Grave marker to be dedicated to Toledo suffragist

The League of Women Voters of Toledo-Lucas County will dedicate a grave marker to Toledo suffragist, Olive Colton.((Source: NBC12))
Published: Oct. 1, 2022 at 12:35 PM EDT

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - The League of Women Voters of Toledo-Lucas County is hosting an event to honor Olive A. Colton, a Toledo suffragist.

Colton helped found the local League of Women Voters in 1921 and it was one of the first established in Ohio.

On Oct. 8 at Forest Cemetery from 10:30 a.m. to noon, the organization will dedicate a grave maker.

Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, representatives from the League of Women Voters, University of Toledo and Toledo Lucas County Public Library Local History department and Friends of Forest Cemetery will discuss the right to vote and the importance of civic engagement. There will also be a reenactment of Olive Colton’s speech from the 100th anniversary of the founding of the City of Toledo.

The event will conclude with a tour of Forest Cemetery led by local historian Robyn Hage, a member of the Friends of Forest Cemetery. The tour will focus on Toledo suffragists Colton, Sarah Ann Secor Bissell, Amy Grace Maher and Sarah R.L. Williams.

These four women fought for women’s right to vote in Toledo and nationally. They were friends of national activists Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who were often present at local meetings. Three of the Toledo women lived long enough to see their work come to fruition through the passage of the 19th Amendment.

The league will posthumously award Colton with its first Cave Civic Award. Heeding Colton’s words, “It has been said one should dwell on the past only long enough to get a future out of it,” the Cave Civic Award will be given as a scholarship to a University of Toledo student who has shown outstanding civic engagement beginning in 2023.

The League established the Cave Civic Award with a generous donation from the estate of Alfred Cave, professor emeritus of history and former Dean of University of Toledo’s College of Arts & Sciences. The award honors Mary Sue Deisher Cave, professor emerita of English and the Honors College.

The League of Women Voters of Toledo-Lucas County was one of the first LWV established in Ohio.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please include the title when you click here to report it.