Woman of the Century/Ellen Sulley Fray

FRAY, Mrs. Ellen Sulley, reformer, born in the parish of Calverton, Nottinghamshire. England, 2nd December, 1832. She is descended from both Huguenot and Danish ancestors. Her mother was a near relative of Lord Denman, Chief Justice of England, and from both sides of the house she inherited intellectual qualities. Her father was Richard Sulley. who married Elizabeth Denman in 1827. and of their six children Fallen was the third daughter. When she was but a child, Mr. Sulley moved with his family to the United States, and after some years located in Rochester, N. Y. During those early years of her life, while they were traveling from place to place, opportunities for education were limited so far as books were concerned. Her father thought that it mattered little, as all that qirls needed was to write and read, with a little knowledge of arithmetic added. Fallen became a reader and a student of history. Her father was a well-known writer upon social and economical questions, and had distinguished himself at the time of the repeal of the Com Laws in England. As a young girl Ellen heard such subjects is discussed constantly and became deeply interested in all reforms of the day. In 1848 she first became roused upon the question of woman suffrage, through attendance upon a convention held in Rochester and presided over by Abigail Bush, with Lucretia Mott, Mrs. Stanton and others of the earlier agitators as speakers. ELLEN SULLEY FRAY. That marked an epoch in her life. She had learned of woman's inferiority through the religious instruction which she had received, but henceforth she felt that something in it was wrong. She was advised by her Sunday-school teacher carefully to study and compare passages in the Old and New Testaments. That she did thoroughly, and became satisfied that Christ nowhere made any difference between the sexes. Henceforth her work lay in the direction thus given, and she has labored faithfully to promote political equality for woman and to advance her rights in the industrial fields. In 1853 she became the wife of F. M. Fray, and made her home in Toledo. Ohio, where she now lives. It was a happy union, lasting for twenty years, until the death of Mr. Fray. Her two children died in child- hood, leaving her alone and free to devote herself to those things which she felt were of a character to help humanity. She has formed suffrage dubs in several different States and in Canada, and has been repeatedly a delegate to National councils, giving her time and money without stint. She has Men foremost in testing woman's eligibility for various positions. In 1886 Mrs. Fray entered into a political canvass in Rochester to put a woman upon the board of managers of the State Industrial School. With Miss Mary Anthony, the sister of Susan, she worked for three weeks and gained the victory. Mrs. Fray is still full of vigor and energy in the cause to which she has given the best of herself for so many years. At present she is one of the district presidents of the Ohio Woman's Suffrage Association and a prominent member of several of the leading dubs, literary, social and economic, in Toledo.