{"id":352,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:48:36","latitude":39.83454569999999961282810545526444911956787109375,"longitude":-84.908873499999998557541402988135814666748046875,"title":"Mary Birdsall","subtitle":"","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/6c2ae47fd48f45eba01e108d45886002.jpg","address":"504 NW 5th Street, Richmond, IN 47374","all_locations":[],"zoom":12,"creator":["Alex Haehner"],"description":"

Mary Thistlewaite Birdsall was a suffragist and advocate of women’s rights in Indiana during the mid-19th century. Mary Thistlewaite married Thomas Birdsall in 1848 when they were both around 19 years old. They became actively involved in the activism of the time, including emancipation, temperance, and women’s suffrage.

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Mary Birdsall’s first step into the fight for women’s equality and voting rights was through the Indiana Women’s Rights Convention. The first convention was held in 1851, with Birdsall serving as the commission’s elected Secretary. A second convention was held in 1852, which Mary Birdsall helped organize. This second convention focused on arguing for legalized equality between men and women by calling for gender equality to be written into the state’s constitution. Birdsall was responsible for taking minutes of these discussions, and submitted the records for publication. 

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In 1854 the Indiana Women’s Rights Convention moved to Indianapolis, where it remained for several more years and attracted national figures in the suffrage movement like Lucretia Mott, a well known Quaker and suffragist. 

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They petitioned the Indiana State Legislature in 1858 to give the same rights of property and suffrage to women as were granted to men. On January 19, 1859, Dr. Mary Thomas, Agnes Cook, and Mary Birdsall were the first women to address the State Legislature of Indiana. A newspaper reported that they spoke about the 1858 petition,  for rights of property and suffrage to be added to the state constitution. Birdsall’s speech was summed up as, “a very good speech.” No further action was taken on the petition by the legislature, but, in being one of the first women to address the legislature, Mary Birdsall helped pave the way for those women who came after her to  the fight.    

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Mary Birdsall also used writing to advance the cause. As the Women’s Editor of the Indiana Farmer from 1852-1853, she often included articles on women’s rights. She wrote for the Indiana Farmer for at least 11 issues. In 1855, Mary Birdsall purchased The Lily, the nation’s first feminist newspaper. She worked with Dr. Mary F. Thomas to edit and publish the newspaper. It maintained an editorial focus on temperance, dress reform, suffrage, women’s rights, and the repeal of unjust marriage and inheritance laws. Clink to see records of both The Indiana Farmer and The Lily.

Mary Birdsall died in 1894 at the age of 65 or 66. She is buried in Earlham Cemetery in Richmond, Indiana. Her husband Thomas died in 1901 and was buried alongside Mary. No photographs of either Mary or Thomas are known to survive today. ","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":["

Boomhower, Ray E. Fighting for Equality: A Life of May Wright Sewall. Indiana Historical Society Press, 2007.

","Bloomer, D. C. Life And Writings Of Amelia Bloomer. Arena Publishing Company, 1895. http://archive.org/details/lifeandwritingso028876mbp.","Scholten, Pat Creech. “A Public ‘Jollification:’ The 1859 Women’s Rights Petition before the Indiana Legislature.” Indiana Magazine of History 72, no. 4 (1976): 347–59.","

Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, Susan Brownell Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage, and Ida Husted Harper. History of Woman Suffrage. Fowler & Wells, 1881.

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Stephens, Jane. “May Wright Sewall: An Indiana Reformer.” Indiana Magazine of History, December 1, 1982. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/view/10416.

"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/6c2ae47fd48f45eba01e108d45886002.jpg":{"id":1644,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Mary Birdsall House","description":"The house built by Mary Birdsall and her husband Thomas in 1859 is still around today and has a spot in the National Register of Historic Places | Courtesy of Indiana DNR","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/6c2ae47fd48f45eba01e108d45886002.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/179b7dc3fd10600c224999f2d06d668c.jpg":{"id":3135,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"The Indiana Farmer","description":"A page of the Indiana Farmer, an edition from November of 1852 which includes a section by Mary Birdsall titled, \"The Ladies' Department.\" | Courtesy of Purdue University | 1852","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/179b7dc3fd10600c224999f2d06d668c.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/0d65e34198f17b98e87bb38b4e50bc48.jpg":{"id":3136,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"The Indiana Farmer (continued)","description":"A continuation of a November 1852 edition of the Indiana Farmer including Mary Birdsall's \"Ladies' Department\" section. | Courtesy of Purdue University | 1852","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/0d65e34198f17b98e87bb38b4e50bc48.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/dc6bc838689c37a70d12e5352337c82b.jpg":{"id":3137,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"Petition","description":"A newspaper clipping froma women's club in the early 1900s that mentions Mary Birdsall's speech and presentation to the Indiana legislature in 1859. | Courtesy of the Indiana State Library | 1859 | Grace Julian Clarke women's clubs and suffrage scrapbook, 1891, 1902-1911","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/dc6bc838689c37a70d12e5352337c82b.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/94292cd379bc6cfe7a72093a389e80e0.jpg":{"id":3138,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"The Lily newspaper","description":"A page of The Lily newspaper dating from 1856 that includes a letter written from a reader to Mary Birdsall on the righthand side | Courtesy of History Commons | 1856","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/94292cd379bc6cfe7a72093a389e80e0.jpg"}}}