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| Helen Ekin Starrett |
Helen Ekin Starrett was a renowned author, editor, publisher, inventor, educator, reporter, business woman and popular leader of the Women's Suffrage movement.
Before she passed away, she was one of only two original delegates still living to attend both the first Suffrage Convention and the Victory Convention in Chicago, 1920. She died three months after the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, which guaranteed women the right to vote, something she had long fought for. She was also a close friend of Susan B. Anthony.
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| Helen Starrett and a women's suffrage convention |
Her presence at the Victory Convention reportedly made her somewhat of a superstar in that she had become an idol and mentor to thousands of women. The New York Sun reported that you could always tell where she was at the Victory Convention because she was constantly surrounded by mobs of women of all ages who wanted to meet her.
In February 1864, she married her childhood sweetheart Rev. William Starrett and moved to Lawrence, Kansas, taking on the role of pastor’s wife in the pioneer community. Not content in that role, Helen quickly turned to teaching music, served as a newspaper editor, assisting her husband in his school superintendent duties, and becoming one of the state’s leading speakers and lecturers on the Suffrage Movement.
After her husband passed the bar in 1880, her family relocated to Chicago where she founded Western Magazine. After three years, the magazine closed and Helen once again returned to teaching. She was founder and principal for nine years of the Kenwood Institute, a classical school for girls and later founded and incorporated the Starrett School for Girls, both located in the Kenwood Community of Chicago. Founded in 1883, the Starrett School was one of the city’s oldest private schools, a large day school with accommodations for resident pupils providing classes from kindergarten to college preparation.
Starrett became the second elected president of the Illinois Woman’s Press Association in 1893 and served the Association during the year of the World’s Columbian Exposition also known as Chicago’s World’s Fair.
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| A NY Sun feature Starrett's sons |
When Helen “retired” to Portland, Oregon in 1916, The Oregon Daily Journal printed a story about her role as the new president of the Ainsworth Parent-Teacher Association. She remained active in education and social matters, and attributed these things to be the secret to her youth. Her children built her a beautiful house in Portland where she would spend her final years.
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| Helen Ekin Starrett and one of her many books |
In addition to having patented improvements to women's shoes, she published several books, including Letters to a Daughter (1882), The Future of Educated Women (1880) , The Charm of Fine Manners, (1885) Pete, The Story of a Chicken (1886), Letters to a Little Girl (1886), A Little Sermon to School Girls (1886), Letters to Elder Daughters; Charm of a Well-Mannered Home (1888), Let Her Stand Alone (1890), Crocus and Wintergreen (1907), The Future of Our Daughters, After College; Now What? (1885), many poems and song lyrics, and countless other written works.
Sources: Ancestry.com, Find-a-Grave, Oakland Tribune, Illinois Woman’s Press Association, NY Tribune, NY Sun, Amazon.com
3 comments:
Michael,
Wow, what a find. This woman should be added to our regular history tour. A very good read. Thank you.
Chris
I just saw this nice writeup of Helen Ekin Starrett, my great great grandmother. Much of the information gathered from the various online sources actually originates to my blog, www.itsabeautifultree.com, a site I started years ago as I began researching Helen's life. (The various sites are contributed to by a few of her other descendants.) The information on the blog, on ancestry, on Find a Grave, on wikipedia, and the unpublished family sources will-- in the future-- become a book on her life and legacy. Many of Helen's descendants are interred at Mountain View, and, and interesting footnote, her descendants are the Dinwiddies, many of whom are also interred at Mountain View. The mausoleum in which she rests was built by the Dinwiddie Construction Company, which, at the time, was in part, led by Helen's grandson (and my grandfather) Jim Dinwiddie (also interred at Mountain View). Helen Ekin Starrett was a fine woman who accomplished a great deal in her time. It is regrettable that her husband was buried in Chicago-- we would all love dearly to have him with her in Oakland.
Julie Dirkes Phelps
"Dirkelps"
www.itsabeautifultree.com
Nice article! I’m one of Helen Ekin Starrett’s great great granddaughters (and creator of her find a grave and Wikipedia pages). I’ve written extensively about Helen’s life and I’m in the process of writing her biography. My blog, itsabeautifultree.com is the source for current articles published about her—there’s a lot more about her life in the various pieces on the blog. Although I write the articles, two of her other great great grandsons are also involved in the management of the site. She was a fascinating woman with such a rich history. Many of her descendants are interred in the same mausoleum at Mountain View. If you do include her in your tour and would like any further information, please let me know!
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