In 1906 Miss Anthony passed away and many leagues held memorial meetings. The Woman's Club of Orange joined the suffrage association in holding one addressed by Dr. Shaw, preceding the State convention held there in Union Hall in November. Henry B. Blackwell traced the history of woman suffrage in New Jersey from 1776 and made a plea for the Presidential franchise for women, for which a committee was appointed. Resolutions thanking the American Federation of Labor for its stand on woman suffrage and expressing sympathy with the imprisoned "suffragettes" in England were passed.
In 1907 little suffrage work was done by the association owing to the absence of the president from the State. The leagues worked along many lines, for police matrons; for "school cities"; studied the lives of the pioneers and the constitution and laws of the State and held public meetings with good speakers. The annual convention met in the public library in Newark and it was voted to petition Congress for a Federal Suffrage Amendment. Dr. DeHart was elected president and the other new officers were Mrs. Ella A. Kilborn and Miss Mary D. Campbell, secretaries. Miss Mary Willits and Mrs. Mary B. Kinsley were the only other officers who had been added in the past seven years.
In 1908 at the State convention in Bayonne Mrs. Clara S. Laddey of Arlington was elected president and Miss Emma L. Richards of Newark recording secretary. Dr. Hussey was made chairman of the Committee on Literature and Petitions and the Rev. Mrs. Blackwell was appointed to write to President Roosevelt in behalf of the Federal Suffrage Amendment, as requested by the National Association. Public lectures by Dr. Shaw, Miss Janet Richards of Washington and others were arranged for Newark. Dr. Emily Blackwell, of the New York Infirmary for Women, was made honorary president.
Mrs. Laddey visited all the leagues and spoke before many societies, including the large German Club at Hoboken. With Dr. Hussey she attended the State convention of the Federation of Labor and obtained its endorsement of the Federal Suffrage Amendment. She put new life into the association and was re-elected at the State convention in 1909 at Newark. Over fifty delegates were present and it was reported that 5,000 names
