. James Kennedy is corresponding secretary; Mrs. Harold Bulkley, recording secretary and Mrs. George Cusack, treasurer.  It is planned to form a junior committee for the Pelham Branch this season."

Source:  Leary, Margaret, Women's Organizations of the Pelhams By MARGARET LEARY -- PELHAM BRANCH OF THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS, The Pelham Sun, Oct. 25, 1935, p. 10, cols. 5-6.  

"OPTIMISM NEEDED IN OUTLOOK OF WOMEN OF TODAY
-----
Mrs. Frank Ewing Tells Civic Club Group 'Women Must Think in Terms of Progress;' Mrs. William Lough Among Speakers at Meeting Wednesday.
-----

'We need optimism among women for our government outlook,' Mrs. Frank Ewing, County chairman of the League of Women Voters told members of the Civic Section of the Manor Club and their guests at a meeting held on Wednesday afternoon in the clubhouse.  'Don't think that one or even two administrations could ruin our country,' she said.  'We must think in terms of progress.  Let no one tell us that we are going to be dead before things are better.'

Mrs. John C. Duncan, chairman of the club civic group, presided and introduced the speakers who included also Mrs. William Lough, chairman of the Westchester County World Affairs Institute, former county chairman of the League of Women Voters, and only woman member of the Westchester County Government Commission; Mrs. Henry E. Dey, founder of the Pelham League of Women Voters and Miss Eleanor Seed, local chairman of the group for many years.

'Let women be a real part in the project of the reorganization of the government in Westchester County,' Mrs. Ewing urged, reminding her audience that the reorganization of county government has been a major project of the League of Women Voters.

The forum typie of 'discussion' meeting is becoming more popular with women, Mrs. Ewing said.  They have gotten a little tired of listening to speakers and have something to say for themselves.  'I am not alone in the opinion that we have entirely too many women's organizations today,' the speaker said.  She advocated women belonging first to a spiritual type of group, secondly to an organization that has the interests of the family at hand, and third to a cultural group.

Describing the functions of the League of Women Voters, a non-partisan national organization, Mrs. Ewing described its conventions as 'study propositions,' and advised women joining the League to identify themselves with one of the special committees, the working end of the organization.

Mrs. William Lough, prominent county woman leader, told soething of the 'Marathon Round Tables,' a project sponsored by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, 'to create a sufficiently informed public opinion.'

The benefit from the Round Tables is 'that you get facts before you get your prejudices,' Mrs. Lough said.  She emphasized the importance of the attitude of facing facts in all problems, including the proposed changes in county government.

War and peace, economics, the evolving foreign policy of United States, the situation in the Far East have been some of the topics discussed at the Round Tables almost 800 of which were held throughout the country in the past year.

Mrs. Henry E. Dey, first chairman of the Pelham Branch of the League of Women Voters, recalled her work on behalf of the Woman Suffrage movement, out of which grew the League of Women Voters to educate women in their new capacities as voters.  The first convention of the County League was called in 1921 by Mrs. Casper Whitney, the speaker said, and three years later Mrs. Dey formed the Pelham Branch of the League.  She remained its chairman until 1928 when Miss Eleanor Seed succeeded her.

Miss Eleanor Seed, who recently resigned the chairmanship of the local league, expressed the opinion that 'management of the home prepares women for almost everything in life.'  Women, she said, know extravagance and waste won't cure economic ills, they know the importance of living within one's means.  'The primary purpose of the League is to make real citizens' Miss Seed said, 'those who will leave the world better than they found it.'

Mrs. John C. Duncan, chairman of the group, who introduced the speaker, also presented Mrs. Manning Stires, the local chairman of the Pelham Branch of the League.  

Mrs. Duncan and members of the group present signed a petition to Gov. Lehman to exercise his power of executive clemency on behalf of Dorothy Sherwood, convicted of the murder of her child, to commute the death sentence and have her committed to a suitable institution under the State Board of Parole.

Tea was served with Mrs. E. B. Thomas and Mrs. Charles Bolte presiding at the tea table."

