Abigail Scott Duniway (1834-1915), considered “Oregon’s grand old lady,” traveled on the Oregon Trail in 1852 with her family. Her mother and youngest brother died on the trail. For a number of years, she and her husband Ben Duniway owned a farm in the Willamette Valley, but after a farming injury which left Ben unable to work, Abigail opened a millinery shop in Albany, Oregon in 1863. In Albany, she saw first hand how women suffered due to injustices in Oregon law, which among other items, did not permit women to own property, but made women responsible for the debts of their husbands. She was determined to change these laws.

An early advocate for women’s right to vote, Abigail soon became the chairperson of Oregon’s Women’s Suffrage Organization. During her life, she organized numerous ballet measures to gain the right for women to vote. Her brother, Harvey Scott, became the editor for the Oregonian – a position he held until his death in 1910. Abigail, in reaction to Harvey’s conservative politics, founded and printed a rival newspaper called The New Northwest.

During the early 1900s, Harvey took an active role in attempting to stop the Women’s Suffrage movement in Oregon, and it was only after Harvey’s death in 1910 that women finally won the right to vote in Oregon in 1912. Abigail Scott Duniway was asked by Governor Oswald West to draft the Women’s Suffrage Proclamation and through Governor West’s efforts, Abigail Scott Duniway was the first woman to register to vote in the State of Oregon.

The goal of this opera is not only to educate Oregonians about this amazing woman, but also to focus attention on the importance of voting – which is why these performances are occurring in the same month as the national election.

The opera is one-hour in length and will be performed without intermission. It is designed to appeal to any age and especially families with children.