Archives West Finding Aid

Abigail Jane Scott was born in Tazewell County, Illinois, on October 22, 1834. She was the third of twelve children of Ann Roelofson and John Tucker Scott. Abigail, whose family nickname was "Jenny," received only about 12 months of formal education. The Scotts crossed the plains to Oregon when Abigail was 17-years-old, and she kept the family journal of their journey. Her mother and youngest brother, Willie, died en route to Oregon. Abigail's journal served as the basis of her 1859 novel Captain Gray's Company, the first commercially printed novel in Oregon.

Duniway (then Scott) became a teacher in the small town of Cincinnati (now Eola), Oregon, while her family ran an inn in Lafayette. There, she met Benjamin Charles Duniway and married him August 2, 1853. The newlyweds moved to Ben's Clackamas County farm. After a few years, the Duniways moved to Yamhill County where Abigail started to write her first novel as well as anonymous letters to local newspapers. The Duniways lost their farm because Ben cosigned loans for a friend who defaulted following a catastrophic flood. The Duniways then moved to Lafayette, where Abigail taught school and ran a millinery shop while Ben created a washing machine and bred horses.

Duniway's thoughts and writings began to turn to suffrage in the 1860s. In 1871, she moved her family to Portland and, in May of that year, launched her weekly newspaper, The New North West. She also began to lecture throughout the Northwest along with nationally-renown suffragist Susan B. Anthony. Duniway sold her newspaper in 1886.

The Duniways had six children: Clara, Willis, Hubert, Wilkie, Clyde and Ralph. Clara died at a young age in 1886. Willis went on to be State Printer; Hubert became a lumber exporter; Wilkie was a printer for various Portland papers; Clyde became a professor and president of three universities, and Ralph was a prominent Portland attorney. Ben Duniway died in 1896.

Abigail Duniway was an indefatigable supporter of women's suffrage. She encountered personal set-backs such as poor health, money problems, and opposition from her brother Harvey Scott, who edited a local paper, The Portland Oregonian. She persisted despite political opposition in the form of local resistance, the consistent failure of women's suffrage referendums on state ballots, and divisions with Eastern suffrage organizations. This persistence paid off in 1912 when Oregon became the seventh state in the Union to pass a women's suffrage amendment. Governor Oswald West asked Duniway to write the proclamation for his signature. Duniway had the honor of being the first woman to register to vote in Multnomah County. During this period she also authored numerous novels. Abigail Jane Scott Duniway died on October 11, 1915.

Source: Moynihan, Ruth Barnes. Rebel for Rights: Abigail Scott Duniway (Yale University Press, 1983). Coll 232B, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon.