Mary Upton Ferrin: Earliest Massachusetts Pioneer in Woman Suffrage by S. M. Smoller
My Hero | Early Days | Memorial of the Female Signers |  Address to the Judiciary Committee | Charitable Benevolent Association | A Women's Defence | Women's Rights | There's a Good Time Coming Girls | Notes

Later Life & Obituary Sketches

When Mary's Uncle Eben died, he left nearly $200,000 worth of property to his wife, Mary King Upton; they had no children.  Each of them had made a will leaving his or her property at death to the survivor.  "After his death, she made another will, making several bequests to members of the Upton family, but leaving the bulk of the estate to the King family.  Upton Ferrin received one of her aunt's largest gifts, $6,000.

In 1874, Upton Ferrin moved to 110 Essex Street in Salem, Massachusetts.  She remained at that address through 1878.  According to the Pole directory, she moved to 10 Oliver Street in 1879 and two years later she resided at 6 Elm Street in Salem.

In April 1878, the National Woman Suffrage Association secured 30,000 signatures on amendment petitions that were presented to Congress.  Mary Upton Ferrin is listed in the National Citizen and Ballot Box as collecting 116 signatures in Essex County, Massachusetts.

Again in August 1880, the National Woman Suffrage Association solicited signatures in favor of adopting the 16th amendment granting all women the right to vote.  Mary Upton Ferrin submitted 45 signatures from Essex County.

She died of pneumonia in Marblehead, Massachusetts at the age of 71 and was the first person buried in the Huntress family plot in Greenlawn Cemetery in Salem.  The year of Upton Ferrin's death, Charles W. Huntress is referred to as "removed to Marblehead" from Salem.  He is listed in previous Directories as a printer of the Salem Press, which operated for awhile at 223 Essex Street.

Mary U. Ferrin's death certificate lists her as married; however, the space for her husband's name is blank.

From the National Citizen and Ballot Box
Edited by Matilda Joslyn Gage

Mary Upton Ferrin, of Salem, Mass., an old-time woman-suffragist, died at Marblehead, in April, of pneumonia.  Mrs. Ferrin was the first woman in Massachusetts to petition the Legislature for redress of the greivances of her sex, beginning to circulate petitions in the spring of 1848 and continuing the work in successive years.  Her address to the Judiciary Committee in 1850 was printed by that body; it will be found in the chapter upon Massachusetts in the Woman Suffrage History.  Mrs. Ferrin petitioned the Constitutional Convention of 1853, and although by that time other workers had risen, she knew nothing of them, but as theretofore, supposed herself working single-handed and alone, against the despotism of the ages.

During the six years from 1848 to 1854 that Mrs. Ferrin circulation petitions, she traveled six hundred miles, most of the distance on foot, expending much money as well as devoting her time, and her name should be remembered as that of the earliest Massachusetts pioneer in woman suffrage.  She endured persecution, even to incarceration in a lunatic asylum while sane.  During much correspondence with her for a period of years, the editor of the National Citizen (Matilda Joslyn Gage) found her a woman of advanced thought, and one of the anticipated pleasures of the Boston Convention was that of meeting Mary Upton Ferrin face to face; but, she has passed on making the sixth prominent woman suffragist of the United States who has died within the past six months.

From The Woman's Journal, June 18, 1881
A similarly worded obituary appeared in The Salem Post and County Advertiser on May 11, 1881.

MARY UPTON FERRIN

A tribute of respect is due to this remarkable woman, who recently passed away. She was interested in everything pertaining to her sex, almost marvelous in her unselfishness, and a great worker in many benevolent enterprises.  In Boston, she was well known for her earnestness in the cause of Universal Suffrage, and in her own home at Salem, Mass., her great charities have benefited many a household.  A man of similar kindness and generosity would receive the plaudits of his kind, but she has passed from the world without note or comment, although a woman of much power, a frequent correspondent of papers, and a liberal friend to the poor and needy.  With reverent hand we place our simple words of praise under her name.