Source:  OPTIMISM NEEDED IN OUTLOOK OF WOMEN OF TODAY -- Mrs. Frank Ewing Tells Civic Club Group 'Women Must Think in Terms of Progress;' Mrs. William Lough Among Speakers at Meeting Wednesday, The Pelham Sun, Mar. 13, 1936, p. 4, col. 1.  

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Pelham Democrats Purportedly Stole the Supervisor Election in 1886 by Importing Paupers from Hart Island to Vote

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Hart Island is about 85 acres and lies due east of City Island.  The status of the island as either within the Town of Pelham or outside the Town of Pelham during the last half of the nineteenth century created confusion in a host of contexts including in Town elections.

Detail of 1867 Beers Map Showing Hart Island Shortly

Before John Hunter, Jr. Sold it to New York City.

Source:  Beers, Ellis & Soule, Atlas of New York and

Vicinity From Actual Surveys By and Under the Direction

of F. W. Beers, Assisted by Geo. E. Warner & Others, p. 7

(Philadelphia, PA:  Beers, ellis & Soule, 1867)

("Plans of East Chester, Pelham and New Rochelle Westchester Co.").

The confusion seems to have arisen from the fact that New York City bought the island in 1868 from John Hunter, Jr. for $75,000 for use as a municipal prison  and Potter's Field for the indigent.  See Westchester County Records of Land Conveyances, Liber 674, Page 447 (available at Westchester County Archives; thanks to Mark Gaffney for providing this reference).  New York City did not, however, annex the island to make it part of New York City at the time.  Thus, New York City owned the land, but the land remained within the Town of Pelham.  Pelham viewed the island owned and maintained by New York City as part of New York City and did not consider the island when dealing with town affairs.

Pelham residents recognized that the situation was ripe with possibilities for election fraud, particularly in town elections for such a tiny town where a handful of votes could change the results.  Indeed, as early as 1882, Pelham residents were concerned that some inhabitants of Hart Island insisted on voting in Town of Pelham elections.  The records of the Pelham Manor Protective Club indicate that on April 1, 1882, representatives of the "Law and Order Society of City Island" met with representatives of the Pelham Manor Protective Club "to see if we could not stop the residents of Hart's Island from voting in the town of Pelham."  The Records of The Pelham Manor Protective Club, p. 20 entry for April 1, 1882 ("At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the P. M. P. Club held at the residence of G. H. Reynolds April 1st 1882.  Reynolds, Black, Barnett, and De Witt were present, also a committee from the Law and Order Society of City Island, consisting of Messrs. Bell, Mority, and McAllister, whose purpose in metting with us was to see if we could not stop the residents of Hart's Island from voting in the town of Pelham.") (original in collections of the Westchester County Historical Society).  

In 1884, the Chief Clerk in the Election Bureau of the City of New York issued a formal opinion blessing the practice of Hart Island inhabitants voting in Pelham elections.  A brief article described the development:

"The Hart's Island Vote.

An employee in one of the city's institutions on Hart's Island wrote to the Election Bureau to ask where he ought to vote at the coming election -- in Pelham or in New York.  Investigation showed that custom sanctioned Pelham as the polling place of inhabitants of Hart's Island, while the map plainly put the island in Westchester county.  On the other hand, chapter 238 of the Laws of 1869, which empowered the Charity Commissioners to establish an industrial school on Hart's Island, referred to the island as the property of the city and county of New York.  To offset this, in the Revised Statutes of 1875 Hart's Island is included in the town of Pelham, while chapter 782 of the Laws of 1870 takes the same view, saying that the boundary line had not been altered since Capt. Bond drew his map in 1711.  The Chief Clerk of the Election Bureau concluded that the balance of authority lay with Pelham, and advised the anxious inquirer to vote there.  The vote of Hart's Island is not large.  The island is tenanted chiefly by the dead in Potter's Field."

Source:  The Hart's Island Vote, The Sun [NY, NY], Aug. 31, 1884, p. 6, col. 2.  

The following year, in 1885, City Island Democrat Sherman T. Pell ran against Republican Robert H. Scott for Town Supervisor of Pelham.  The election was a close one.  Scott beat Pell by ten votes.  See City and Suburban News - Westchester County, N. Y. Times, Apr. 2, 1885, p. 8.  

