Victoria Woodhull

Notable people · Suffrage · Politician · Writer

Victoria Woodhull

Born in Homer, Licking County, she and her sister opened the first woman-run Wall Street brokerage in 1870, and in 1872 the Equal Rights Party nominated her for president.

Born September 23, 1838, Homer
Died June 9, 1927, Norton Park, Bredon's Norton, Worcestershire, England

Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

Born: September 23, 1838, Homer (Licking County) source
Died: June 9, 1927, Norton Park, Bredon's Norton, Worcestershire, England source
Also known as: Victoria Woodhull, Victoria Claflin, Victoria Woodhull Martin, Victoria Claflin-Woodhull-Martin
Education: Brief formal schooling (about three years), Ohio, before age 11
Known as: Suffrage, Politician, Writer
Organizations: Equal Rights Party

Life story

Victoria Claflin was born in Homer, Ohio, in 1838, the seventh of ten children in a poor family. Her mother followed spiritualism and her father was known as a swindler. She had about three years of schooling.

She married Canning Woodhull at fifteen, divorced him in 1865, and married James Blood in 1866. With her sister Tennessee she moved east and built a business and a newspaper, Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly, started in 1870.

In 1870 she announced she would run for president, and in 1872 the Equal Rights Party nominated her, making her one of the first women to run. She was arrested on obscenity charges that November.

She later moved to England, married the banker John Biddulph Martin in 1883, and published The Humanitarian. She died in 1927. Ohio has honored her in Homer and Granville.

Ohio ties

Homer (1838-1840s)
birthplace and childhood; her father owned the local gristmill Licking County · source
various Ohio towns (before 1853)
toured with her family as a spiritualist and mesmerist source
Cleveland (1853)
her marriage certificate with Canning Woodhull was recorded here on 23 November 1853 Cuyahoga County · source

Timeline

1853 Married Canning Woodhull, a doctor 13 years her senior, on 20 November, when she was 15. The certificate was recorded in Cleveland three days later. source
1870 With her sister Tennessee opened a Wall Street brokerage, the first run by women, backed by Cornelius Vanderbilt. source
1871 Presented a memorial on constitutional equality to the congressional Judiciary committees, dated 2 January. source
1872 Nominated for president by the Equal Rights Party on 10 May at Apollo Hall in New York City, with Frederick Douglass named as her running mate without his consent. source
1872 Arrested on obscenity charges with Tennie Claflin and Col. Blood days before the election. source
1927 Died on 9 June at Norton Park, Bredon's Norton, Worcestershire, England, aged 88. source

What Victoria is known for

First woman nominated for U.S. president 1872
First woman nominated for U.S. president, 1872
1872 presidential candidate (Equal Rights Party)
Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly (1870-1876)
The Humanitarian (magazine, 1892-1901)

Stories

How Homer paid the Claflins to leave

In Homer, the Claflins were, in Gerald W. Johnson's 1956 phrase, 'the scandal of the community'. Buck Claflin was a sharp trader whose business fell off as fewer neighbours would deal with him. He acquired the village gristmill, insured it heavily, and it burned. A citizens' committee confronted him and he disappeared, leaving his wife and children stranded. The townspeople then held what they called a 'benefit', and everyone chipped in to raise money to get the rest of the family out of town. The family turned up later in other Ohio towns as travelling spiritualists and mesmerists, with Victoria and Tennessee as the main performers.

Source

Honors and things named for them

National Women's Hall of Fame (2001)
Memorial at Homer Public Library, Ohio
Clock tower honoring her, Granville, Ohio
Memorial at Tewkesbury Abbey, England

Family

mother: Roxanna Hummel Claflin
father: Reuben Claflin
sister: Tennessee Celeste Claflin
husband: Canning Woodhull
husband: James Harvey Blood
husband: John Biddulph Martin

Sites to know

Homes, graves, markers, museums and monuments.

Ohio historical marker 5-45, 'Victoria Claflin-Woodhull-Martin / First Woman Candidate for President of the United States'
Homer Public Library, 385 South Street, Homer Licking County · source

Places in Ohio to see

Homer Public Library (memorial) (museum)
Homer, Licking County ZIP 43027 (approximate) · Licking County

Ohio places

Where Victoria Woodhull was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Born: Homer, Licking County ZIP 43055 (approximate) · Licking County

Myths and corrections

Things often said about Victoria Woodhull, and what the record shows.

Often said Victoria Woodhull was a legitimate candidate for president in 1872 (and could have won).

The record She was nominated, but she could not legally have served. The Constitution requires a president to be 35, and she turned 35 only in September 1873, after the March 1873 inauguration. She won no electoral votes. Ballot-access researcher Richard Winger found that no slate of presidential electors was pledged to her and that no state's official returns record votes for her. A 1924 Washington Post account says ballots bearing her name were distributed but not counted. Woodhull was also in jail on election day. Whether this counts as 'running' is disputed. Belva Lockwood in 1884 was the first woman to appear on official ballots and receive recorded votes (4,149 by one count). source

Often said Frederick Douglass was Woodhull's running mate.

The record The Equal Rights Party named Douglass for vice president, but he did not attend the convention, never acknowledged the nomination and took no part in the campaign. source

She is often called the first woman to run for president. The source says only that the Equal Rights Party nominated her in 1872, so 'first' is a label, not a settled fact.

Pictures

Free to use with the credit shown. Select a picture for the original and its license.

Portrait of Colonel James H. Blood, friend and common law husband of Victoria Woodhull, an American Suffragist...
Public domain
Photograph of Victoria Woodhull before 1927
Public domain
Popular American cartoonist Thomas Nast lampoons Victoria Woodhull as "Mrs. Satan" in a full-page engraving fo...
Public domain
Victoria C. Woodhull
Public domain
Victoria C. Woodhull
Public domain
Albumen silver print on Cabinet card mount by Mathew Brady of Victoria Claflin Woodhull. Copy from the Fine Ar...
Public domain
Albumen silver print on Cabinet card mount by Mathew Brady of Victoria Claflin Woodhull. Copy from the Fine Ar...
Public domain
Albumen silver print on Cabinet card mount by Mathew Brady of Victoria Claflin Woodhull. Copy from the Fine Ar...
Public domain
Albumen silver print on Cabinet card mount by Mathew Brady of Victoria Claflin Woodhull. Copy from the Fine Ar...
Public domain
Victoria Claflin Woodhull
Public domain
Victoria Claflin Woodhull Martin (1838-1927)
Public domain
Victoria Claflin Woodhull Martin (1838-1927). Image uploaded as an example of how to indicate AI retouching
Public domain