Elizabeth Monroe Richards Tilton (May 28, 1834 – April 13, 1897) was an American suffragist, a founder of the Brooklyn Woman's Club, and a poetry editor of The Revolution, the newspaper of the National Woman Suffrage Association, founded by woman's rights advocates Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Elizabeth Tilton also served on the executive committee of the American Equal Rights Association.
Tilton became the largely silenced center of "the most sensational and highly publicized social scandal of the era" in 1875, when her husband Theodore Tilton brought a suit for "criminal conversation" against his friend, the popular preacher Henry Ward Beecher. Although the trial ended in a deadlock, it destroyed the social positions and careers of both Elizabeth and Theodore Tilton. Beecher's reputation was tarnished, but he retained his position and much of his influence.
Early life and education
Elizabeth Monroe Richards was born on May 28, 1834, in Brooklyn, New York, to Johanna Handley and Joseph Richards, a jeweller Johanna married Nathan Brewster Morse, Sr. After having been a widow for a number of years, Johanna died on July 26, 1889 at her home in Brooklyn after a nine-month illnes
Elizabeth Richards attended the Brooklyn Female Seminary. She tutored her younger brother Joseph H. Richards and his friend Theodore Tilton, who attended Public School No. 1. When Tilton's parents decided to move to New Jersey, Tilton boarded with Elizabeth, Joseph, and their mother. They attended Plymouth Church, where Henry Ward Beecher was an extremely popular preacher. Elizabeth became a Sunday school teacher at Plymouth Church.
Suffrage and women's rights
She was a participant in the women's rights movement. She was a contributor to and the poetry editor of The Revolution, which was the voice of the National Woman Suffrage Association, founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. With them, Elizabeth Tilton was one of a dozen signatories of a petition appealing for protection for voting rights in 1866.
In 1868 and 1869, she served on the executive committee of the American Equal Rights Association. In 1870, she was the corresponding secretary of the Brooklyn Equal Rights Association, and one of three members of a committee to find and set up a house in Brooklyn to serve as its headquarters. She founded the Brooklyn Woman's Club in 1870 with Celia M. Burleigh, Laura Curtis Bullard, and others.
