Harriet Sheldon Wells

Background

Harriet Sheldon Wells was born in Brooklyn, N. Y. , the daughter of George Preston Sheldon, president of the Phoenix Fire Insurance Company, and Anne Frances Pendleton.

Education

She spent her early life in Greenwich, Connecticut, and studied languages and music in Europe.

Career

After her marriage Wells became active in the woman suffrage movement. She served as treasurer of the Woman's Suffrage Party of New York City, and in 1915 she was named chairman of that organization's Woman Voter Subcommittee. A trusted lieutenant of Carrie Chapman Catt, Wells worked to obtain a suffrage amendment to the New York State constitution. She and her associates canvassed homes and factories, and staged publicity-producing rallies and parades. The leaders of the New York Woman's Suffrage Party sought to dissociate themselves from the militant tactics employed by many zealous suffragists. Wells and others on the organization's executive committee believed that militancy was counterproductive because many people did not discriminate between the moderate branch of the suffrage movement and the more radical one. Wells's efforts met with considerable frustration; not until 1917 did New York State enact woman suffrage. During her years of intense suffrage activity, Wells also served as a director of the Leslie Woman's Suffrage Committee, a group formed by Catt to handle the legacy of almost $1 million left by Mrs. Frank Leslie to support the suffrage movement. The funds were spent throughout the nation to publicize the suffrage movement by printing and disseminating prosuffrage speeches and pamphlets. After woman suffrage was achieved in New York State, Wells began to work for passage of a federal suffrage amendment. Her activities were interrupted by American entry into World War I, during which she and her husband served overseas with the American Red Cross. After her return to the United States, Wells resumed her suffrage activities, working through the New York City and New York State Woman's Suffrage parties. In 1931, Wells and her husband moved to France. They remained in Paris after the outbreak of World War II. When the Germans occupied Paris in June 1940, Wells and her husband prepared to return to the United States, but Thomas Wells's health would not permit the trip. He died at the American Hospital in Paris in September 1944. After her husband's death, Wells returned to New York City, where she spent the last sixteen years of her life. She died in New York.

Achievements

• Her greatest moment of glory occurred on August 26, 1920, when she carried a victory banner at the head of a parade to honor Catt upon the enactment of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution. In a sense, Wells, too, was honored by the parade. Although she was more a follower than a leader, it was through local organizing such as she conducted that woman suffrage was finally realized.

Connections

On June 21, 1902, she married Thomas Bucklin Wells, of Harper and Brothers, who later became chairman of the corporation's board and editor in chief of Harper's magazine.

Father:

George Preston Sheldon

President of the Phoenix Fire Insurance Company

Mother:

Anne Frances Pendleton

Spouse:

Thomas Bucklin Wells