Ida A. Craft Timeline

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1860

December 25: Ida Augusta Craft born to the merchant tailor John Craft and Eleanor Voorhies Perlee in Brooklyn, NY.

1870

June 24:  Ida (age 9) is recorded in the 1870 census, along with father John (49), mother Eleanor (46), brothers James (22), Edward (18), and aunt Caroline (60).

1895

March 6: The Standard Union (Brooklyn) reports that Ida Craft was appointed as an auditor for the upcoming year.

June 2: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports Ida Craft's involvement with the Kings County Political Equality League.

October 29: The Brooklyn Daily Eaglereports Ida Craft's serving as secretary for a meeting of the Bedford Equality League.

1897

November 4: Ida Craft is reported in The New York Sun as having served as a delegate to a convention of the Woman Suffrage Association, representing the Women's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.).

December 7: The Brooklyn Times Union records Ida Craft as the Treasurer of the Bedford Political Equality League.

1898

February 3: Death of John Craft.

1899

November 14: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports that Ida Craft served as the chair of a meeting of the Elizabeth Cady Stanton Political Equality League of the Eastern District.

1900

November 2: Ida Craft elected a delegate to the National Woman's Suffrage Association convention, to be held in Minneapolis in June 1901.

1905

The Times Union (Brooklyn) reported on a meeting of the Bedford Political Equality League, held at the home of Ida A. Craft at 294 Stuyvesant Avenue.  Craft was named as the President of the Kings County Political Equality League.

1912

December 15:  The New York Sun reports that the suffragists are preparing their "move on Albany in true military style," noting the various roles assigned to members of the group: "General, Rosalie Jones; colonel, Ida Craft; war correspondent, Jessie Stubbs; aid-de-camp, Lillian D. Rockefeller; brigade surgeon, Lavinia Cock; quartermaster, A. (Adolph) Major; and drummer boy, Jacob Mirsky."  Several of these titles would change along the way, with Dock often referred to as the Surgeon General.  

December 16: The suffrage pilgrims set off for Albany with a group of 27 suffrage workers.  Along the way they face harsh winter weather and the occasional jeers of anti-suffragists. Adolph Major, a supporter of the cause, followed the group by car with "peanuts, chocolate, and sandwiches that will furnish luncheons between towns," as well as suffragist literature and additional clothing for the hikers.

December 28: Only a smattering of suffragists, including Rosalie Jones, Ida Craft, Lavinia Dock, and Sybyl Wilson--remain by the time they reach Albany shortly after 4:00 pm.  

1913

January: Ida Craft is elected to the board of electors, Brooklyn chapter of the Woman's Suffrage Party.

February 10: The suffrage pilgrims from New York set off on a hike to Washington, DC for the Women's Suffrage Procession.

March 3: The historic Women's Suffrage Procession occurs in Washington, D.C.  

May 21: Death of Eleanor Voorhies Perlee Craft. Ida Craft serves as the executor of the estate, and receives a substantial inheritance as well as the house at 294 Stuyvesant Avenue.

July 19: The Chat (Brooklyn) relates Craft's recent activity as Suffrage leader of the Fifth Assembly District.  On July 15 Craft spoke at Union Square, NYC, for the Woman's Suffrage Party.  Craft noted that fall 1913 would be a particularly vigorous time for the suffrage movement.

September: Accompanied by Elizabeth Freeman, Else MacKenzie, and Vera Wentworth, Ida Craft makes a suffrage trip to Boston, Massachusetts.  The Chat (Brooklyn) noted in October her grueling touring and speaking schedule.

December 20:  The Chat (Brooklyn) reports that "Colonel" Craft and "General" Rosalie Jones have just returned (Dec 6) from a trip to Washington, DC, calling Craft "the backbone of her party."

1914

January: Ida Craft and a group of suffrage workers, including head for Albany on the second major hike to the state capitol.

September: Craft returns from a speaking tour of Montana, Nevada, Nebraska, where women's voting rights were on the ballot, as well as a number of other western states where women already had the vote (Oregon, Washington, California, Utah, and Colorado).

September 30: The Brooklyn Woman's Suffrage Association honors Ida A. Craft for her tireless work for the cause.  Five hundred people attend the event, held at the residence of Louise Woelfle, 98 S. Elliot Place, Brooklyn. 

November 14: Craft moves her home base to the Hotel Martha Washington, as she intends to spend the winter months traveling in support of the suffrage party.

1916

As national suffragist leaders such as Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947) and Alice Paul (1885-1977) take more public roles in the movement and the push for the 19th Amendment, Ida Craft spends more time lecturing, traveling, and picketing in Washington, DC.

June: Suffragist Alice Paul breaks away from the establish National Woman's Suffrage Party to form the National Woman's Party.  The group espouses a more progressive approach that includes picketing the White House and making stronger demands.

Summer: Ida Craft travels to Alaska and the Western states to push for  suffrage legislation.

1917

April: Ida Craft spends much of her time in Washington DC, picketing in solidarity with the National Woman's Party. 

September 6:  The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports that Ida Craft has broken away from the Woman's Suffrage Party to join the National Woman's Party.  After a brief respite in Brooklyn, she states she will return to Washington to picket through the winter.  In the article she rails against the conservative nature of the Woman's Suffrage Party, saying, "They are holding back the movement.  They do not realize that just as methods of carrying on warfare have changed so have methods of gaining suffrage."

1919

The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution is passed in the Senate.

1920

August 26: After Tennessee became the 36th and last state needed to vote for the 19th Amendment on August 18, woman's suffrage becomes ratified as the law of the land.

1940

Ida Craft celebrates her 80th birthday with a reception in her honor.

1945

Ida Craft moves to Pearl River, New York.

1947

September 14: Ida A. Craft dies in Pearl River; her estate is bequeathed to her niece, Eleanor Craft Bartindale.