Handwritten letter to J. M. Dickinson, Lisbon, Ohio, from Kate B. Sherwood, editor of the Woman's Dept. of the The National Tribune
- 1897

1897. Near Fine. 1 handwritten letter, dated Canton, Ohio, 12 April 1897, to J. M. Dickinson, Lisbon, Ohio, accepting the invitation he had extended from Starr Post 138, G.A.R., in Lisbon, Ohio, for her to visit on Memorial Day. Kate Brownlee Sherwood (1841-1914) was a poet and journalist, as well as the editor from 1883 of the Woman's Dept. of The National Tribune, a monthly publication for Civil War veterans and their families. She also helped to organize the Woman's Relief Corps to aid the Grand Army of the Republic the same year, was the first president of the Ohio Newspaper Women's Association in 1902, and supported women's suffrage. J. M. (John M.) Dickinson was born in Columbiana Co., Ohio, in 1836; served in the 84th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, during the Civil War; was admitted to the bar in 1864 and was an attorney in Lisbon, Ohio, through 1905; served as mayor of Lisbon 1869-1881; served in the Ohio Senate from Columbiana Co. 1882-1885; and was a justice of the peace in Lisbon in 1907. In 1880 the House of Representatives received a petition from J. M. Dickinson, mayor of New Lisbon, and others, citizens of Columbiana Co., Ohio, for a constitutional amendment granting the right of suffrage to women. Along one edge of the postmarked envelope, presumably in Dickinson's hand: "April 12-97." The Starr Post in Lisbon was named after brothers Lt. Calvin L. Starr, killed at the battle of Perryville, Ky., in 1862 and Serg. Thomas Clinton Starr, killed at Kenesaw Mountin in 1864. In Near Fine Condition: several small punctures near upper edge; letter is clean and solid; envelope is slightly soiled.