October 1995 Blazer

Ruth May Fox, forgotten Suffragist

.. THE HISTORY BLAZER h7EI. 1' S OF UTAH'S PAST FROM THE Utah State Historical Society 300 Rio Grande Salt Lake City. LTT 84101 ( 801) 533- 3500 FAX ( 801) 533- 3303 Ruth May Fox, Forgotten Suffragist h UTAH'S HISTORY THERE HAVE BEEN MANY IMPORTANT WOMEN of whom little has been written; one such person is Ruth May Fox. Besides raising 12 children, she was active in the Utah Woman's Press Club ( president), the Reaper's Club, the Utah Woman Suffrage Association ( treasurer), the- Salt Lake County Republican Committee, the Second Precinct Ladies' Republican Club ( chair), the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society @ oard member), and the Traveler's Aid Society ( board member). She also served on the general board and as general president of the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association ( YLMIA). She was born November 16, 1853, in Westbury, Wiltshire, England, the daughter of Mary Ann Harding and James May. After her mother died in childbirth in March 1855, Ruth lived with various Mormon families and relatives. In 1865 James May journeyed to America and soon sent for Ruth and a Mrs. Saxon, whom he married, and her daughter, Clara. The two girls worked in factories in the Philadelphia area and did housework to help earn money for the family's journey to Utah. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1867. James May, Ruth, and Clara all worked in the Deseret Woolen Mill at the mouth of Parley's Canyon for two years. Later, Ruth and her father worked at the Ogden Woolen Mill near the mouth of Ogden Canyon. Ruth returned to Salt Lake to attend John Morgan's College for four months, ending her formal education. When her father bought some used equipment and started his own business in Salt Lake, it was back to the mill for Ruth. She operated equipment meant to be run by a man and developed strong feelings about equality- especially equal pay. Running the jack was a man's job, she later wrote, noting, " I should have had a man's wages for this, but Father thought that his partner would object since I was a girl. .. . I was given only $ 10.00 a week; but that was very good for a girl at the time. " At age 19 she quit to marry 20- year- old Jesse W. Fox, Jr., on May 8, 1873. The couple prospered financially and had planned on building a three- story mansion when in 1888 Jesse mafzied a plural wife without Ruth's knowledge. About this time financial disaster hit the Foxes. Jesse lost his business and accumulated large debts, and they eventually lost their home. Ruth responded by doing what needed to be done; she let domestic help go and eventually took in boarders. In 1914 Ruth moved in with her son Feramorz Y. Fox to be near her ailing father and to work as a typist for the YLMIA. Always interested in writing, she joined the Utah Woman's Press Club and the Reaper's Club, groups that emphasized literary pursuits. She thus became acquainted with the leading ( more) women of the day, including Drs. Ellis R. Shipp and Ellen B. Ferguson, Emma McVicker, and the person most influential in her later life, Emmeline B. Wells. Ruth was not especially interested in politics per se, but she became active in the suffrage movement and in the Republican party to further the suffrage cause. She actively worked for the inclusion of woman suffrage in the Utah Constitution during the 1895 Constitutional Convention and helped to draft the suffrage memorial presented to the convention delegates. Later, she worked for the election of candidates who would support women's issues and for the approval of the new Constitution. Her diary, now housed in the LDS Church Archives, details her activities during the crucial year of 1895. On February 22, for example, she attended a suffrage meeting where it was decided that the women should interview the Constitutional Convention delegates. She and '' Sister Ebba Hyde.. . were appointed to see Samuel Hill, Richard Lambert and Mr Vanhome." Two days later she interviewed Hill, who responded favorably to woman suffrage, and Vanhorne, who ' did not think the constitution was the place for sufferage [ sic] to come up. " On March 18, when the women presented their suffrage memorial to the convention she wrote: ' We all felt it a great day in the history of Utah." Later they learned that the committee on suffrage had passed it on to the convention as a whole by a 10 to 5 vote in favor. Ruth attended the debate over suffrage on March 28 and heard B. H. Roberts's eloquent oratory against including suffrage in the Constitution. Ruth wrote: " . . . his only argument was that he thought it would defer statehood." As debate continued over the next few days Ruth wore herself out on April 1 when she spent