most entirely at her own expense the _South Dakota
Messenger_, a campaign paper which was of the greatest service. The
State convention met in Mitchell September 28-30. Miss Elizabeth Upham
Yates (Me.) came as representative of the National Association and
gave two addresses to large audiences. The following October a
conference of National and State workers was held at Sioux Falls, the
former represented by Mrs. Chapman Catt, the Rev. Henrietta G. Moore
(O.) and Miss Mary G. Hay, national organizers. Several public
sessions were held.

The annual meeting of 1899 took place in Madison, September 5, 6. The
tenth convention met in Brookings, Sept. 5, 1900. Mrs. Simmons having
removed from the State, Mrs. Alice M. A. Pickler was elected
president. Mrs. Philena Everett Johnson was made vice-president.[209]

Among the prominent friends of woman suffrage may be mentioned the
Hon. Arthur C. Mellette, first State Governor; U. S. Senators Richard
F. Pettigrew, James H. Kyle and Robert J. Gamble; Lieutenant-Governor
D. T. Hindman; members of Congress J. A. Pickler, W. B. Lucas and
E. W. Martin; the Hons. S. A. Ramsey and Coe I. Crawford;
Attorney-General John L. Pyle, Judge D. C. Thomas, General W. H.
Beadle, Professor McClennen, of the Madison Normal School, and
ministers of many churches. The Hon. J. H. Patton and the Hon. W. C.
Bowers paid the expenses of the legislative committee of the suffrage
association while they were in Pierre during the winter of 1897 to
secure the submission of an amendment. Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court A. J. Edgerton, was a pronounced advocate of woman suffrage and
appointed a woman official stenographer of his judicial district, the
best salaried office within his gift. Associate Justice Seward Smith
appointed a woman clerk of the Faulk County district court.[210]

LAWS: Neither dower nor curtesy obtains. If either husband or wife die
without a will, leaving only one child or the lawful issue of one, the
survivor is entitled to one-half of the separate estate of the other;
or one-third if there are more than one child or the issue of more
than one. If there are no children nor the issue of any, the survivor
is entitled to one-half of the estate and the other half goes to the
kindred of the deceased. If there are none the survivor takes all. A
homestead of 160 acres, or one-quarter of an acre in town, may be
reserved for the widow or widower.

Either husband or wife may dispose of separate