A First Woman Voter: Legare O’Bear
by Julia M Brennan
One of my most favorite jobs as a textile conservator is surveying massive collections. The work is slow and meticulous, and I never know what I’ll find. So, today, I want to share this story that reveals how a textile led me to a remarkable personal connection—to a woman who fought for our right to vote… a story that is even more meaningful today when our vote is more important than ever.
I unfurled a banner, and to my astonishment …literally goosebumps…I read the words… ‘In memory of Legare O’Bear’ painted onto the cotton twill. The name of my late godfather!”
While surveying the textile collection of the National Woman’s Party (now the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument) in Washington DC, I unfurled a banner, and to my astonishment …literally goosebumps…I read the words… “In memory of Legare O’Bear” painted onto the cotton twill. The name of my late godfather! He worked at the Library of Congress (1930–1976) from the age of 18, eventually serving as Chief of the Loan Division. Active in the ALA and DC Library Association, he was a very tall, elegant, soft-spoken, erudite Southern gentleman who filled my world with fabulous books. But how could my godfather, be on an NWP banner?
My godfather Legare, (1912–1981), whose full name was Legare Hill Bowles O’Bear (and from which he later dropped the apostrophe) was clearly named for his mother, Legare Hill O’Bear, (1873–1932), of Madison, Georgia. Sadly my godfather was only 20 years old when he lost his beloved mother. But her dynamism and dedication to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, inheritance laws, female jury service, the establishment of pre-school classes for children, and Equal Rights are certainly a courageous legacy. She was a noteworthy member of the NWP, State Chairman for Georgia, a regular contributor to Equal Rights Magazine, and a good friend of founder, Alice Paul. She was active in the new Constitutional Convention for Georgia, calling for equal laws for all “persons,” and was a delegate to the Woman’s International League for Peace and Freedom Conference in Prague, 1929. She must have been an amazing woman–certainly the first woman voter in her family.
Gallery above: Mrs O’Bear is buried with her mother in the Hill family Old Cemetery in Madison, Georgia. A cartoon in 1931 ‘Suffragist’ magazine, illustrates how Georgia ‘plunked’ for Suffrage and now the ERA.
Dying young at the age of 59, the 1932 obituary in Equal Rights honors her many years of service titled ‘Death Claims a Valiant Feminist’. So who was this ‘feminist’ of her day?
“She brought the old crusading spirit, which is hers by right of inheritance, and a fixed belief in equality” to her life of campaigning. Born to Anna Hill Bowles (1840–1910) of Madison, Georgia, and John Bowles of Kentucky. Her father, a Colonel in the Army was the inventor of the submarine torpedo and a collaborator with Samuel Pierpont Langley in developing the airplane. Her grandfather, Joshua Hill, (1812–1891) was a sort of ‘peacenik’ opposed to the Civil War, an opponent of secession, supported Reconstruction, and was a member of the US Senate from Georgia. Legare, was named for her only uncle, who died fighting in the Civil War in 1864.
Legare attended Shorter and Lucy Cobb Colleges, The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, and the Corcoran Art School in Washington DC. “Herself, a famous beauty”, she married William G. O’Bear, Quartermaster General State Militia of Georgia, and by 1909 had a daughter named Julia Hill and son Legare in 1912, my godfather. It is unclear why the O’Bear family moved to Washington DC, but it is likely that they were residents from ca. 1920 onwards. My godfather attended Eastern HS class of 1930, and George Washington University. It is probable that the Capitol Hill home where I often visited my godfather was in fact his mother’s—the family home.
Adding to notable Suffragist history is Legare’s daughter, Julia Hill Obear (1909-1995) and my godfather’s older sister. Julia is the iconic bike ‘messenger girl’, sporting her knickers, tights, and cap (which says National Woman’s Party on the brim). When Alva Belmont donated the house that became the headquarters of the NWP, she declared that all staff would be women. Julia Obear made that role famous, following in her mother’s feminist footsteps.
So while not my direct family, my cherished godfather Legare Obear, whose name I simply loved to sing repeatedly as a child, revealed to me the first woman voter in his family.
Please check out this fabulous website, honoring so many of our women ancestors, the first to vote. Please send them your story or video, or add your own story to social media using the hashtag #FirstWomanVoter
https://www.firstwomanvoter.com
