Clarina Irene Howard Nichols (January 25, 1810 – January 11, 1885) was a journalist, lobbyist, and public speaker involved in all three of the major reform movements of the mid-19th century: temperance, abolition, and the women's movement that emerged largely out of the ranks of the first two. Though prominent enough in her time to merit her own chapter in Anthony's History of Woman Suffrage, Nichols has been overlooked since 1900 and only recently have her contributions to equal rights undergone a reassessment.

Biography

Clarina Irene Howard was born in West Townshend, Vermont in 1810, into a prosperous New England family. She graduated from a private school at the age of 18 and proceeded to teach for two years. In 1830, she married Justin Carpenter, with whom she had one daughter, Birsha, and two sons, Chapin and Aurelius.

Carpenter tried to start a school and a newspaper, both of which failed. He moved his family to New York City in the mid-1830s and squandered the rest of the family's finances. During this time, Clarina operated a boarding house, cooking, sewing, and cleaning for professional men and their wives visiting the city. Unable to support herself, her children, and her husband who could not or would not keep steady employment, Clarina took her children to her parent's home and abandoned Carpenter in 1839.

Clarina's failed marriage played a large role in her later women's rights career. Divorce was difficult to secure in the 19th century, and under marital law's, Clarina had no right to her children or to control her own finances. Vermont had some of the more liberal divorce laws in the nation, including the ability to divorce for "intolerable severity," but it still required special approval from the state Supreme Court and only applied to Vermont residents. Clarina's marriage had collapsed in New York. It took special legislation, including testimony from Clarina herself, to open up a loophole in the law and allow her to secure her divorce. Part of the new law required three year residency in the state before she could apply. She finally received her divorce in 1843.

It was in this context that Clarina Howard began to delve into public writing. She began sending prose and poetry to newspapers in Brattleboro, Vermont, notably the Whig-backed Vermont Phoenix and the Democratic Windham County Democrat. The Democrat's editor, George Nichols, particularly liked here writing, and she began clipping and penning articles for him beginning in 1841. The two married in 1843.

While fighting for women's rights in the east, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 prompted her to move west to work for the anti-slavery cause as well. After her husband died in August, she left for Kansas in October 1854 as part of a convoy sponsored by the New England Emigrant Aid Company. She and two of her sons moved to Lawrence where she was a correspondent for numerous eastern newspapers promoting the free state cause in Kansas.

In Quindaro, Nichols again took an editorial seat. She joined Rev. John M. Walden as editor of the Chindowan, another Wyandot name which means "leader." This paper preached antislavery politics and the Temperance cause. Nichols remained a leader in both in Quindaro, including sponsoring a petition to rid the town of liquor that led to a minor riot. She was also a member of the Quindaro Literary Society. This reading group morphed into an antislavery organization, meeting at a house designated "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and had several members who helped enslaved people escape on the Underground Railroad.

Quindaro did not last long as a town. The Panic of 1857 led to a financial collapse among speculators and business owners in the town. The population declined leading up the American Civil War in 1861. After that point, many residents fled to Wyandotte City or other locations in Kansas. By 1862, a Kansas Cavalry unit occupied the town and tore down many of the remaining structures.

Her antislavery career too began from a moderate position. Writing for a Democratic paper in the 1840s restricted her ability to criticize the institution, but Vermont politics leaned more towards free soilism than to proslavery arguments. Her husband aligned his paper with a pro-Union stance in the 1840s, meaning he did not support proslavery politics, but was not willing to challenge slavery's expansion at the expense of national harmony.

Commemoration

A painting by Phyllis Garibay-Coon depicting her and other Kansas suffragists was unveiled at the Kansas Statehouse in January 2025. It is titled "Rebel Women" and is the first art installation by any woman artist to be in the Kansas Statehouse.

See also

  • Aurelius O. Carpenter, her son

Footnotes

Further reading

  • Diane Eickhoff, Revolutionary Heart: Clarina Nichols and the Pioneering Crusade for Women's Rights. Kansas City, KS: Quindaro Press, 2006. Revolutionary heart : the life of Clarina Nichols and the pioneering crusade for women's rights | WorldCat.org Also released in a YA version as Clarina Nichols: Frontier Crusader for Women's Rights. Clarina Nichols - History
  • Marilyn S. Blackwell and Kristen T. Oertel, Frontier Feminist: Clarina Howard Nichols and the Politics of Motherhood. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2010. Frontier feminist : Clarina Howard Nichols and the politics of motherhood | WorldCat.org
  • Clarina Nichols, Women's Rights Activist And Journalist
  • Biography, from a website created by the University of Kansas and the Kansas State Historical Society
  • Clarina Irene Howard Nichols Papers. Schlesinger Library , Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.