This page is a stub.
You can help improve it.
William Wallace Douglas had been
assistant postmaster in San Bernardino, California; executive secretary
to a California governor; and deputy comptroller for the state. [More
recently, he had become] a banking executive in San Francisco. William
would eventually be a vice president, director of personnel, and board
member for the predecessor to today's Bank of America.
Douglas, W. W., Vice-President and Director, of Powell Street, San
Francisco, California; and a member of the Union League Club, the
Berkeley Country Club, and the San Francisco Commercial Club.
[Since] 1905 he has been engaged in banking in San Francisco,
California;. He is vice-president of the Bank of Italy, and
vice-president of the Stockholders Auxiliary Corporation.
In 1909 he married Miss Ellen E. Cooper; and they [have] one daughter,
and reside at 163 Alvardo Road, Berkeley, California;.
Research notes:
• W.W. Douglas was Deputy State Controller in California in 1902
• Maj. W.W. Douglas was acting inspector of rifle practice, Third
Brigade, National Guard, and Acting Signal Officer (1901).
Helen Cooper (Mrs. W. W.) Douglas 1880-1965
Helen was an activist in the 1911 California Equal Suffrage Campaign
On June
8, 1911, the San Francisco Chronicle quoted Mrs. W. W. Douglas saying,
"Man has been keeping woman in cold storage. If so, she has retaliated
by making things fairly warm for many men." This comment was part of the
ongoing debate over a ballot measure on equal suffrage in California,
which would eventually pass on October 10, making California the sixth
state to grant women the vote. Helen Cooper Douglas, known as Mrs. W. W.
Douglas, was a celebrated orator for the cause.
Helen spoke to an
audience of 2,000 at San Francisco's Scottish Rite Temple on June 6,
1911, at an event organized by the California Equal Suffrage
Association. Her speech, filled with witty remarks against arguments
opposing women's suffrage, was extensively quoted in the Chronicle. She
challenged the notion that voting was an inherently masculine activity
and invoked the contributions of women pioneers to argue for women's
right to vote.
Born on October 5, 1880, in Virginia City, Nevada,
Helen was the second of three children. She earned a bachelor's degree
from the University of California in 1902 and later married William
Wallace Douglas in 1909. William held various significant positions,
including banking executive in San Francisco.
The couple settled
in Berkeley, where Helen became active in the Association of Collegiate
Alumnae, advocating for women's opportunities and equality. She
continued her activism after the suffrage ballot, speaking on labor
legislation for women, addressing state legislators, and supporting
Woodrow Wilson's reelection. She also volunteered as a "four-minute man"
during World War I.
Helen remained active in the American
Association of University Women and the League of Women Voters. She
participated in the Institute of International Relations at Mills
College. After William's death in 1940, Helen moved to a modest home in
Berkeley's Greenwood Common, where she lived until her death on December
9, 1965.
|
