In July 1848, a handful of American women called a meeting in Seneca Falls, New York to declare women's independence from what meeting organizers called the "absolute tyranny" of men. From two days of debate and discussion, a document called the "Declaration of Sentiments" emerged. This document called on the U.S. Government to give female citizens "all the rights and privileges" that white American men enjoyed.

One of the youngest signers was Catharine Paine, an 18 year-old woman. Born in Dutchess County, New York, Catharine had been raised in a middle-class household in Seneca Falls. She had been influenced by her parents, both progressive thinkers. Her father publicly opposed slavery while her mother had converted to Methodism, a Christian religion that encouraged taking personal responsibility and seeking justice on Earth. Catharine and her two sisters also joined the church with their mother.

Five years after the Seneca Falls convention, Catharine married David Blaine, a Methodist clergyman. Both of them hoped to work as missionaries overseas, in China or Africa. Their dreams were thwarted when David was sent instead to the new town of Seattle in 1853 to preach to the settlers there. Catharine joined him, bringing not only possessions but ideals to her new life in Washington Territory.

As a minister's wife, Catharine Paine Blaine was expected to teach "Sabbath school" without pay. But she also opened Seattle's first community school, charging a fee for her services. Her income added substantially to the Blaines' household income. Thirteen of the 14 students she taught in the first term were girls.

Catharine continued to follow the movements that she had been a part of on the East Coast. She subscribed to political newspapers that addressed issues like women's rights and the outlawing of alcohol. Like many women of her time, Catharine wrote several letters back home and to friends and acquaintances, railing against slavery, alcohol, and the injustice of voting laws.

Suffrage, or the right to vote, was a hotly debated issue during the first session of the Washington Territorial Legislature in 1854. Lawmakers defeated a bill to extend voting rights to women, but passed legislation granting those rights to men of mixed Indian blood. Catharine Blaine was furious. Like many upper- and middle-class women who supported suffrage, she found it intolerable that men of "lower classes" enjoyed rights that she was denied.

In 1856, a son, John, was born to Catharine and David. A year later, the Blaines moved on to Portland, then later, New York. In 1882, however, the Blaines returned to Seattle and stayed. In the next quarter century, Catharine saw women in Washington get the vote, lose it, regain the right and lose it again. In the mid-1880s, when suffrage was briefly granted, she was finally able to cast her vote at the polls. She died in Seattle in 1908, two years before the State of Washington granted women's suffrage for good. A permanent plaque was placed in Seneca Falls to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the first Women's Rights Convention in the same year.



This essay was supported by the National Park Service’s Challenge Cost Share Program. Points of view are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of the Department of the Interior.