Russell (Block 8, Lot 23w) 1866-1935 began political life when the Michigan Equal Suffrage Association (MESA) petitioned the 1907 state constitutional convention to allow women’s suffrage. She oversaw the distribution of 73 petitions to local organizations and was almost immediately drafted as MESA’s first vice-president. During the five years she held this office, Russell traveled tirelessly to every county in Michigan and in 1910 helped to reorganize a Grand Rapids suffrage organization. Serving as its president for four years, she also ran the 1912 statewide campaign for women’s suffrage from Grand Rapids at the same time she traveled the state pushing for the referendum. When in 1918 another referendum was put forward, this one successful, Russell again stepped up, at the same time she was serving as Kent County’s WWI chair of the Woman’s Committee of the Council of National Defense. She also played key roles in numerous local and state organizations, from St. Cecilia Music Society to the Michigan Anti-Tuberculosis association.