Eleanor McWilliams Chamberlain
Eleanor "Ella" McWilliams Chamberlain was an American women's rights pioneer who has been credited with starting the women's suffrage movement in Florida. She has been described as the most prominent women's rights pioneer in Florida during the 1890s. In 1870, she married Fielding P. Chamberlain. They moved from Ella's home state of Iowa to Florida in 1881 or 1882, and settled in Tampa. After attending a women's rights convention in 1892, she began using the newspaper column that she wrote to further the cause. She soon organized a group of about 100 women who joined the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Chamberlain and her husband attended the association's national convention in 1895. When she moved away, the movement essentially collapsed until 1913. She also advocated for a "mother's pension" to support widows raising children. A bust of her is on the Tampa Riverwalk.
