Henrietta Livermore helped lead one of the most active Women’s Suffrage Movements in the country in Yonkers
By Mary Hoar, City of Yonkers Historian, President Emeritus Yonkers Historical Society, recipient of the 2004 Key to History, Yonkers Landmarks Preservation Board Member, Chair of Revolutionary Yonkers 250 and President Untermyer Performing Arts Council
Monday, November 10th
November 10, 1904: The Board of Police Commissioners, President Osterheld and Commissioners Medina and Taylor, voted to improve the condition of women prisoners at the Yonkers City Prison.
November 10, 1915: Yonkers Women Suffrage Association unanimously approved this resolution: “Resolved, That to men of Yonkers the thanks of the Yonkers Woman Suffrage Association are given for the splendid vote by which our city—a leader in progress and population in the Empire State—has declared itself for the first and greatest principle of democracy—government for the people, by all the people.”
The Westchester Elections Bureau reported Yonkers men had turned suffrage down on Election Day. New York and Yonkers Suffragist leader Henrietta Livermore heard the report, so sailed up to the county seat to check figures. The Bureau quickly issued another report showing suffrage actually had won in Yonkers by a vote of 5,129 to 4,962 votes, or 167 votes.
Tuesday, November 11th:
November 11, 1942: Yonkers observed its first wartime Armistice Day. WWI Gold Star Mothers and Fathers were special guests of honor of the Central War Committee.
Buglers from Yonkers Public Schools sounded taps at the stroke of 11 a.m. at fifteen Yonkers’ intersections around the city; defense manufacturing was stopped so everyone could stand at attention in memory of those who died in World War I and the ongoing war.
This allowed all Yonkers to pay silent tribute to those who gave their lives defending our country.
Wednesday, November 12th
November 12, 1893: The Westchester County Board of Supervisions met to allow the five Supervisors from Yonkers to take their seats in accordance with the decision of the Court of Appeals. The State Legislature passed a law giving Yonkers, one-third of the Westchester population paying one-third of the county tax, one Supervisor for each ward.
The County Board attacked the legislation as unconstitutional and refused to seat the five men elected; the County lost the legal challenge at every level.
Yonkers’ Supervisors seated were Alanson Prime, T.J. Percival, P.J. Cuniff, Jeremiah Clancy and William McPherson.
November 12, 1920: Luke Chess, known nationally because of his quick rise from Seaman to Lieutenant in under two years, returned to Yonkers from Italy. The first American of Chinese ancestry to join the fight in any military branch, Luke enlisted in our local Naval Militia at the outbreak of the war in 1917. He was one of the first members of the Spanish War Veterans’ “Yonkers Regiment,” never missing a drill. His diligent study and hard work led him to advance from apprentice seaman to chief electrician, serving on the USS Charleston and as an inspector at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He was commissioned an ensign in 1919.
He returned to Yonkers in 1918; speaking at Liberty Loan Drives, he urged everyone to buy bonds for his country, because, as he said, he was “an American, too.”
An active member of the Rising Star Lodge (Masons), he continued membership in this lodge after leaving Yonkers, claiming they gave him the principles needed to live a successful life.
Thursday, November 13th
November 13, 1944: The soldier shown loading shells in a photo published in newspapers around the country—including in The Herald Statesman–was a Yonkers man! Although unidentified in the photo, Staff Sergeant William Dolinsky of Nepperhan Avenue was recognized by his sister; she sent him the clipping with the question, “Is this you?” His answer? “That’s me! The picture showed Dolinsky handing a shell to another serviceman to load into a trolley car.
Friday, November 14th:
November 14, 1930: After battling his way through smoke-filled hallways at a Vineyard Avenue tenement, Yonkers Electric Light and Power Company lineman James Flynn of Convent Place rescued a five-year-old handicapped child as a two-alarm fire swept through two frame houses on Vineyard Avenue; eleven families with 18 adults and 39 children were displaced from their homes.
Saturday, November 15th:
November 15, 1927: Jerry the Sea Lion and two other seals escaped from Bronxville Nurseries at Central Avenue and Tuckahoe Road; they escaped their enclosure in the dark of night, but his friends quickly were recaptured.
Jerry wandered through Colonial Heights and Mohegan Heights, remaining unseen until a man walking on Underhill Road spotted him. After frustrating attempts to capture him in Sprain Brook, the adventurous little guy headed to a stream near Grassy Sprain Golf Club. Nursery employees followed him with a basket of fish to entice him, but he took off. When last seen, Jerry was splashing happily in the Bronx River near 180th Street.
November 15, 1945: Riverdale Avenue’s Brigadier General Frederick M. Hopkins, Jr., Commanding General of the Army and Navy Forces at Iwo Jima, shared his memories growing up in Yonkers with The Herald Statesman, especially his time at School Three and Yonkers High School. He spent a good deal of time at the Park Hill Inn and Shanley’s with close friend “Hap” Haviland, so was pleasantly surprised to meet Hap in Iwo; Haviland was there with the Red Cross. The pair hadn’t seen each other in years and renewed their boyhood friendship.
Hopkins reported he oversaw 30,000 servicemen, all homesick, lonely, and very anxious to get home.
Sunday, November 16th:
November 16, 1927: Jerry the Sea Lion continued to flop and slither in the Bronx River. Police in rowboats armed themselves with pails of fish to try to catch the happy little amphibian, who continued to escape their attempts.
November 16, 1933: Frank Frish, manager of the St. Louis baseball team, addressed a dinner held by the Yonkers Baseball League in honor of the championship Irwin Post nine.
Questions or comments on this column? Email YonkersHistory1646@gmail.com.
For information on the Yonkers Historical Society, Sherwood House and upcoming events, please visit our website www.yonkershistoricalsociety.org, call 914-961-8940 or email info@yonkershistoricalsociety.org.