Sherman Pell and his Democratic cronies took time to formulate a plan for the following year's election.  They concluded that the decision by the Chief Clerk of the Election Bureau offered an opportunity that was simply too tempting to ignore.  The following year, Sherman Pell ran once again against incumbent Supervisor Scott.    

In that 1886 election, Sherman Pell and his Democrat cronies took advantage of the determination by the Chief Clerk of the Election Bureau that inhabitants of Hart Island could vote in Pelham elections.  First they packed the Democratic caucus that year with men from Hart Island to enable Pell to defeat former Town Supervisor James Hyatt and another up-and-coming Democrat for the Democratic nomination for Town Supervisor.  Second, they arranged to transport 25 men from Hart Island to vote in the town-wide election -- an unprecedented number of Hart Island "voters."  

The election was even closer than before.  On March 30, 1886, Sherman Pell won the election by a single vote.  The election, however, was clouded in a scandal that had Pelham tongues wagging for at least a decade.  Pell's Republican opponent Robert H. Scott announced after the election that he intended to contest the election "on the ground that 25 persons who voted for Mr. Pell were brought over from Hart's Island, and that two-thirds of them were New-York paupers having no right to vote."  Westchester County, N.Y. Times, Apr. 3, 1886, p. 8.

Sherman T. Pell's election shenanigans in the 1886 Town Supervisor election foreshadowed his more serious shenanigans once he was entrenched in the office.  When he finally lost the 1893 Town Supervisor election after seven years in office, he disappeared.  Soon it was discovered that for years Pell had executed notes on behalf of the Town, forged the signature of the Town Clerk, and sold the forged bonds on Wall Street while pocketing the proceeds.  According to a variety of reports, Pell stole amounts totaling between $30,000 and $100,000.  Pell fled to parts unknown (though rumors claimed he fled to South America).  He was never caught and was never heard from again.  See Bell, Blake A., Take the Money and Run:  Pelham Town Supervisor Sherman T. Pell, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIV, Issue 19, May 13, 2005, p. 14, col. 2.  

Daguerrotype Showing Family of Samuel Pell of City Island.

Arrow Points to a Young Sherman T. Pell Who, as Town Supervisor,

Later Forged Town of Pelham Bonds, Sold Them to Wall Street

and Pocketed the Proceeds.  Source:  Digital Collection of the Author.

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Below is text from a series of articles referencing the incidents that are the subject of today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog.  Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.

"At the town election in the town of Pelham, on the 30th ult., Sherman T. Pell, democrat, was elected Supervisor, of the town over R. H. Scott, the republican candidate, by one majority.  Now Mr. Scott being disgruntled, contests the election on the ground that of those who voted for Mr. Pell twenty-five were brought over fro Hart's Island, and that of these eighteen were paupers belonging in New York and having no right to vote at all."

Source:  [Untitled], The Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], Apr. 10, 1886, Vol. XLII, No. 1, p. 3, col. 3.

"PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND.

WHY HE SHOULD NOT BE RE-ELECTED.

The annual town election is to take place on the 29th inst., and as a natural consequence the people are casting about for not only eligible but the most suitable candidates.

In the town of Pelham a few weeks ago it was conceded that Mr. Sherman T. Pell would be almost the unanimous choice for the office of Supervisor, but of late some of the more thoughtful have been inquiring into his record, and we are forced to say that in some very important matters it is not an enviable one.

Last spring Mr. Pell was elected Supervisor of Pelham, by a bare majority of one vote, and where that vote and several others came from will be shown below.  The Chronicle has watched Mr. Pell's record closely, and we must say that while he has shown commendable zeal in some minor matters, in the more important affairs of the town where he should have stood as a bulwark to guard the people's interests, he has shown himself to be totally unfit for the honorable and trusted position which he holds.

Below are given some of the reasons why Mr. Pell should not be re-elected.  If he can justify his acts therein detailed, the Chronicle will cheerfully accord him ample space to do so.  

