Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/83

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CONNECTICUT
69

to the convention. Mrs. Hooker prepared a Memorial that was presented and referred to a committee, which refused not only to grant a hearing to the suffragists but even to receive for distribution in the convention the copies of the Memorial which had been printed. Charles Hopkins Clark, editor of the Courant, was chairman. Two suffrage resolutions were presented in the convention at the request of the State association, by Daniel Davenport of Bridgeport and Colonel Norris Osborn of New Haven, and were defeated without debate.

In 1902 the State convention was held at Collinsville, in spite of some unwillingness of local suffragists to "shock the town" by having such a meeting there. By this time Mrs. Hooker, though still president, had largely relinquished the work to Mrs. Elizabeth D. Bacon, the faithful vice-president. A general feeling of discouragement was perceptible in the reports to the convention of 1903, which was held at Mrs. Hooker's home in Hartford with only 21 delegates present; also to the convention of 1904 in New Haven. Nevertheless it was voted to ask the Legislature for Municipal suffrage for women.

During these years the annual expenditures never amounted to $200. In 1905 at the convention in Hartford on November 1 the treasurer reported that $137 had been spent. In 1906, when the convention was held at Meriden, November 2, the disbursements were reported as $162. There were only nine delegates and Mrs. Hooker, who had not attended the meetings for two years, was made honorary president, and Mrs. Bacon was elected to the presidency. Mrs. Hooker died in January, 1907, at the age of 85, thus taking from the movement one of the most brilliant figures of the early period.

The convention of 1907 was held in Hartford October 29, and the following year it met in New Haven on October 1. A slightly increased membership was reported and some younger women had come into the movement, including Mrs. Jessie Adler of Hartford, who was responsible later for the candidacy of Mrs. Thomas N. Hepburn. The expenditures for 1908 were $265. In 1909 the convention was held at Meriden. It was reported that the National Association had sent a request to Connecticut for a petition to Congress with a quota of at least