"A relatively unknown signer of a somewhat obscure document does not make one terribly notable." — Gatekeeper WikiDan61, upon rejecting the creation of a Wikipedia page for a signer of the Declaration of Sentiments.
Just because they aren't notable doesn't mean they didn't live important lives... The 100 Signers Project is an undertaking designed to create a readily accessible, open resource that consists of short biographies for the 68 women and 32 men who signed their name to the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention. To the best of my knowledge, no anthology (comprehensive or otherwise) of these individuals exists. Judith Wellman's 2004 book
The Road to Seneca Falls attempts to redress this absence, but valuable work still remains to be done.
For this project, I will utilize both contemporary scholarship and any archival materials that I can uncover. I think any new information about the signers will do much to create new insight into their lives and into this crucial chapter of American history. Who were the signers? Why did they attend the Seneca Falls Convention?
I hope this project might capture how the 100 signers of the Declaration, when viewed together, represent a hyperconnected and often overlapping network of proto-Suffragists, Abolitionists, Spiritualists, and Hicksite Quakers, hailing from the "burned-over district" of New York and beyond. A good number of the names present on the Declaration need no introduction, like Elizabeth Cady Stanton or Frederick Douglass. Yet many of the names on the roll have been lost to history. Who were these people? Did they live otherwise unremarkable lives? Perhaps they were merely bystanders—normal, everyday individuals who happened to be present for the signing of one of the most important documents of American history. Or not...
[Click on the signer's name below to access profile.]June 2024 - Samuel D. TillmanMay 2024 - William Burroughs with Lorie Dalola
October 2023 - Mary E. VailJuly 2023 - Lydia Mount with Lorie Dalola
March 2023 - Margaret Pryor with Grace Roper and Lorie Dalola
January 2023 - William G. BarkerDecember 2022 - Catharine F. StebbinsMay 2022 - Rebecca RaceApril 2022 -Martha Underhill with Hunter Bozelle, Madison Hare, Seth Mandryk, Scott Merritt, and Will Unruh
December 2021 - Harriet Cady EatonOctober 2021 - Isaac Van TasselAugust 2021 - S.E. WoodworthJuly 2021 - Charlotte WoodwardMay 2021 - Susan QuinnApril 2021 - Jacob MathewsMarch 2021 - Dorothy MathewsDecember 2020 - Delia MathewsNovember 2020 - David SpaldingAugust 2020 - Margaret SchooleyJuly 2020 - Justin WilliamsJune 2020 - Eunice Newton FooteJune 2020 - Mary ConklinMay 2020 - Elizabeth ConklinMarch 2020 - Henry W. SeymourFebruary 2020 - Henry SeymourDecember 2019 - Malvina SeymourAugust 2019 - Cynthia FullerJuly 2019 - Phebe KingJune 2019 - E.W. CapronDecember 2018 - Betsy TewksburySeptember 2018 - Robert Smallbridge/Robert SmalldridgeJuly 2018 - Mary S. Mirror/Mary L. MinorJune 2018 - Sophronia Mack TaylorDecember 2017 - Experience Porter GibbsJune 2017 - Azaliah Schooley