Upton named Great Ohioan

Staff report

COLUMBUS

Harriet Taylor Upton, Warren’s famous women’s-rights advocate and author, has been selected as one of four 2011 Great Ohioans by the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board and the Capitol Square Foundation.

Great Ohioan honorees and their achievements are chronicled in a permanent Great Ohioan exhibit that is part of the Ohio Statehouse Museum.

The exhibit presents recipients of the Great Ohioan award on a large touch-monitor. Visitors can then explore the life and accomplishments of each recipient.

The three other Great Ohioans selected this year are Ulysses S. Grant, Civil War general and president; William Moore McCulloch, Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, congressman and civil-rights advocate; and William Howard Taft, president and Supreme Court chief justice.

Since 2003, 20 other Great Ohioans have been recognized. Among them are Orville and Wilbur Wright, John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Jesse Owens and Thomas Edison.

“This year’s class of Great Ohioans recognizes four remarkable individuals who have made pre-eminent contributions to Ohio and the nation,” said Sen. Richard Finan, chairman of the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board.

Opened in 2009, the Ohio Statehouse Museum features high-tech, interactive exhibits that make learning about all three branches of state government fun.

Upton was born Dec. 17, 1853, in Ravenna. She died Nov. 2, 1945.

At age 7, her family moved to Warren. In 1890, she joined the National Women’s Suffrage Association. The next year, she began Ohio Women in Convention, a group of women seeking equal opportunities, especially the right to vote.

Upton emerged as a leading women’s-rights advocate by the early 1890s. In 1894, members of the National Women’s Suffrage Association elected Upton treasurer of the organization. She served in this capacity until 1910.

It was at Upton’s urging that the National Women’s Suffrage Association moved its national headquarters to Warren during this same time period. Upton also served as president of the Ohio Women’s Suffrage Association from 1899 to 1908 and from 1911 to 1920.

Besides advocating for women’s rights, Upton played other roles in politics. In 1898, she was the first woman elected to the Warren Board of Education. A lifelong member of the Republican Party, Upton was the first woman to serve on the Republican National Executive Committee.

In 1928, she helped lead the Republican Party’s campaign in Ohio by becoming an assistant state campaign manager. Upton also unsuccessfully ran for the House of Representatives in 1926.

She was a prolific author. Besides writing several children’s books, she also wrote several histories, including “History of the Western Reserve,” “Our Early Presidents: Their Wives and Children” and “A Twentieth Century History of Trumbull County.”