susan b and elizabeth cady, going into the constitution, we are going with them or fighting it. with the movement for 30 years and organizations and deeply damaging for the cause and i was sent out, my dissertation topic, going to prove elizabeth cady and susan b were horrible people and so forth. it was so depressing. [laughter] >> my faculty advisor -- you can remember i walked into his office, i want to start thinking what finally worked. i want to look forward to the positive moves, started researching the early 20th century to see what was going on. i started reading newspaper accounts and tripped over these women and nobody noticed them. they were there, too famous to know this. >> you didn't know about them when you started this thing. >> guest: no. i was reading newspapers from the 1900s, and there would be occasional references to events where fancy uber wealthy celebrity socialites were coming out for suffrage, what happens when they joined suffrage in 1908, sort of in the doldrums, languishing, considered the cause of the intellectual fringe. there are various codewor

elizabeth cady stanton and susan were in new england on behalf of the suffrages movement and they made sure to meet ida lewis and they spent the day with her. according to accounts, they were so enthusiastic and hoping that this is a woman that can really personify what this movement is all about, but when they left, she said i just have to get back to work. she did not want to be part of this national movement. famous civil war heroes came to visit her. the highlight of her visits was from president grant. he had been in town for something and he said he was not leaving newport until he got to shake the hand of ida lewis. ida got hundreds of proposals of marriage when she became famous but she was engaged at age 27. she was already engaged to another captain and she did leave the lighthouse to move in with him which she was expected to do, and be a full-time wife. less thanage lasted two years and when her father died of a second stroke, she came back to lime rock to take over the duties and never left. records show see shaved -- she saved 18 people total but it is believed she saved

and elizabeth cady, if they are going into the constitution, we are going with them or us we are fighting the movement for almost 30 years it was deeply damaging for the cause. i was going to be my dissertation topic. i was going to prove they have the movement and so forth. it was so depressing. my faculty advisor had kindly come here today and he can remember that i walked into his office and said i want to start thinking about what finally worked. i want to look forward to the positive view that women got the vote and i started researching the early 20th century to see what was going on. i started newspaper accounts and it tripped over the swimming. nobody had noticed them. they were sort of too famous to notice. >> you didn't know about them when they started this thing. >> no. i was reading newspapers from innate teen hundreds and they would be occasional references to events for the super wealthy celebrities were coming out for suffrage. what happened when they joined suffrage in the teen away, began a movement in the doldrums that's been languishing is considered the cause of the f