Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
ADAMS, Mary Newbury
ADAMS, Mary Newbury. (Peru, IN, Oct. 17, 1837--Dubuque, IA, Aug. 5, 1901). Suffragette. One of the founders of the NORTHERN IOWA WOMAN SUFFRAGE SOCIETY, Adams believed women needed education before gaining the right to vote. Living in predominantly Catholic Dubuque, she was especially concerned about the clergy's great influence over women. An early member of the Iowa Federation of Women's Clubs, Adams believed the right to vote would be useless to uneducated women unable to comprehend complex political and social events. Adams was also associated with the Woman's Suffrage Association, Dubuque Ladies Literary Association, General Federation of Women's Clubs, National Science Foundation, Association for the Advancement of Women, Anthropological Society, and the Social Science Association. To further education of children, she gave her own books to country schools that eventually resulted in the creation of the County Library.
Adams was the wife of Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Austin Adams.