Madeline McDowell Breckinridge

Madeline McDowell Breckinridge (May 20, 1872 - November 25, 1920) was a leader of the women’s suffrage movement and one of Kentucky's leading Progressive reformers. She was also known as Madge Breckinridge and Mrs. Desha Breckinridge.

She was born in Woodlake, Kentucky and grew up at Ashland, The Henry Clay Estate, the farm established by her great-grandfather, nineteenth-century statesman Henry Clay. Her mother was Henry Clay, Jr.'s daughter, Anne Clay McDowell, and her father was Major Henry Clay McDowell (a namesake of Henry Clay), who served during the American Civil War on the Union side. One of her brothers was federal judge Henry C. McDowell. In 1898 Madeline McDowell married Desha Breckinridge, the editor of the Lexington Herald and a brother of the pioneering social worker Sophonisba Breckinridge.

The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed shortly before she died. She was able to vote only once in her life, in the November United States presidential election, 1920, before suffering a stroke and dying on Thanksgiving Day, at the age of 48.

Madeline McDowell Breckinridge (shown last year of her life) by Dixie Selden. Portrait at Ashland, The Henry Clay Estate.

[edit] Key Activities and Accomplishments

1908-1912 she chaired the Kentucky Federation of Women’s Clubs.
Successfully lobbied for allowing women to vote in Kentucky school board elections.
1912-1915 and 1919-1920 she served as president of the Kentucky Equal Rights Association.
1912 she helped found the Kentucky Tuberculosis Commission and was the group’s vice president until 1916.
1913-1915 she served as vice president of the National Woman Suffrage Association.
She founded a social settlement at Proctor, Kentucky, similar to Chicago’s Hull House, advocated to establish playgrounds and kindergartens, and spoke out against child labor.
She was a vocal supporter of the newly formed League of Nations.

(For more information see Breckinridge)

Madeline married Desha Breckinridge, who came from a notable American family. The members of the family include John C. Breckinridge and Bunny Breckinridge. Madeline was also a cousin of Dr. Ephraim McDowell and American Civil War Union General Irvin McDowell. Her cousin, Laura Clay, founded the Kentucky Equal Rights Association in 1912, which Madeline later became president of.