Elizabeth Langhorne Lewis

Elizabeth Dabney Langhorne Lewis (9 December 1851 – 30 January 1946) was the founder of the Lynchburg Equal Suffrage League and vice-president of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia. She was also one of the founders of the Virginia League of Women Voters. Early life Elizabeth Dabney Langhorne was born in 1851 in Botetourt County, Virginia. As a child, she lived in Lynchburg. She went to private schools in Lynchburg and Charlottesville. As a young woman, she taught in a number of schools in the Lynchburg area. In August 1873 she married John Henry Lewis. He was a civil war veteran and an attorney. Lewis was elected president of the Lynchburg Women's Club twice. She was an accomplished pianist and was active in the Lynchburg artistic community. Suffrage activity Lewis was the founder and president of the Lynchburg Equal Suffrage League. The group, founded in October 1910, created petitions in support of women's suffrage addressed to the Virginia General Assembly and gave presentations to local groups. The group also published the Lynchburg Woman's Suffrage News in April 1917, printing 5,000 copies.