First -- As regards his election -- Twenty or thirty men came over from Hart's Island and voted for Mr. Pell at the last election; these men had no interest in, or knowledge of the town affairs; they were employees and inmates of the City Institutions on the Island.  The introduction of such an element into our town affairs, is wrong; unless it is rebuked by the honest and intelligent citizens of the town, it may furnish a dangerous tool in the hands of the unscrupulous men who wish to use the town government for their own personal and selfish purposes.  Of course as Mr. Pell's majority was only one, the votes of the Hart's Island men elected him.

There is littlle doubt that the following men voted for Mr. Pell.  Their residences appeared on the official list of the employees of the City Departments, published in the City Record in the January before the town election as follows:

Arthur Connor, residence, 20 Greenwich street, N. Y. City; Andrew McCauley, residence, 10 Charles Lane, N. Y. City; David T. Corde, residence, 59 Clinton Place, N. Y. City; John Murphy, residence, 511 East 15th street, N. Y. City; William Langhorst, residence, 158 East 23rd street, N. Y. City; Bernard Arthur, residence, 70 East 3rd street, N. Y. City; where his wife resides.  Mr. Arthur admitted after the election that he had resided at the above address for five years.  He registered and voted in New York City in November before the town election.  David T. Corde also voted at the November election in New York City.

Second -- On the 14th of September, 1886, seven persons presented to the Supervisor, an application under the provisions of a Statute of this State for a franchise to form a company to supply the town of Pelham with water.  

The active men among these applicants were W. R. Lambberton and Moses R. Crow, the former the attorney for the applicants and the friend of Mr. Pell, and the latter, the disgruntled Vice President of the New York and Mt. Vernon Water Company, whose hostility to that Company is no secret.  They proposed to form the Southern Westchester Water Company.

Giving them no particulars of the object of the meeting, Mr. Pell called a meeting of the Town Board and Highway Commissioners, on two days' notice, presented to them for their signatures a lithographed document which granted an exclusive franchise to the applicants to use the roads of Pelham for their pipes, and which bound the Town to allow no other company to be formed in the Town or to use the roads to supply its residents with water.  In return they were to receive, one dollar and one per cent. of the net earnings, which,, it need not be said, would never amount to anything.  The company furnished no security that they would ever complete the works, or furnish the town with water, though the town bound itself to get it from no other source; they did not even offer to indemnify the town for accidents they might cause in tearing up the roads.  This document purported to be a proposition emanating from the town, yet it was drawn by Mr. Lamberton, the applicant, and was never submitted to, or seen by the Town Counsel.  Naturally, objection was made in the Board and it was suggested that the Town Counsel should be consulted, and that such an important matter should be publicly discussed, but Mr. Pell said, it was all right, and he urged immediate action.  Thus it went through, to the delight of Messrs. Lamberton and Crow, who were present.  Fortunately one chance of escape remained open to the town for the proposition could not be accepted till the company was organized and officers elected.

The Town Counsel, heard of it unofficially and wrote to the Supervisor, setting forth the effects of the contract which were so disadvantageous to the town, and also advising him that the town had no power to grant an exclusive franchise in the roads; he advised an immediate rescission of the resolution, so far as it granted such a franchise.  The case was so plain that the Supervisor could not refuse, without manifestly betraying the interests of the town.  So the resolution was rescinded, and the applicants notified in less than a week.

The Town was saved from great loss and disadvantage and the Town of Pelham escaped from being an involuntary force in the internecine struggle which is being waged between the hostile factions in the New York and Mount Vernon Water Company.  

Now, how does Mr. Pell come out of this matter:  He has asserted that he did not know until after the meeting of the 16th of September, that the exclusive franchise had been granted, and that he did not think that that part of the contract was read to him, yet his name is signed at the foot of the grant, and he vouched for its propriety so vigorously that he calmed the objections of his colleagues.  If he did not know, how can he excuse such wretched carelessness and ignorance?  How can he justify his failure to refer the document to the Town Counsel?  When asked how he knew that the Town had power to enter into such a contract and that the application was in accordance with law, he said he supposed such was the case, for he had been told so by Messrs. Lamberton and Crow.

Now, either Mr. Pell used his position as Supervisor to advisedly put a matter through the Town Board, which was glaringly to the disadvantage of the town, or he showed himself woefully incompetent for office in allowing such a ridiculously one-sided contract to be sanctioned by him, and that, too, without any advice but from the most interested parties.

