Bittenbender, Ada Matilda (1848–1925)

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Bittenbender, Ada Matilda (1848–1925)

American suffragist, temperance reformer, and attorney. Born Ada Matilda Cole, Aug 3, 1848, in Bradford Co., Pennsylvania; died Dec 15, 1925, in Lincoln, Nebraska; m. Henry Clay Bittenbender, Aug 9, 1878.

Helped organize the Nebraska Woman Suffrage Association (1881), of which she served as president (1882); became Nebraska's 1st female lawyer (May 1882); was superintendent of temperance legislation for Nebraska Woman's Christian Temperance Union (1883–89); focused on federal laws as superintendent of legislation and petitions for National WCTU (beginning 1887), and attorney for the organization (1888–89); credited with drawing up the bill which raised the statutory age of consent to 16 for women (enacted 1889); in Nebraska, was a candidate for supreme court judge on the Prohibition ticket (1891). Writings include The National Prohibitory Amendment Guide (1889) and Tedos and Tisod: A Temperance Story (1911).

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