Clarina Irene Howard Nichols Time Period: 1800-1900 - Women at Work in Home, Farm and Community Subject Category: Activist,Equal Rights,Government/Politics Notable Facts Journalist and advocate for women’s rights, temperance, and anti-slavery. Contributed to reform of married women’s property rights in 1847 and introduced school suffrage for women in Vermont. First woman to address the Vermont Legislature. Participated in the free-soil movement in Kansas and secured parity for women in school affairs in the Kansas Constitution.   Personal Information Date of Birth: 01/25/1810 Date of Death: 01/11/1885 Primary Residence: Brattleboro Religion: Baptist Ethnicity: Caucasian Clarina Howard Nichols. Courtesy Vermont Historical Society. Historical Significance: Clarina Howard Nichols was the first woman to advocate for women’s rights in Vermont. The eldest daughter of Birsha Smith and Chapin Howard, she grew up in West Townshend and married Justin Carpenter of Guilford in 1830. Migrating to western New York and later to New York City, the Carpenters had three children, but the marriage ended after her husband spent much of her inheritance and failed to provide adequate support for the family. Clarina separated from him and eventually secured a divorce. In 1843 Clarina married George W. Nichols, editor of the Windham County Democrat in Brattleboro, and had one more child with him. As her husband's health deteriorated, she assumed the editorship of the Democrat, launching her career as a political journalist and advocate for various reform issues. A lively and scarcastic writer who provided advice about domestic and partisan affairs, Nichols was a keen supporter of temperance and a friend of anti-slavery. Her editorials on behalf of married women’s property rights were instrumental in passage of a significant reform act in 1847, allowing married women to write wills and protecting their inherited real estate from their husband’s debts. Her petition to the Vermont Legislature seeking women’s right to vote in school meetings was unsuccessful, but her address at the statehouse in 1852 marked a milestone in Vermont. She participated in numerous national conventions on women’s rights in the Northeast and lectured widely on temperance and women’s issues. In 1854, Nichols moved her family to Kansas, where she supported the movement to secure free soil in the territory and became active as an abolitionist. After her husband died, she worked tirelessly for women’s rights in Kansas. She helped ensure that married women's property and custody rights were included in the Kansas constitution and wrote a clause guaranteeing equality for women in school affairs. It allowed women to vote in school elections, one of the first provisions in the nation to do so. Known as a “mother of Kansas” for her matronly presentation and stature, she continued to advocate for full suffrage and equal treatment of husbands and wives in family law. During the Civil War, she and her daughter worked as government clerks in Washington, D.C., and she became the matron of a home for freed black women and children. After the war, she engaged in a failed campaign to secure universal suffrage rights in Kansas and eventually migrated further west to Potter Valley, California, where one of her sons had pioneered. Nichols continued to write and publish articles advocating for women’s full equality and their important role in the nation until her death at age seventy-five. Organizations or Movements: Women's Rights Temperance Anti-slavery Occupations: Journalist Level of Education: Secondary Additional Information: Biography Website http://www.clarinanichols.com/Clarina_Nichols_-_Biography.html Territorial Kansas Online http://www.territorialkansasonline.org/ Vermont Historical Society Exhibit Online http://www.vermonthistory.org/freedom_and_unity/1800s/freedom.html Kansas State Historical Society http://www.kshs.org/people/nichols_clarina.htm Responsibilities of Woman http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/speeches/nichols_responsibilities.html Vermont Historic Roadsite Markers http://www.historicvermont.org/markers/markers4.html West Townshend, Vermont Clifford, Deborah. "Clarina Howard Nichols." In The Vermont Encyclopedia. Edited by John Duffy. University Press of New England, 2003. Related Attractions: BRATTLEBORO MUSEUM & ARTS CENTER BMAC is a small, cutting-edge, non-collecting museum founded in 1972 and housed in a historic train station. HOURS: Open 11-5, closed Tuesday and Wednesday except by appointment. Brattleboro (802) 257-0124 TOWNSHEND HISTORICAL SOCIETY Townshend Historical Society founded in 1999. HOURS: By appointment Townshend (802) 365-4200 Search for related events: Enter Keyword: Additional Images: Revolutionary Heart