Grace Julian Clarke was born on September 11, 1865, in Centerville, Wayne County, Indiana. She was the first of two children and the only daughter of George Washington Julian and his second wife, Laura Giddings Julian. Grace also had three older half-brothers. Her father, whose family came to Irvington, Indiana from North Carolina, was an abolitionist, a U.S. congressman, and a social reformer who introduced the first federal suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1868. Grace's mother was the daughter of Joshua Reed Giddings, an abolitionist and a U.S. congressman from Ohio.
She was a clubwoman, women's suffrage activist, newspaper journalist, and author from Indiana. As the daughter of George Washington Julian and the granddaughter of Joshua Reed Giddings, both of whom were abolitionists and members of the U.S. Congress, Clarke's family exposed her to social reform issues at an early age. She is credited with reviving the women's suffrage movement in Indiana, where she was especially active in the national campaign for women's suffrage in the early twentieth century. She is best known for founding and leading the Indiana State Federation of Women's Clubs, the Legislative Council, and the Women's Franchise League of Indiana (an affiliate of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and the predecessor to the League of Women Voters of Indiana). Clarke was the author of three books related to her father's life, and was a columnist for the Indianapolis Star from 1911 to 1929.
Clark died at home in Irvington on June 18, 1938, of pneumonia. Her remains are interred at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.
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Grace is 26 degrees from Herbert Adair, 20 degrees from Richard Adams, 19 degrees from Mel Blanc, 25 degrees from Dick Bruna, 20 degrees from Bunny DeBarge, 33 degrees from Peter Dinklage, 19 degrees from Sam Edwards, 16 degrees from Ginnifer Goodwin, 20 degrees from Marty Krofft, 16 degrees from Junius Matthews, 17 degrees from Rachel Mellon and 16 degrees from Harold Warstler on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
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Categories: Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana