Laura Clay (1849-1941) - Find a Grave Memorial

Suffragist. Born into an influential and politically active family, she was educated at Lexington, Kentucky's Sayre School, Mrs. Sarah Hoffman's Finishing School in New York City, New York, and the Universities of Michigan and Kentucky. She devoted her life to the cause of women's suffrage after the divorce of her parents left her mother homeless in 1869. She, along with Josephine Henry, founded the Kentucky Equal Rights Association in 1888, and served as president from 1888 to 1912. She and Henry also founded the Fayette County Democratic Club, and Clay traveled as one of its eight delegates to the 1920 National Convention in San Francisco, California, where she became the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for President of the United States. While she campaigned diligently for women's suffrage, she opposed the passage of the 19th amendment, because she was a firm believer in state's rights, and felt each state should enact its own laws rather than be mandated by the federal government. She was instrumental in enacting laws in the Kentucky legislature for the protection of women's property, wages and children after divorce, for the right of women to make wills and contracts and control real estate, for raising the age of consent for girls from 12 to 16, for the right of entrance into men's colleges, and for the right of women to vote. After women's suffrage was made into law, she continued her work promoting women's involvement in politics.

Bio by: Anonymous