If he rests upon the latter alternative, he can only do so by admitting that he was deceived by Mr. Lamberton in a matter where the interests of the town were at stake.  How then can Mr. Pell consistently say this and continue to trust Mr. Lamberton to handle important town matters?  Mr. Pell has employed him as special counsel to advocate a bill now before the legislature for the relief of Pelham, by the taxation of the park lands in the town, and has not given any outward indication that he considers him less public spirited than before.

Mr. Pell has used his position to gain political strength, and it has been considered that he could not be beaten; but some respectable man of common sense will be found, who will be elected, and will reform the methods he has inaugurated.  Party is of little consequence, but freedom from entangling alliances is of the utmost importance."

Source:  PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], Mar. 11, 1887, Vol. XVIII, No. 966, p. 1, cols. 6-7.

"PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND.

The indications are that the political campaign this year will be the liveliest one Pelham has seen in many a day.

The present management of the town affairs of Pelham look all right on the surface, but they won't stand investigation.  The Independent is on the correct tack this time in most respects regarding that town, and the Chronicle acknowledges the 'corn.'

The plan of electing Mr. Pell Supervisor seems to contemplate the election of Mr. H. D. Carey, as Justice of the Peace, to fill the vacancy caused by the failure of Mr. Jerome Bell to qualify.  The Chronicle believes that the people of the town will see the great impropriety of having in the Town Board any officer or even stockholder of the City Island Railroad Company.  We understand that Mr. Carey owns more than 100 shares of the stock of this company.  We have not a word to say against Mr. Carey.  He is very much of a gentleman, and no doubt would be a good justice; but questions will come up before the Town Board. with reference to the railroad, in the course of its construction, and perhaps suits will have to be brought.  Mr. C's sense of propriety should dictate to him that under these circumstances he ought not to be in the Board.  Nor doe we think that Mr. Bell, who was careless or indifferent enough not to qualify, ought to be given another chance.

Jurstice Patterson, as upright an officer as Pelham ever had, is being flattered by some Democrats into the belief that they want him for justice in Pelhamville.  They don't mean what they say, but, if they take the Chronicle' sadvice they will nominate him.  Mr. Hogan is another Democrat that these same democrats think they can soothe with sweet words.  Mr. Hogan is peculiar, almost eccentric.  He is pretty capable, but he speaks his thoughts too plainly for some people.  They say they will make him assessor.  This, they think will appease him, and he will not be in the Town Board.  The Chronicle makes no promises, but it believes that if the Democratic party nominates for Supervisor such a man as Hogan or Fordham, or Hyatt, it will be a good thing for the town, and the party.  We fear Mr. Hogan will not consent to have his name used, but if he should, and Mr. Scott would consent to run as an Independent or Republican, the result would be a canvass in which the Chronicle would take great interest.

This leads us to say that we understand that Mr. Scott has yielded to the importunities of his friends, and has consented to head an Independent ticket.  To Mr. Scott, service to the town means a serious business inconvenience.  But it is eminently proper that he should be the candidate, for many people who voted against him last year are more than anxious to vote for him this year, to rebuke the Hart's Island business, of which he was the victim.

By the way, it was the use of the Hart's Island vote in the Democratic caucus that nominated Mr. Pell and defeated Messrs. Hyatt and Hogan, though Mr. Hyatt was no doubt the choice of the majority of the best class of Democrats.

Some of the Democrats of Pelham are beginning to think that Mr. Pell has shown by his associations that he is a little too much of a Republican for them.  

In addition to those referred to, Mr. Delcambre is mentioned as a candidate for the Justiceship, which belongs to Pelhamville.  Mr. Lamberton, too, has been mentioned.  For Town Clerk, the incumbent of that office, Mr. Waterhouse, is mentioned by the Republicans, and Mr. James D. Bell, by the Democrats.  For Collector, the Republicans are talking about Charles Bell, and the Democrats are divided between Messrs. Daniel Craft and John F. Adams, the present Collector.  For Road Commissioner, the Democrats talk of Wm. Cochran, Hugh Ryan and Mr. Connolly, and the Republicans of A. S. Wilson.  It is charged that the Democrats are encouraging the nomination of A. S. Wilson so that Mr. Cochran can be re-elected.  If this is so the Republicans should find another candidate.

