as writer, editor and lecturer, did much to forward the cause in
its infancy.[395]

The first agitation of the question of woman suffrage in Iowa was
in the summer of 1854, when Frances Dana Gage of Ohio gave a
series of lectures in the southeastern section of the State on
temperance and woman's rights. Letters written to _Lily_ at the
time show that large audiences congregated to see and hear a
woman publicly proclaiming the wrongs of her sex, and demanding
equal rights before the law. During the year 1855 the writer gave
several lectures at Council Bluffs, and in January, 1856, by
invitation, addressed the second territorial legislature of
Nebraska, in Representative Hall, Omaha; and in the year
following lectured in Council Bluffs, Omaha, Nebraska City,
Glenwood and other towns.

In 1868 Mrs. Martha H. Brinkerhoff made a very successful
lecture-tour through the northern counties of Iowa. She roused
great interest and organized many societies, canvassing meanwhile
for subscribers to _The Revolution_. In the same year Mrs. Annie
C. Savery gave a lecture for the benefit of a blind editor at Des
Moines. In February, 1870, by invitation, she responded to a
toast at a Masonic festival in that city; and during that and the
year following she lectured in several places on woman suffrage,
and wrote many able articles for the press.

On April 17, 1869, the "Northern Woman Suffrage Association" was
organized at Dubuque.[396] This was the first society in Iowa,
though about the same time others were being organized in
different localities. J. L. McCreery, in his editorial position,
advocated the enfranchisement of woman, and wrote an able paper
in favor of the object of the organization. Mrs. Mary N. Adams
opened a correspondence with friends of the movement in other
parts of the State; Henry O'Connor, Mary A. Livermore and others
lectured before the society, thus educating the people into a
better understanding of woman's rights and needs. Mrs. Adams not
only addressed the home society, but gave lectures before lyceums
and educational institutions.

Des Moines has always maintained the most successful organization
having a band of earnest women enlisted in the work, and being
the capital of the State, where every opportunity was afforded to