Lucy Stone was born to Francis and Hannah (Matthews) Stone in West Brookfield, MA in 1813. She objected to her father’s tyrannical rule of the household. Her mother earned a small income selling eggs and cheese, but her father refused to let her have any say in how the money was spent. Francis thought it was okay to let his daughters learn to read, but that there was no need for education beyond that. Lucy decided to educate herself. Her father eventually relented and allowed her to go to school when he saw how important education was to her. She became a teacher at age 16. At age 25 Lucy went west to attend Oberlin College in Oberlin, OH. The college was progressive to a point in that it allowed women to take classes but did not allow women to speak publicly or to debate men publicly. She was asked to write the commencement speech when she graduated from Oberlin on the condition that it was to be read by a man. She declined to write the speech. She and Antoinette Brown, another student at Oberlin and her future sister-in-law, organized an off-campus debate club for women. Lucy was said “to have a voice like a silver bell” and could easily move her audiences to laughter, or to tears. After college Lucy decided to embark on a career of public speaking. She advocated against slavery and for the equal treatment of women. On July 4, 1856 she was speaking at an Abolitionist affair in Viroqua Wisconsin. For some unknown reason the stage she was standing on collapsed. She arose shaken, but unhurt, and shouted out, “So will the nation fall unless slavery is abolished!”
Lucy did not attend the first Woman’s Rights convention held in Seneca Falls, NY July of 1848, but she helped to organize one in Worcester, MA a couple of years later in 1850. Woman’s Rights groups had been developing independently of each other in various states. The Worcester Convention pressed for a more unified, national approach. She was the final speaker. Susan B. Anthony, who was to become an even more famous Woman’s Rights advocate than Lucy, was unable to attend that event, but said that reading a transcript of Lucy’s speech motivated her to join the movement. The National Woman Suffrage Association was formed shortly after the Worcester Convention with Lucy, Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton as principal members. Lucy toured and gave lectures almost constantly. She curtailed her activities somewhat when she gave birth to Alice, her only child, in 1857. She had met Henry Blackwell in 1853 at an Abolitionist rally. He was just as passionate about ending slavery as she was and came to share her ideas about equality for women. She did not want to get married, but he actively pursued her. She finally accepted his proposal after he showed that he was willing to make her a full and equal partner, with control over her own finances and control over her own destiny. Their vows were a list of grievances against the way women were being treated at the time. The minister published their vows and the couple came under an intense national spotlight. Another thing that made national headlines was that Henry agreed that Lucy did not have to take his last name; although, she was compelled to sign some deeds and legal documents as Lucy Stone Blackwell. Henry organized her tours and often spoke at her engagements.
When Alice was born Lucy and Henry lived in Orange, NJ. Lucy refused to pay the local property taxes when the bill came due; claiming that there should be no taxation without (her) representation. Some of her furniture was confiscated to pay the taxes. Her neighbors bought the pieces at a sheriff’s sale and returned them to Lucy. In 1858 Henry and Lucy bought a house and 30 acres in Montclair under Lucy’s name. The house still stands at 118 North Mountain Ave. They only lived at 118 North Mountain for 3 years (and in Cincinnati for part of that time), but Lucy still owned the property and rented it out through an agent until she passed away.
Lucy and Antoinette Brown spoke about women’s rights at a session of the New Jersey legislature in 1867. They were met with such a lack of enthusiasm that they immediately founded the New Jersey Woman Suffrage Association along with Portia Kellogg. In 1868 Lucy founded the New England Woman Suffrage Association with Julia Ward Howe. Lucy began publishing the Woman’s Journal, the voice of the women’s movement, in 1870. Henry worked alongside her, as did their daughter Alice and her niece, Emma, who married Henry’s brother George. In 1870 the 15th amendment to the US Constitution was ratified. It gave citizenship and voting rights to former slaves, but did not mention gender. Lucy was able to accept that with the proviso that it was a good “first step”. Susan Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton were incensed that the amendment did not address the female right to vote. This led to a split. Susan and Elizabeth formed a new National Woman Suffrage Association while Lucy started the American Woman Suffrage Association. Susan and Elizabeth started to downplay Lucy’s role in the suffrage movement, which may explain why Lucy is not quite as well-known as they are. The two organizations reconciled in 1890, largely at the urging of Lucy’s daughter Alice. Susan B. Anthony was the first president of the National-American Woman Suffrage Association. Lucy was a trustee. Because of declining health, she did not become an officer. She passed away in 1893. Henry continued to publish the Women’s Journal until his death in 1908.
The Blackwell family was one of the most remarkable families of mid-19th century America. They came to the United States from Great Britain. Henry went into the sugar business, just like his father, Samuel, but Henry was disgusted by the plight of the slaves who harvested the cane on sugar plantations in the Caribbean. He supported himself by various means, including real estate trades, and tried unsuccessfully to extract sugar from beets for many years, because beets did not involve slave labor. His brother, Samuel, married Lucy’s old classmate, Antoinette Brown, who was the first ordained female minister in the country. She studied for the ministry at Oberlin. They refused to ordain her. She was asked to head a Congregational church in South Butler, NY anyway. Her parishioners ordained her by decree. She gave lectures and preached all over the country as Lucy Stone did; eventually settling down to a parish in Elizabeth, NJ.
Henry’s sister, Elizabeth, was the first board-certified female physician in the United States. She applied to dozens of medical schools and was rejected by all of them until she approached Geneva Medical College in Geneva, NY. The administration decided to let the all-male student body vote on whether to accept her or not. The men thought it was a joke, they voted yes, and were stunned when Elizabeth walked in. She graduated at the top of her class in 1849. She founded The NY Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children. After the Civil War she was joined by her sister, Emily Blackwell, who had also become a physician thanks to Elizabeth’s ground breaking efforts. Under Emily’s capable direction The Infirmary became a full-fledged hospital and medical teaching college. Neither Elizabeth nor Emily married. Elizabeth and Emily built a summer home not far from Lucy and Henry. It stood about where 154 Upper Mountain Ave. is today. Elizabeth went back to England in 1869 and became the first registered female physician on the English Registry. Emily continued to live and work in NYC, but retired to a house on Plymouth St. in Montclair. This was a dynamic, barrier busting family. The conversations when they all gathered at the house at 118 North Mountain Ave. must have been scintillating.