The election in Pelham this year seems to be so much more important than usual, that the Chronicle suggests to both parties that they hold their caucuses in time to allow a full discussion of the qualifications of the candidates."

Source:  PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], Mar. 15, 1887, Vol. XVIII, No. 967, p. 1, col. 6.

"PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND.

The Country Club of Pelhham, it is understood, propose to purchase the grounds near Bartow, now leased by them and make that a permanent headquarters.

If the Democrats will nominate men whom the party can support, we will not see any more money thrown away in patches or fences -- Westchester Independent.

Accomplish the same result by voting for Scott.

Mr. Sherman T. Pell expects to be the Democratic candidate for supervisor.  He also expects the party to vote straight on election day.  Why doesn't he set the example?  His party is watching him.

The Westchester Independent is very anxious to find out where something like $43,000 has gone the past year.  The supervisor ought to be able to tell, if he would.

The interest in the approaching town election suffers no abatement.  The water franchise business, as shown up by the Chronicle, has attracted a great deal of attention, and was news to many who are usually well posted in town affair.  It is generally felt that Mr. Pell's (or Mr. Lamberton's) reply to the statements made in the Chronicle is very lame, and does not meet the issue.  Of course, every one understands the remarks about employing labor, etc.  This is mere demagogism.  No one for a moment supposes that Mr. Pell is a bit more favorable to our laboring population than Mr. Scott, who seems likely to be his opponent this year.  It is no argument for Mr. Pell; and does anybody even dream that he wanted the water franchise put through in order to benefit the laboring people of Pelham?  This is easily seen through.  The workmen know that their best friends are the solid men who contantly employ them, and not those who try to rush jobs through the Town Board, increase taxes, and then try to excuse themselves by saying they wanted to benefit the laborers.

It is good news that Mr. Scott has finally consented to be a candidate for the office of Supervisor.  There is a strong feeling among the solid citizens, both Democratic and Republican on City Island, and on 'the Main,' that the best interests of the town demand his election.  Nobody has forgotten where Mr. Pell's majority of one vote came from last year.  It was unquestionably by the votes of men brought over from Hart's Island, that he was elected -- men who can have no earthly interest in the town affairs, and many of them shown to have been registered as living in New York City just before the election; and Mr. Pell has not the shadow of a chance of success this year against Mr. Scott, except possibly by the employment of the same means.  The polls will be more carefully watched this year.  As to Mr. Scott's qualifications for the office, there is only one opinion.  He is a thoroughly reliablle man.  He has been tried and not found wanting."  

Source:  PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], Mar. 22, 1887, Vol. XVIII, No. 969, p. 3, col. 2.

"SERVICE OF SONG AND PRAYER IN THE MEN'S WARD,

CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL.  NEW YORK CITY. -- METROPOLITAN

CHARITIES -- THE BIBLE AND FRUIT MISSION TO THE PUBLIC

HOSPITALS -- MINISTERING TO THE CONVALESCENT PATIENTS

ON HART'S ISLAND."  Source:  Art and Picture Collection,

The New York Public Library. "New York City --

Metropolitan Charities -- The Bible And Fruit Mission To

The Public Hospitals -- Ministering To The Convalescent Patients

On Hart'S Island." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1879.

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1878 New York State Law Limits Powers of Pelham Town Officials to Borrow Money

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For many years during the 1870s and 1880s, rival factions on City Island and the mainland battled over whether to improve roadways in the Town of Pelham and how to pay for such improvements.  City Islanders typically opposed road improvements on the mainland and, thus, opposed efforts to raise money for such improvements.  Eventually, the City Island faction convinced State lawmakers to pass a law limiting the ability of Town officials to borrow money to fund such improvements.  The text of the statute is quoted below.

"CHAP. 355.

AN ACT to limit and define the powers of the the [sic; asterisk footnote reads "So in the original."] * supervisor, town clerk, commissioners of highways and justices of the peace of the town of Pelham, in the county of Westchester.