the entire day at the convention, standing up almost all of the time. She thought it a shame that Roberts did not use his eloquence " in a better cause." She helped to circulate petitions calling for the inclusion of woman suffrage in the Constitution, keeping up the fight until the goal was reached. When Susan B. Anthony and the Reverend Anna Howard Shaw arrived in Salt Lake on May 12, Ruth was among those at the depot meeting the train. About 40 women breakfasted with the national suffrage leaders and enjoyed other activities during their stay. Then on May 19 Ruth attended a reception for the Constitutional Convention delegates at the Templeton Hotel where again she enjoyed herself and perhaps felt gratified that her hard work had helped the suffrage cause. During the next months she was active in the Republican party and traveled to various towns with Emmeline Wells to attend Republican meetings. On November 5, election day, she said she believed that ' we have got Statehood assured so far as the vote is concerned and that means sufferage [ sic] for women." She had given the cause her all and was probably feeling a tremendous letdown when she also confessed that she did ' not much care" how the vote turned out. Ruth May Fox died on April 12, 1958, at age 104, an achievement that seemed the most significant thing about her to the newspapers of the day. The contributions she had made to woman suffrage were mostly forgotten. See Linda Thatcher, " Ruth May Fox, Forgotten Suffragist," Utah Historical Quarterly 49 ( 198 1). THEH ISTORYB LAZERis produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone [phone] ( LT) THE HISTORY BLAZER hTECVS OF UTAH'S PAST FRO. ii THE Utah State Historical Society 300 Rio Grande Salt Lake Cit~ rL, TT8 4101 ( 801) 533- 3500 FAX ( 801) 533- 3503 The Garfield County Airport Has an Unusual Hangar THE REALM OF AIRPLANE HANGAR CONSTRUCTION AND DESIGN the Garfield County Airport Hangar is truly an oddity. Its barn- like construction of native materials is a testimony to the ranching/ agricultural background of the men who built it. Having no previous experience in designing or building an airplane hangar, they built in the style they knew using materials they had. The soundness of this building bears witness to their excellence of craftsmanship and ingenuity of design. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Native ponderosa pine, still retaining much of the bark, was sawed at the nearby East Fork Sevier Sawmill for construction of the hangar. The gabled roof is supported by an intricate network of large timbers, and a half timbered effect is achieved at the front gable by an angular placement of logs. The logs used for the hangar were cut as part of the CCC project to eradicate the black beetle in southern Utah. Infested trees were cut and sawed at the East Fork Sevier River sawmill by Garfield County men who hauled the logs by teams of horses to the construction site. The hangar is a tribute to the early days of air travel in the United States. In the mid- 1930s remote places such as Garfield County began to realize the benefits that wuld be derived from air service. Simultaneously, the U. S. government realized that a network of ahport facilities was a necessity. The Garfield County Airport, also called the Bryce Canyon Airport, began as a county WPA project in 1936. Since the WPA provided only partial funding, the county called for local men to donate their labor. Design of the structure and construction supervision was handled by three wunty commissioners- Sam Pollock, Jennings Allen, and Walter Daley. The airport reflects an attempt by local officials and private individuals to encourage tourism to Bryce Canyon which was declared a National Park in 1928. It also reflects the hope that airmail service wuld reach one of the most remote parts of the country. The airport has also served as a recreational center for residents of Gdeld County. Located roughly midway between Panguitch and Escalante, the hangar has been used for dances, celebrations, and other county activities since 1938. A GarJeU C o w News article on September 25, 1936 reported: ' The project is being sponsored by Garfield County as a WPA project and will cost about $ 38,669.00. About 320 acres of land has been set aside for the airport, which will consist of an 80- foot by 80- foot hangar of log construction with metal roof and concrete floor and warming- up apron. Two runways, 5,000 feet long and 500 feet wide will be built. There will also be a waiting room with all the modem conveniences." The project was enthusiastically pursued, especially after reports that Western Air Express would make the airport a regular stop between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. The ( more)