Judith Winsor Smith

Judith Winsor Smith joined the suffrage movement at its start and lived to see its success.

Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University

Quick Facts

Significance:

Suffragist

Place of Birth:

Marshfield, Massachusetts

Date of Birth:

November 26, 1821

Place of Death:

Boston, Massachusetts

Date of Death:

December 3, 1921

Spending seven decades at the center of the Boston suffrage movement, Judith Winsor Smith proudly claimed, "I believed in suffrage before there was such a word in the dictionary."¹

Born in 1821, Judith Winsor grew up in the Marshfield/Pembroke area in southeastern Massachusetts. Her family supported civil rights for both African Americans and women—her father operated a station on the Underground Railroad and her mother joined her in signing an early suffrage petition.² Judith Winsor married the ship-builder Silvanus Smith in 1841, and they moved to East Boston in 1854.³ Living in East Boston for over 60 years, they had six children.⁴

Judith Winsor Smith became involved in local social justice movements, including abolition. The Boston Globe recognized her as an "ardent Abolitionist when that cause was unpopular and a close friend of William Lloyd Garrison and Theodore Parker."⁵

Although not as well remembered as Lucy Stone or Julia Ward Howe, Judith Winsor Smith "belong[ed] to that famous group of pioneers" of the early women’s rights movement.⁶ She joined the New England Woman's Club in 1873 and founded the Home Club of East Boston, another women’s organization.⁷ As the suffrage movement gained ground, she held leadership roles in both local and national organizations. Smith served as president of the East Boston Woman Suffrage League and as a member of the executive committee of several organizations: the American Woman Suffrage Association, the New England Woman Suffrage Association, and the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association.⁸

Judith Winsor Smith continued to play a significant role in the women's suffrage movement in the 1900s. Known by younger suffragists as "Aunt Judith," she attended suffrage meetings, handed out suffrage literature, and even joined the 1915 suffrage parade.⁹ Alice Stone Blackwell in The Woman Citizen recounted Smith's particular interest in the 1915 state referendum on women's suffrage:

During the 1915 campaign, she was apt to vanish from home. Then her family would call up suffrage headquarters, and find that she was there addressing envelopes.¹⁰

Her tireless work as the "oldest suffragist" ended in victory with the ratification of the 19^th Amendment. Voting in the 1920 election, Smith expressed gratitude for obtaining this right, while seeing the Amendment's lasting effects: "All the girls will be brought up to vote."¹¹

Judith Winsor Smith died on December 3, 1921 after suffering from a fall.¹² While largely unremembered, Smith’s constant presence throughout the women’s suffrage movement made her well-respected and admired by younger generations. Alice Stone Blackwell wrote a poem for her 90^th birthday, which captured Judith Winsor Smith's contributions:

All hail to "Aunt Judith," now 90 years young!
She has helped great reformers on their way to success;
As a soldier in grim antislavery strife,
As a citizen, grandmother, mother and wife,
As a member of clubs and a wise, loyal friend,
In her, endless titles to reverence blend.
For two hours, on election day, not long ago,
She stood where the voters streamed past in a row,
And gave suffrage leaflets to all who would take them.
Now isn't she plucky and good as they make them?¹³

Footnotes:

1. “Pioneer Suffragist, Oldest in Parade,” unknown newspaper. From Box 1, Additional Papers of Margaret Foley, 1894-1974, https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/8/resources/8091.
2. “She’ll vote even if it rains,” Boston Globe, August 29, 1920.
3. They lived in Plymouth County before moving to East Boston. See “Pioneer Suffragist, Oldest in Parade,” unknown newspaper. From Box 1, Additional Papers of Margaret Foley, 1894-1974, https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/8/resources/8091; “98 Years Young,” The Woman Citizen 4, no. 21, accessed March 2021, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000098651064&view=1up&seq=484.
4. “Funeral Will be Held Tomorrow” Boston Herald, December 14, 1921; “She’ll vote even if it rains,” Boston Globe, August 29, 1920.
5. “Women’s Club Pays Tribute to Mrs. Smith, 100 November 26,” Boston Globe, November 01, 1921.
6. “Women’s Club Pays Tribute to Mrs. Smith, 100 November 26,” Boston Globe, November 01, 1921.
7. “98 Years Young,” The Woman Citizen 4, no. 21, accessed March 2021, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000098651064&view=1up&seq=484; “Women’s Club Pays Tribute to Mrs. Smith, 100 November 26,” Boston Globe, November 01, 1921.
8. “98 Years Young,” The Woman Citizen 4, no. 21, accessed March 2021, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000098651064&view=1up&seq=484; “Women’s Club Pays Tribute to Mrs. Smith, 100 November 26,” Boston Globe, November 01, 1921.
9. “Women’s Club Pays Tribute to Mrs. Smith, 100 November 26,” Boston Globe, November 01, 1921.
10. “98 Years Young,” The Woman Citizen 4, no. 21, accessed March 2021, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000098651064&view=1up&seq=484.
11. For more information on her experiences voting, please see the article: "Boston Women Register to Vote;" "She’ll vote even if it rains," Boston Globe, August 29, 1920.
12. “Funeral Will be Held Tomorrow,” Boston Herald, December 14, 1921.
13. ”Correspondence, 1843-1922," Box 1, Folder 7. Judith Winsor Smith Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, http://www.masshist.org/collection-guides/view/fa0063?terms=judith%20winsor%20smith.