Kate Gannett Wells

American author and social reformer Kate Gannett Wells was a key figure in the country's anti-suffragist movement. In addition to being the vice president of the New England Women's Club, Wells served for twenty-four years as a member of the Massachusetts Board of Education, starting in 1888. She also wrote and published a number of works, including the nonfiction book Campobello: An Historical Sketch and the novel in the Clearings (1884). On April 6, 1838, Catherine Boott Gannett gave birth to...See more

American author and social reformer Kate Gannett Wells was a key figure in the country's anti-suffragist movement. In addition to being the vice president of the New England Women's Club, Wells served for twenty-four years as a member of the Massachusetts Board of Education, starting in 1888. She also wrote and published a number of works, including the nonfiction book Campobello: An Historical Sketch and the novel in the Clearings (1884). On April 6, 1838, Catherine Boott Gannett gave birth to Wells in London, England. Her father's medical care was being facilitated by her parents, Anna Tilden Gannett and Ezra Stiles Gannett, a well-known Unitarian pastor, who were residing in England. According to reports, Wells was named after her mother's sister, Catherine Tilden, and her father's physician, Dr. Boott. Wells was eight years old when Anna Gannett died on Christmas day in 1846; Wells and her two siblings would subsequently look up to Catherine Tilden as a mother figure. Wells' father, former Yale College President Ezra Stiles, and early New England colonist Mary Chilton were her ancestors. See less