Marion Marsh Todd

Marion Marsh Todd (February 28, 1841 – October 2, 1928) was an American author, lawyer and political economist. After her husband died in 1880, Todd ran for state attorney general with the Greenback Labor Party and joined the Knights of Labor General Assembly. She also authored political and romantic books including Prof. Goldwin Smith and His Satellites in Congress, Railways of Europe and America and Protective Tariff Delusions

Marion Marsh Todd
Born
Marion Marsh

(1841-02-28)February 28, 1841
Plymouth, New York, U.S.
Died(1928-10-02)October 2, 1928
EducationHastings Law College
Occupationwriter, lawyer
Political partyGreenback Labor Party
Spouse(s)
Benjamin Todd
​
(m. 1868⁠–⁠1880)​
Children1
Parents
  • Abner Kneeland Marsh (father)
  • Dolly Wales Marsh (mother)

Early life

Todd was born on February 28, 1841 in Plymouth, New York.[1] She was one of seven children and attended Ypsilanti State Normal School.[2] Her father, Abner Kneeland Marsh, died when she was ten years old.[1] After graduating from the Ypsilanti State Normal School, she began her career as a teacher.[3]

Career

Todd married Benjamin Todd in 1868 and they moved to California. She attended Hastings College of Law and practiced law in California before moving to Chicago.[4] She was one of the first woman to pass the State Bar of California.[5] As one of the first women to enrol at Hastings, Todd was classmates alongside activists Clara Shortridge Foltz and Laura de Force Gordon.[3]

After her husband's death, Todd ran for state attorney general with the Greenback Labor Party.[5] She led the Greenback Party in the election after receiving 1,109 votes but still lost.[3] Although she lost, Todd attended the first national anti-monopoly convention in Chicago as a delegate in 1893 and 1894.[4] She eventually returned to the Midwest where she advocated for the Farmers' Alliance.[5] In the mid-1880s, she joined the Knights of Labor in Michigan, and was sent as a delegate to the convention in Richmond, Virginia.[4] In her book Protective Tariff Delusions, Todd focused on high Tariffs. However, by 1890, she switched her focus to currency and corporate monopoly.[6] She also moved to Chicago where she became the editor of a reformer newspaper.[7]

While continuing her political activism, Todd also authored political and romantic books. In 1893, with the help of the chairman of the National Committee of the People's party, she published Railways of Europe and America: Or, Government Ownership.[5] As well, in response to comments from Professor Goldwin Smith at Cornell University that was seen as anti-suffragist, Todd published Prof. Goldwin Smith and His Satellites in Congress.[8]

Selected publications
  • Railways of Europe and America: Or, Government Ownership (1893)
  • Prof. Goldwin Smith and His Satellites in Congress
  • Railways of Europe and America
  • Protective Tariff Delusions

References
  1. Frances Elizabeth Willard (1897). American Women: Fifteen Hundred Biographies with Over 1,400 Portraits. Mast, Crowell & Kirkpatric. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  2. "Todd, Marion Marsh". encyclopedia.com. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
  3. "Todd, Marion Marsh (1841–Post 1913)". encyclopedia.com. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
  4. "Marion Todd". herhatwasinthering.org. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
  5. Charles Postel (2007). The Populist Vision. Oxford University Press. p. 72. ISBN 9780195176506. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
  6. Rebecca Edwards (November 27, 1997). Angels in the Machinery: Gender in American Party Politics from the Civil War to the Progressive Era. Oxford University Press. p. 94. ISBN 9780195353693. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
  7. Okker, Patricia (June 1, 2008). Our Sister Editors: Sarah J. Hale and the Tradition of Nineteenth-century American Women Editors. University of Georgia Press. p. 214. ISBN 9780820332499. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
  8. Charles Postel (2009). The Populist Vision (reprint). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195384710. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
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