Florence Riddick Boys Explained

Florence Riddick Boys
Birth Name:Florence Alice Riddick
Birth Date:December 3, 1873
Birth Place:Litchfield, Minnesota, U.S.
Death Date:May 10, 1963 (aged 89)
Death Place:Plymouth, Indiana, U.S.
Nationality:USA
Other Names:Florence R. Boys
Occupation:Writer, clubwoman, activist
Spouse:Samuel Evan Boys (m. 1898-1963; her death)
Children:5
Relatives:Carl Riddick (brother)

Florence Riddick Boys (Florence Alice Riddick; December 3, 1873 – May 10, 1963) was an American writer, clubwoman, suffragist, and state probation officer in Indiana.

Early life

Florence Alice Riddick was born in 1873 in Litchfield, Minnesota, the daughter of Isaac Hancock Riddick and Alice Esther (Wood) Riddick. Her mother died just seven days after her birth on December 10, 1873 at the age of 25; her father, a Methodist minister, remarried in 1876. Her brother Carl W. Riddick served one term in the United States Senate, representing Montana, and his son was politician and aviator Merrill K. Riddick.[1] In 1896 Florence Riddick graduated from her parents' alma mater, Albion College in Michigan, where she was editor of the school newspaper and "class poetess".[2] [3]

Career

Journalism

After marriage, she moved to Plymouth, Indiana, where she lived for the rest of her life. There, she wrote a column for the "woman's page" of the Plymouth Pilot and the Daily Republican, newspapers her husband published.[4] She wrote poetry, advice,[5] recipes, and essays for the papers.[6] Her women's page was syndicated for use in other newspapers in 1920.[7] Her features appeared in more than fifty papers by 1924,[8] and at its peak in 140 newspapers, including one in New Zealand, before she retired the feature in 1942.[9] She attended meetings of the Indiana Republican Editorial Association with her husband.[10]

Suffrage and politics

Boys was county chair of the Woman's Franchise League in Plymouth. After the suffrage campaign was won, she became the first Woman's Publicity Director for the Republican National Committee. She wrote for the National Republican, a weekly national newspaper produced by the party.[11] "If ever, in wistful mood, I sighed for a medium of expression, my wildest dreams have come true," she wrote of her work as a political press agent, in 1922; "one visualizes the great body of women voters keen to equip themselves in their new field of activity."[12] She was described as "one of the real national authorities of women in politics" when she addressed the Inland Daily Press Association in Chicago in 1923.[13] She was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1924, and an alternate delegate in 1932. She wrote Why Watson? (1925), a book about politician James Eli Watson.[14]

Boys was Indiana's State Probation Officer from 1926[15] to at least 1931, leading work on juvenile delinquency in the state, lecturing, and editing the Indiana Probation News publication.[16] [17] [18] In the 1930s she chaired the Corrections and Public Welfare departments of the Indiana Federation of Clubs.[19] [20]

Personal life

She married lawyer and newspaper publisher Samuel Evan Boys in 1898. They had five children together, born between 1899 and 1914. She died in 1963, aged 89, in Plymouth, Indiana.[21] Her papers are in the Indiana State Library.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Riddick-Boys family of South Bend and Plymouth, Indiana. The Political Graveyard. 2019-10-09.
  2. News: A Passion for Writing; Florence Boys Spent Early Years as a Typical Housewife. Chipman. Ida. January 16, 2007. The South Bend Tribune. October 9, 2019. E1, E3. Newspapers.com.
  3. https://www.in.gov/library/files/L424%20Boys%20Florence%20Riddick%20Papers.pdf Finding aid, Florence Riddick Boys Papers
  4. Book: The Anchora Delta Gamma, Nov. 1924. Delta Gamma Fraternity. 100. en.
  5. News: A Pen Piping and What To Do. Boys. Florence Riddick. October 27, 1922. Woman's Enterprise. October 9, 2019. 11. Newspapers.com.
  6. Book: Boys, Florence Riddick. Indiana writers of poems and prose. 1902. Chicago : Western Press Association. University of California Libraries. Hamilton. Edward Joseph. 218–219. Spring Love Song.
  7. June 5, 1920. Publisher's Wife Edits Page. The Fourth Estate. 16.
  8. News: Famous Woman Writer to Write for Republicans. August 17, 1924. The Indianapolis Star. October 9, 2019. 35. Newspapers.com.
  9. News: Untitled news item. January 8, 1942. The South Bend Tribune. October 10, 2019. 18. Newspapers.com.
  10. February 3, 1923. Indiana Editors Hold Winter Session. The Fourth Estate. 8.
  11. Book: Freeman, Jo. A Room at a Time: How Women Entered Party Politics. 2000. Rowman & Littlefield. 9780847698042. 98.
  12. Boys. Florence R.. November 4, 1922. Woman Political 'Press Agent' Likes Job. The Fourth Estate. 15.
  13. February 17, 1923. Inland Members Foregather at Convention. The Fourth Estate. 6.
  14. Book: Boys, Florence Riddick. Why Watson?. 1925. Allied Printing. Indianapolis. en. 247752859.
  15. News: Woman Known Here is Given State Office. January 27, 1926. Palladium-Item. October 10, 2019. 7. Newspapers.com.
  16. Book: https://books.google.com/books?id=N-UVAQAAMAAJ&q=Florence+Riddick+Boys&pg=PA1104. Year Book of the State of Indiana for the Year .... 1926. Wm. B. Burford. 1104. Sixth Annual Report of the State Probation Department.
  17. News: State Probation Officer Speaks. November 16, 1927. The Tribune. October 10, 2019. 1. Newspapers.com.
  18. News: State Probation Officer to Speak. March 19, 1931. The Star Press. October 9, 2019. 6. Newspapers.com.
  19. News: Untitled news item. July 13, 1934. The Indianapolis Star. October 10, 2019. 6. Newspapers.com.
  20. News: Public Welfare Chairman. March 15, 1936. The Star Press. October 9, 2019. 22. Newspapers.com.
  21. News: Mrs. Florence Boys Dies at Plymouth. May 11, 1963. Rushville Republican. October 10, 2019. 6. Newspapers.com.