WAIT, Mrs. Anna C.

Born Anna A. Churchill, on March 26, 1837 in Medina County, Ohio, suffargist, orator, teacher and newspaper owner Mrs. Anna C. Wait was a notable woman. An early entrepreneur, from the age of eleven she prided herself in being self-supporting.

Married at the early age of twenty to Walter S. Wait, on December 13, 1857. At the outbreak of the Civil War, her husband enlisted and being the sole caregiver for their son, Alfred Hovey Wait, she provided for them both by teaching.

Due to her husband's poor health, she had to forsake teaching and get involved in the Lincoln "Beacon" a reform paper they started in 1880. 

She played an active role in the business world, advocated for social change on equality among other pursuits. She died on May 9, 1916.

During her life, Mrs. Wait actively participated in the Lincoln, Kansas Woman Suffrage Association and the Ohio Equal Suffrage Association. Mrs. Anna Wait performed many official roles in thse suffrage organizations as well as in the State Equal Suffrage Association, in 1884. Her advocacy led to the passing of suffrage legislation in Kansas bestowing municipal suffrage on women there.

• The Saline County journal. (Salina, Kan.), 20 Jan. 1887. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84027670/1887-01-20/ed-1/seq-5/>

• Kansas agitator. (Garnett, Kan.), 28 Sept. 1893. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83040052/1893-09-28/ed-1/seq-3/>

• Anna Amelia Churchill Wait Find A Grave