When Mary Upton Ferrin attempted to divorce her husband in 1848, she discovered something shocking: if she did, he would be entitled to all of her property, even what she entered the marriage with.
Upton Ferrin decided that that wasn’t good enough, and made up her mind to change the law, becoming one of Massachusetts’ first suffragists.
Born on April 27, 1810, in South Danvers (now Peabody), she married Jesse Ferrin at age 35. He was soon revealed to be an alcoholic and abused his wife, prompting her to visit Salem lawyer Samuel Merritt. Merritt advised her of the unfortunate laws that would leave Upton Ferrin destitute if she divorced her husband.
In 1848, Upton Ferrin first petitioned the Massachusetts State Legislature to change the rules regarding women and property. She traveled 600 miles across the state, around two-thirds of that on foot, to collect the signatures of women who supported the change.
Sudi Smoller, a local historian who wrote the book, “Mary Upton Ferrin: Earliest Massachusetts Pioneer in Women’s Suffrage,” said that it is remarkable that Upton Ferrin’s story has been preserved in history, because nowhere in the House records is her name written.
“If not for the few people who preserved her story, we would never have known it,” Smoller said.
Her first petition failed, because it was introduced too late in the legislative session, but in 1849, she tried again with the help of State Sen. Charles Upham of Salem. When he presented her statement to the Senate, many legislators were shocked to find out that it was written by a woman, but the law passed.
Because of Upton Ferrin’s advocacy, women could now keep their property after a divorce. In addition, married women could draft a will without the consent of their husband, and widowed women were entitled to half of their husband’s property in the event that there was no will.
Upton Ferrin faced animosity from many, even in her own family, and was even for a time incarcerated in a mental institution. Smoller said that not much is known about that time of her life, including why she was there, who put her there and how she got out.
Despite this, she lived a successful life. She continued her advocacy, later joining the National Women’s Suffrage Association. There is no record of her successfully divorcing her husband, but she lived separately from him until her death in Marblehead in 1881 at the age of 71. She is buried at Greenlawn Cemetery in Salem.
In 1869, she wrote a rebuttal to a speech by New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley about why women were unfit to vote. In her rebuttal, published in the Peabody Times, she disagreed vehemently with Greeley’s arguments.
“Does man doubt woman’s ability to rule herself?” Upton Ferrin asked. “Let him change sides and see if she will not wield the sword, the sceptre, and the pen, with as much efficiency as he will the needle, the cradle, and the broom. If she fails in this, and needs his aid, allow her to ask it, if you please.”
Smoller said that Upton Ferrin was exemplary of the dissatisfaction of women with the unfairness of their position at the time.
“She was born with no rights,” Smoller said. “By the time she died, she owned property, invested in banks, and her life was the exact opposite.”