PASSED MAY 24, 1878; three-fifths being present.

The People of the State of New York represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

[Left Column Summary:]  Not to apply to supervisors for authority to borrow money, etc.

SECTION 1.  The supervisor, town clerk, commissioner of highways and justices of the peace of the town of Pelham, in the county of Westchester, shall not have power, after the passage of this act, to apply to the board of supervisors of the said county for authority to borrow, upon the credit of the said town, any sum whatever, and to issue the bonds of the said town under and in pursuance of chapter eight hundred and fifty-five of the laws of eighteen hundred and sixty-nine, or under chapter two hundred and sixty of the laws of eighteen hundred and seventy-four,

[Left Column Summary:]  Except by resolution of town meeting.

excepting under and in pursuance of a resolution passed at a town meeting held according to law in said town, expressing the amount to be raised, or borrowed, and the object to which the same shall be appropriated;

[Left Column Summary:]  Resolution not to be passed without notice being given and posted.

and it shall not be lawful for any such town meeting to pass any resolution for the purposes aforesaid without a public printed notice being given, and posted in at least twenty public places in said town, among which shall be the railroad station at Pelhamville, the town hall, the railroad stations at Pelham Manor and Bartow, City Island bridge and the town clerk's office and each post-office in said town, at least four weeks prior to the said town meeting,

[Left Column Summary:]  Contents of notice.

and such notice shall specify the object and amount of each sum proposed to be raised or borrowed as aforesaid, and that the same will be presented at the next town meeting.

[Left Column Summary:]  Publication.

Such notice shall also be published for four weeks prior to said meeting in a newspaper printed and published in said town, if there shall be one, and if none is so printed and published, then in a newspaper printed and published in the village of New Rochelle and also in Mount Vernon.

[Left Column Summary:]  Proof of posting and publication.  Record.


It shall be the duty of the town clerk to present to the town meeting proof of the posting and publication of such notice before any resolution shall be passed for the purposes aforesaid, and such proof shall be recorded in full in the minutes of the town meeting.

[Left Column Summary:]  Vote necessary.

§ 2.  No resolution for the appropriation or raising of money shall be passed at any town meeting in the town of Pelham unless by the vote of three-fifths of the taxpayers present at such meeting, taken by ballot, 

[Left Column Summary:]  Who entitled to vote.


and no person shall vote unless he shall be a taxpayer, and all taxpayers shall be entitled to vote for such appropriations except those who only pay a dog tax.


§ 3.  This act shall take effect immediately."

Source:  Laws of the State of New York Passed at the One Hundred and First Session of the Legislature Begun January First and Ended May Fifteenth, 1878, in the City of Albany, Chap. 355, p. 440 (Albany, NY:  A. Bleecker Banks, Publisher, 1878).

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Suffrage for Pelham Women

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In the early twentieth century, as the women of New York intensified their efforts in support of women's suffrage, there were communities that granted women property owners the right to vote in local elections. Pelham was one such community. Women property owners in Pelham were granted the right to vote on matters that affected their taxes as early as 1890. An interesting article that raised the topic appeared in the February 17, 1909 issue of The Evening World published in New York City. The text of that article appears below.

"PELHAM WOMEN CAST FIFTY VOTES, TEN THROWN OUT

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Cross Marks So Poorly Made That Nobody Could Tell What They Meant.

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WHY BALLOT WAS LOST.

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'Such a Crowd' at the Polls That Mrs. Hurttig Would Not Get Out of Carriage.

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By Ethel Lloyd Patterson.

Fifty women have voted in Pelham. Ten of the votes were thrown out because the ballots were incorrectly marked, but aside from that every one had a perfectly lovely time.

While all Manhattan, from the Battery to the Bronx, has been a seething suffrage argument, the fair citizens of Pelham have been 'saying nothing but sawing wood.' Can they vote? Well, I should say so, and not any of your fake straw ballots, either.

The momentous questions that were placed before the skirted politicians were, first: Whether a new Town Hall to cost $25,000, was to be built, and second, whether the additional purchase of a $5,000 piece of property was necessary.

