Saturday, January 28, 2012

1870s Autograph Album of Sarah G. Crosby of Maine, proponent of woman's suffrage


1870s autograph album of Sarah Gage (Jerrard) Crosby, a court stenographer who was a key figure in the woman's suffrage movement of Maine and who also was involved in the controversy between Phineas Parkhurst Quimby and Mary Baker Eddy.



The album is approximately 7-1/2" x 5" and was started by Mrs. Crosby after her marriage.


Sarah Gage (Jerrard) Crosby was born 27 May 1832 at Plymouth, Maine, the daughter of John and Jane (Gage) Jerrard, who were born in Fairfax, Maine (now Albion, Maine) and Plymouth, Maine, respectively.

On 24 August 1852 at Plymouth, Maine, Sarah married Albert Crosby.  He was born 17 March 1824 at Albion, Maine, the son of Jonah and Lydia (Crosby) Crosby.  The couple had five children before they divorced, and Albert went to Montana:

  • Ellery Channing Crosby, born in Maine 19 or 20 February 1854; went out West with his father; m. Annie Kirchman
  • Ada May Crosby, born 9 August 1857; m. Frederick Burt Wing
  • Albert Jonah Crosby, born 1859 in Maine; went out West with his father; m. Nellie Dornberger
  • Frederick Albert Crosby, born about 1862; went out West with his father; m. Alice Carlin
  • Edward Jerrard Crosby, born 12 January 1870 [middle name also seen as Girard]; m. Isa Frances McMurdy
Sarah Gage (Jerrard) Crosby became a court stenographer.  I found a photograph and interesting article about her in the Phonographic Magazine of 1899:


The article:









Some of the people who signed pages in Sarah's autograph album include figures in the women's suffrage movement, controversial Australian artist Fearnligh Montague [I've also seen his name also as Fernligh and Fernleigh], author E. W. Allderdice [Elizabeth Winslow Allderdice], and W. G. Saltonstall of Salem, Massachusetts.

Complete list of signers, in alphabetical order: [In some cases, the people may have signed "at" a place, rather than being "from" that place.]

E. W. Allderdice of Portland, Maine
Amos L. Allen of Alfred, Maine
John Appleton of Skowhegan, Maine
E. B. Averill
C. J. Barker of New York
William G. Barrows of Alfred, Maine
S. G. Crosby of Waterville, Maine
Thomas Croswell of Streator, Illinois
E. A. Dickinson of Belfast, Maine [Eliza A., Mrs. John G., below]
J. G. Dickinson of Belfast, Maine [Judge John G. Dickinson]
Ephraim Flint
Henry B. Flint of Dover, Maine
W. G. Frye of Belfast, Maine
Almon Gage of Canandaigua, New York, at Waterville, Maine 
C. W. Goddard of Alfred, Maine
John M. Goodwin of Alfred, Maine
Joseph Hayes of Bath, Maine
Philo Hersey of Belfast, Maine
Helen Neil Howard [worked with Sarah in court of Judge Dickinson and others]
N. H. Hubbard of Winterport, Maine
Illegality, Esq [I'd love to know who wrote this!]
Illegible [If you have a guess, please let me know.]
Initials, C. A. Y.
E. W. McFadden of Fairfield, Maine [Elhanan W. McFadden]
W. H. McLellan
H. L. Mitchell
Fearnligh Montague
Lewis Parker of Skowhegan, Maine
William Philbrick of Skowhegan, Maine
A. M. Robinson of Dover, Maine
William M. Rust
Moses A. Safford of Alfred, Maine
W. G. Saltonstall of Salem, Massachusetts, at Alfred, Maine
D. N. Sheldon of Waterville, Maine
R. H. Sheldon of Waterville, Maine
W. H. Simpson of Belfast, Maine [his salutation took two pages]
Charlotte Smith of Alfred, Maine
D. D. Stewart
David P. Straw of Guilford, Maine
A. A. Strout of Portland, Maine
Rufus P. Tapley of Saco, Maine
Albert H. Ware of Skowhegan, Maine
Claiborne Addison Young

To see scans of all of the pages, see the autograph album's page at the Maine and Maritime Canada Genealogy network

Map of Albion, Maine, where Sarah and Albert raised their family on the farm of his parents:


Thanks for stopping by!



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