Kate Gannett Wells

Born Catherine Boott Gannett in London on April 6, 1838, she was raised in a prominent Unitarian family with strong intellectual and reform ties. She later married Samuel Wells and became widely known as Kate Gannett Wells, building a public career as a writer, lecturer, and organizer.

Wells published books and essays and was active in Boston's civic and literary world. She served for many years on the Massachusetts Board of Education and was a vice president of the New England Women's Club, showing how deeply she was involved in questions of education and social improvement.

She is also remembered for her outspoken opposition to women's suffrage, a position that made her a prominent figure in one of the era's sharpest political arguments. That mix of reform energy and anti-suffrage activism makes her an especially interesting historical figure: she worked energetically in public life while arguing against one of the major expansions of women's political rights. She died on December 13, 1911.