In 1889, at the age of 14, Edna graduated from Anoka High School and left her circle of family and friends to enroll at Carleton College in Northfield. Edna stayed at Carleton for one year but did not graduate. After dealing with some family medical issues, she moved to Chicago.
She likely returned home to help care for Ina who had tuberculosis. Ina passed away in January, 1891, and Edna was no longer bound to Anoka.
“And that where the newspaper world really kicked into gear,” said Anoka County History’s Center’s executive director Rebecca Ebnet-Desens. “She took on the journalism world, which was a man’s world at that point. She changed her name from Edna to Theodora at that point, and went by Teddy in her bylines, sometimes Ed. She really started working with the women’s rights movement and the suffrage movement.”
Twelve years later, she moved to New York, getting a job at another newspaper
“She worked for The Morning Telegraph,” said Ebnet-Desens. “Over the years of working there she worked with Ida Blair and Vira Whitehouse who were other suffrage leaders in the time, and making sure their voice was heard. She did profiles articles on them as well as the organizational events.”
In 1917, women in New York were granted the right to vote. It would be three more years for the entire country to receive that right.
“Making this real, by bringing a name and a face out, instead of just calling it the suffrage movement… I think by doing that, we are forced to remember that it was a fight, said Ebnet Desens. “I think making sure that we have a name and a face to attach to the effort is an honor to them, and the fact that she left her calling card here in Anoka – that we literally have her calling card – it’s only fair to go pay her respects and give her a call back.”
The suffrage movement led to the creation of the League of Women Voters. A leader of the local chapter of league told us this week that there is still work to be done. She said that only 30 percent of the Minnesota legislature is female, and that is not representative of the communities they serve.
