hip was composed only of
these two, their mother, Mrs. Anne Jane Lindsay Howard, and other
relatives, all residents of Columbus. Mr. and Mrs. D. M. Allen of
Douglasville were the first outside the Howard family to encourage and
support the infant organization. In 1892 Mrs. Kate Mallette Hardwick
and Mrs. Mary L. McLendon became members, and served for several years
as auditor and vice-president.

The Atlanta association was organized in the Marietta Street M. E.
Church, March 21, 1894, by Mrs. McLendon and Mrs. Margaret Chandler;
perfected in the Unitarian Church on March 28, and begun with a
membership of forty men and women.

In the latter part of 1895, Miss Howard and Mrs. Maxwell, who had
served continuously as president, secretary and treasurer of the State
association, resigned their offices; and Mrs. Frances Cater Swift was
elected president; Mrs. U. O. Robertson, secretary; Miss Adelaide
Wilson, treasurer.

In 1896 Mrs. McLendon was made president; Mrs. S. L. Ober Allen and
Mrs. Ala Holmes Cheney, vice-presidents; Dr. L. D. Morse,
corresponding secretary; Mrs. Gertrude C. Thomas, recording secretary;
Miss Sarah A. Gresham, treasurer.

The annual convention of the National Association, which was held in
the opera house in Atlanta the first week of February, 1895, gave a
new impetus to the movement in Georgia.[221] Men and women throughout
the State felt its widespreading influence. Many ancient Southern
prejudices received a death-blow when those who harbored them saw what
manner of women had espoused this hitherto unpopular cause.[222]

All the Atlanta papers extended a cordial greeting to the convention
and devoted columns of space to biographical sketches, reports of
meetings, etc., but the _Sunny South_, edited by Col. Henry Clay
Fairman, was the only one which editorially indorsed the suffrage
movement. The business manager of the Atlanta _Constitution_, William
A. Hemphill, and his wife, tendered a large reception to the members
of the convention.

F. H. Richardson, editor of the Atlanta _Journal_, the largest evening
paper in the State, was converted to a belief in woman suffrage at
this time, and is now an honorary member of the organization. As a
part of his work, he has made an earnest and long-continued effort to
have women placed on the school board.[223]

The Woman's Board of the Cotton States and International Exposition,
soon to be held in Atlanta, were so impressed by the _personnel_ of