Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis was born in Bloomfield, N.Y., on Aug. 7, 1813. She was raised by a very strict and fanatically religious aunt following the death of her parents when she was seven. She was continuously forced to participate in church activities. It was during this time she honed her skills as a staunch feminist resulting from her objection to the discussion as to whether or not a woman could be allowed to speak during a religious meeting when men were present.
Paulina's aunt was expecting her to become a missionary but she ran away at the age of 20 to marry Francis Wright. Following Wright's death, Paulina traveled across the United States with a female mannequin, lecturing to women about hygiene and health reforms.
While lecturing in Providence, R.I., she met Thomas Davis, a state representative who shared both her antislavery and feminist views. They married in 1849 and adopted two daughters. Three years later he was elected to Congress and they moved to Washington, D.C.
Paulina was elegant, well educated and well spoken and passionate about her cause, an able representative of the women's rights movement. She helped organize the first National Woman's Rights Convention in Massachusetts in 1850. In 1853, she began publishing, at her own expense, one of the first women's rights publications, UNA, a monthly periodical.
In 1868, she co-founded the New England Woman Suffrage Association and the Rhode Island Suffrage Association.
Midge Kirk writes "Herstory," relating the stories of women who have been important in the development of the nation.
