Family Tree Tuesday – Lucy Stone

Lucy Stone

Lucy Stone was an orator, abolitionist and a vocal advocate and organizer promoting rights for women. She helped initiate the first National Women’s Rights Convention, she assisted in establishing the Woman’s National Loyal League to help pass the Thirteenth Amendment, and she then helped form the American Woman Suffrage Association. Stone influenced Susan B. Anthony to take up the cause of women’s suffrage and Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote that “Lucy Stone was the first person by whom the heart of the American public was deeply stirred on the woman question.”

Lucy Stone was born on August 13, 1818 in West Brookfield, Massachusetts to Francis and Hannah Stone. She married Henry Blackwell in 1855. Blackwell was one of the founders of the Republican Party and the American Woman Suffrage Association. He was an advocate for social and economic reform. Stone and Blackwell developed a private agreement at preserving and protecting Stone’s financial and personal liberty along with each enjoying personal independence and autonomy. Stone was known for using her maiden name after her marriage. They had one daughter, Alice Stone Blackwell who became a feminist, suffragist, journalist, and human rights advocate. She was an editor of the Woman’s Journal during 1881 to 1917. Alice wrote the first biography of her mother, Lucy Stone: Pioneer Woman Suffragist.

Alice Stone Blackwell

Stone’s 6th great uncle was Nathaniel Ward. He wrote The Body of Liberties which some have said began the American tradition of liberty and eventually leading to the Untied States Constitution.

Stone’s sister-in-law Antoinette Brown was the first woman to be ordained as a minister in the United States and was also an abolitionist. Brown had married  Samuel Blackwell who was the brother of Henry Blackwell. Brown and Stone had first met while they were attending Oberlin College in Ohio together. Elizabeth Blackwell, Stone’s sister-in-law,  was the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States, as well as the first woman on the UK Medical Register.

Did you know Lucy Stone and Susan B. Anthony are related? They are 7th cousins!

Check out Lucy Stone’s family tree and see how you maybe related!