Lilith Martin Wilson Explained

Office1:Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Birth Date:13 September 1886
Birth Place:Dublin, Indiana
Death Place:Reading, Pennsylvania
Party:Socialist Party of Pennsylvania
Occupation:Politician
Nationality:American

Lilith Martin Wilson (September 13, 1886July 8, 1937) was an American socialist who served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1930 to 1936.[1] She was the first woman in Pennsylvania to run for governor, receiving just over two percent of the vote in the 1922 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election.[2]

Biography

Wilson was born on September 13, 1886, in Dublin, Indiana, to Lida and Morris Browne. She attended high school in Kokomo, Indiana, and the Rand School of Social Science in New York.[3]

Wilson was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1930, winning by a margin of 85 votes.[4] She was subsequently reelected in the 1932 and 1934 elections, but did not run for reelection in 1936 due to failing health.[5] [6] As a member of the legislature, she campaigned for old age pensions, unemployment and maternity insurance, and child labor laws.[7] She was a member of the League for Industrial Democracy, the Old Age Security League, and the Birth Control League of Berks County.[8]

She died on July 8, 1937, at the age of 50.[9]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Adams . Heather . April 24, 2019 . Lilith Martin Wilson: Berks County's First Female State Politician . 2022-12-03 . BCTV . en-US.
  2. News: February 25, 1958 . Politics in County, State and Nation . 4 . . December 3, 2022 . Newspapers.com.
  3. News: July 9, 1937 . Obituary for Lilith M. Wilson . 1 . . December 3, 2022 . Newspapers.com.
  4. News: December 10, 1930 . Six Policemen Complete "Sentences" Of 30 Days . 3 . . December 3, 2022 . Newspapers.com.
  5. News: November 7, 1934 . Hoopes and Wilson Reelected . 11 . . December 3, 2022 . Newspapers.com.
  6. News: February 15, 1936 . Mrs. Lilith Wilson, in Hospital, Out of Assembly Race . 1 . . December 3, 2022.
  7. News: November 6, 1930 . There's Reward But No Sensation In Her Election, Says Mrs. Wilson . 15 . . December 3, 2022 . Newspapers.com.
  8. Book: Reed, Irene . Berks County Women in History. Profiles Volume 1 . Tudor Gate Press . 2005 . 9780974094960 . 314–315.
  9. News: July 9, 1937 . Obituary for LILITH M. WILSON . 4 . . December 3, 2022 . Newspapers.com.