Mabel Lloyd Fisher Ridgely (April 13, 1872 – January 11, 1962) was an American suffragist and historical preservationist, president of the Delaware Equal Suffrage Association and of the Public Archives Commission, and a founder of Old Dover Days, an annual festival.
Mabel Lloyd Ridgely | |
---|---|
Born | Mabel Lloyd Fisher April 13, 1872 Washington, D. C. |
Died | February 11, 1962 | (aged 89)
Resting place | Dover, Delaware |
Nationality | American |
Occupation(s) | Preservationist, Suffragist |
Spouse |
Henry Ridgely
(m. 1893; died in 1940) |
Mabel Lloyd Fisher was born in Washington, D. C., the daughter of Charles G. Fisher and Philippa Lloyd Fisher.
Ridgely's suffrage work included a term as president of the Delaware Equal Suffrage Association.[1] She worked to persuade the state's General Assembly to ratify the 19th Amendment in 1920.[2] The state Senate voted to ratify but the lower house did not.[3] After suffrage was won, Ridgely was the first president of the state's League of Women Voters.[4]
Ridgely had a particular interest in historical preservation. She served as president of the Public Archives Commission in Delaware, helped restore and preserve the Old State House[5] and the John Dickinson House in Dover, and was a founder and organizer of Old Dover Days,[6] a festival focused on local history.[7] She also helped to found the Delaware State Archives. She wrote a history of her husband's family, What Them Befell (1949), about the Ridgelys in colonial Delaware, based on their surviving correspondence.[8]
During World War I, Mabel Lloyd Ridgely chaired the Women's Liberty Loan Committee in Delaware.[9]
Mabel Lloyd Fisher married Henry Ridgely, a judge, in 1893. They had a daughter, Philippa E. Ridgely (1894-1983). Mabel was widowed when Henry, who was blind, died in 1940.[10] Mabel Lloyd Ridgely died in 1962, aged 89 years. The research room at the Delaware Public Archives in Camden, Delaware is named for Mabel Lloyd Ridgely.[11]
Mabel's grandson, Henry Ridgely Horsey, was a judge on the Delaware Supreme Court from 1978 to 1994.[12]
Ridgely was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Delaware Women. The Delaware Public Archives named a research room in her honor.[13][14]