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Elisabeth Worth Muller

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This article is about the American suffragist. For the Swiss actress, see Elisabeth Müller. For the Brazilian athlete, see Elizabeth Müller.
Elisabeth Worth Muller
A middle-aged white woman wearing academic regalia. Her dark hair is in an updo with bangs; she is wearing drop earrings.
Elisabeth Worth Muller, from a 1914 newspaper.
Born
Elisabeth Worth

April 21, 1862
New York
DiedFebruary 26, 1952
Other namesElizabeth Worth Muller
OccupationSuffragist

Elisabeth Worth Muller (April 21, 1862 – February 26, 1952) was an American suffragist.

Early life

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Elisabeth Worth was born in New York. Senator Jacob Worth was an uncle or cousin.[1][2] She graduated from New York University with a law degree.[3]

Career

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A group of eight white women in 1916, posed together with a banner that reads "Monticello Suffrage Club".
The Monticello Suffrage Club, founded by Elisabeth Worth Muller, from a 1916 publication.

Muller was the first woman to pass the bar in Sullivan County, New York, and the first woman to hold a hunting license in the county.[4] She was founder and president of the Monticello Suffrage Club,[5][6] campaigning on horseback at the area's summer resorts. In 1914 she used an oxcart[7] to carry the club from place to place, as they set up camps to draw attention to their cause.[3] She was arrested as part of a suffrage picket at the White House.[4] In 1919 and 1923, she ran for a seat in the New York State Assembly.[8][9] She supported eugenic marriage reform laws.[10]

After suffrage was won, Muller continued her involvement in politics, endorsing Charles Curtis for vice president in 1928. She was chair of the Sullivan County branch of the National Woman's Party, and active in Pathfinders of America, and the Americanization Committee of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.[11][12] In 1931 and 1932, she traveled to Europe, did a series of radio broadcasts from Paris,[13] and met with Kaiser Wilhelm, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Pope Pius XI, and Lady Astor. She was impressed with Hitler,[14] and reported, "I am sure he will succeed."[15][16] She traveled the United States to organize "Steuben Clubs" of German-Americans in the 1920s and 1930s.[17][18]

Personal life and legacy

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Worth married Rudolph Jacob Muller, a real estate tycoon. They had two daughters, Alma and Phyllis (also known as Philipina),[19] and lived in a large house nicknamed "Muller's Castle", near Monticello, New York.[20][21] She was widowed in 1926,[1] and moved to California to be near her daughter Alma, whose husband was actor Frank Morgan (the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz).[22] She died in 1952, aged 89.[4]

The Sullivan County Democratic Committee presents an annual Elizabeth Worth Muller Award to an outstanding woman in the county.[23]

References

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  1. ^ a b "R. J Muller Dies". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1926-11-08. p. 18. Retrieved 2020-08-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Mrs. Muller Goes Abroad". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1908-10-31. p. 19. Retrieved 2020-08-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b "Campaigning for Suffrage in Country Districts". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1914-07-22. p. 20. Retrieved 2020-08-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b c Conway, John (2008-03-11). Remembering the Sullivan County Catskills. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-62584-889-5.
  5. ^ The Register of women's clubs. 1922. p. 56.
  6. ^ "New York Suffragist Visits". The Morning News. 1917-03-24. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  7. ^ "Monticello Suffrage Club" The Woman's Journal (March 25, 1916): 103.
  8. ^ "Woman Candidate for Assembly in New York State". Miami Daily Record-Herald. 1919-08-22. p. 7. Retrieved 2020-08-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Woman Enters Assembly Race; for Cheaper Coal". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1923-08-26. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-08-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Marriage Reform is Her Aim". The Buffalo Enquirer. 1912-08-07. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-08-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Curtis Kind to Germans, Former Boro Woman Says". Times Union. 1928-06-17. p. 39. Retrieved 2020-08-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Woman Lawyer is Miami Visitor". The Miami Herald. 1930-03-20. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-08-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Mrs. Muller on Air". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1931-11-16. p. 19. Retrieved 2020-08-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Finds Germany Under Hitler in Good Condition". Hartford Courant. 1934-04-08. p. 52. Retrieved 2020-08-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Mrs. Muller Home After Visit to Former Kaiser". Middletown Times Herald. 1932-05-27. p. 12. Retrieved 2020-08-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Clubbiest Woman Has Provocative Report on World". The Los Angeles Times. 1935-04-08. p. 21. Retrieved 2020-08-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Steubenites Gather". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1928-07-29. p. 54. Retrieved 2020-08-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Here to Organize". Arizona Daily Star. 1935-04-26. p. 9. Retrieved 2020-08-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Muller". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. November 8, 1926. p. 18. Retrieved August 19, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ Conway, John (2009-06-01). Sullivan County: A Bicentennial History in Images. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-62584-285-5.
  21. ^ "MISS MULLER WED SEPT. 28.; IFrlends Here Just Learn of Her Marriage to L.'Z. Reinus". The New York Times. 1925-12-19. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  22. ^ "'Banished' Bride to Actor Husband". The Tampa Times. 1915-03-30. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-08-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "Democrats honor Patricia Adams at fundraiser". The River Reporter. October 23, 2018. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
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