What a Deal of Bother

A few years ago, David Bellel put together a great site featuring bits Windsor Terrace history. Especially fun are the pieces of news from the Brooklyn Eagle, including one story from 1894 entitled "Trouble When Women Voted: What a Deal of Bother They Made in Windsor Terrace." A round of school elections turned into a religious battleground, and school board trustee Ferdinand Roth was none too pleased:

“Woman suffrage in Windsor Terrace was not only a failure, but it was a most insufferable nuisance. The very class of women whose duty it was to come to the polls, and who from their education and refinement were best calculated to decide upon matters for the welfare of our public schools would absolutely refuse to vote. But the ignorant and prejudiced classes of women were always on hand early, seeking to vote whether they were qualified or not…Their animosity was always directed against me because I at all times insisted that politics and religion should be kept out of the schools."