'I voted in this township when no other woman would take the trouble to do it,' proclaimed Mrs. G. S. Karback, who seemed to be the leading spirit of the polls. 'Not that shirking responsibility is necessarily a feminine trait,' she added. 'The men are the same way. They want to see a measure or a resolution passed, but they won't take the trouble to go down to the polls and vote for it. Then, when things go differently from the way they wished, they commence to complain about it.

Not New Experience.

'It is nothing new, though, for the women of Pelham to vote,' Mrs. Karback continued. 'We are nineteen years ahead of New York, for we have been voting for that length of time. You see, all property owners here, whether men or women, are permitted votes upon subjects that concern their taxation. Even the joint property ownership of husband and wife allows the woman a vote. Of course, a lot of the Pelham women are not interested enough in these things to bother to come down to the polls, but I have been preaching to them lately. I ask them what they would do if their husbands died and they had to look after their own property alone. A lot more of them turned out this time than ever before. There were about one hundred and fifty voters, fifty of whom were women, I should say.

'We had regular printed ballots. The questions they were asked to vote upon were printed above, and space opposite the words 'Yes' and 'No' were left, so that a cross might be printed after either one of them.

'No, you would not think that a mistake was possible,' Mrs. Karback agreed, 'but nevertheless ten women did disqualify their votes. They printed the crosses so poorly that nobody could tell what they had attempted to signify. Then some of the them got the crosses in the wrong place, or else wrote comments on their ballots.'

Why She Didn't Vote.

'I did not vote,' Mrs. F. Hurttig, another Pelham matron, admitted, 'but I went all the way down to the fire-house on Fifth avenue, where the polls were.

'I had not intended to go, but when it was almost luncheon time somebody drove up for me and told me that my vote was needed for something or other. I did not understand it at all, but they said that all I need do was just drive down to the fire-house and draw a cross opposite the word 'Yes' on the ballot.

'When I got out of the carriage there were so many men around the firehouse that I thought I would wait a little while before I went in. The crowd did not seem to thin any, and then I remembered that the children would be coming home from school for their luncheon, so I did not say a word to any one, but I just quietly slipped home again. I would have liked to oblige them, but I did not know what it was all about, and, anyway, no one knew whether I voted or not.'

Other prominent Pelham women who cast their ballots are: Mrs. Jacob Heiser, Mrs. John Godfrey, Mrs. Thomas Monroe and Mrs. Samuel Totten."

Source: Patterson, Ethel Lloyd, Pelham Women Cast Fifty Votes, Ten Thrown Out, The Evening World, Feb. 17, 1909, p. 8, col. 1.

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Confusion Over Where Residents of Hart's Island in Pelham Should Vote in 1884

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During the 19th century, confusion arose over whether Hart's Island was part of the Town of Pelham, part of Westchester County or part of New York City. This created confusion over where residents of the Island should vote. The matter was clarified by statute, but later Pelham residents became outraged as the political machines of New York began to push people who worked on Hart's Island to vote in Pelham.

A brief article published in The Sun on August 31, 1884 recounted the confusion and how it was addressed by statute. The text of the article appears below.

"The Hart's Island Vote.

An employee in one of the city's institutions on Hart's Island wrote to the Election Bureau to ask where he ought to vote at the coming election -- in Pelham or in New York. Investigation showed that custom sanctioned Pelham as the polling place of inhabitants of Hart's Island, while the map plainly put the island in Westchester county. On the other hand, chapter 238 of the Laws of 1869, which empowered the Charity Commissioners to establish an industrial school on Hart's Island, referred to the island as the property of the city and county of New York. To offset this, in the Revised Statutes of 1875 Hart's Island is included in the town of Pelham, while chapter 782 of the Laws of 1870 takes the same view, saying that the boundary line had not been altered since Capt. Bond drew his map in 1711. The Chief clerk of the Election Bureau concluded that the balance of authority lay with Pelham, and advised the anxious inquirer to vote there. The vote of Hart's Island is not large. The island is tenanted chiefly by the dead in Potter's Field."

Source: The Hart's Island Vote, The Sun, Aug. 31, 1884, p. 6, col. 2.

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