of New York, and her presence at the head of our meetings in Oregon was a source of genuine satisfaction to the friends of the cause in the new State of her adoption. Subsequently, Mrs. Williams was compelled to resign on account of increasing infirmities, but her wise counsels are still cherished by her successors, whom she regards with motherly solicitude as she serenely awaits the final summons of the unseen messenger. Many of those who early distinguished themselves in this connection deserve special mention because of their long-continued zeal in the work.[1] If others failed us, these were always ready to work the hardest when the fight was hottest. And whatever might be our differences of opinion personally, we have always presented an unbroken phalanx to the foe. The original society at Salem having disbanded, its members joined the new State Association organized at Portland, which has ever since been regarded as the nucleus of all our activities.
In September of 1872, I visited the Oregon legislature, where I went clothed by our association with discretionary power to do what I could to secure special legislation for the women of the State, who, with few exceptions, were at that time entirely under the dominion of the old common law. The exceptions were those fortunate women who, having come to Oregon as early as 1850 and '52, had, by virtue of a United States law, known as the Oregon Donation Land Act, become possessed of "claims," as they were called, on equal shares with their husbands, their half, or halves, of the original ground being set apart as their separate property in realty and fee simple. This Donation Land Act deserves especial mention, it being the first law enacted in the United States which recognized the individual personality of a married woman. It became a temporary law of congress in 1850, mainly through the efforts of Hon. Samuel R. Thurston, delegate from Oregon territory (which at that time included the whole of Washington territory), aided by the eminent Dr. Linn of Missouri, from whom one of the principal counties of the State of Oregon derives its name.
My first experience in the capitol was particularly trying. I spent two days among my acquaintances in Salem in a vain attempt to find a woman who was ready or willing to accompany me to the State-house. All were anxious that I should go, but each was afraid to offend her husband, or make herself conspicuous, by going herself. Finally, when I had despaired of securing company, and had nerved myself to go alone, Mary P. Sawtelle, who afterwards became a physician, and now resides in San Francisco where she has a lucrative practice, volunteered to stand by me, and together we entered the dominion hitherto considered sacred to the aristocracy of sex, and took seats in the lobby, our hearts beating audibly. Hon. Joseph Engle, perceiving the innovation and knowing me personally, at once arose, and, after a complimentary speech in which he was pleased to recognize my position as a jonrnalist, moved that I be invited to a seat within the bar and provided with table and stationery as were other members of the profession. The motion carried, with only two
- ↑ Mr. D. W. Williams, Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Shanahan, Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Gibson, Rev. T. L. Eliot, Mr. B. C. Duniway, Dr. Mary A. Thompson, Rev. Isaac Dillon and Hon. and Mrs. G. W. Brown.
