Rose, Ernestine Potowski (1810-1892), was a leading reformer in the United States during the mid-1800’s. She became especially known as an early supporter of efforts to obtain equal rights for women.
In the 1840’s, Rose led a campaign in New York for legislation permitting women to keep control of property they had owned before marriage. Laws of the day gave their husbands control of such possessions. The state legislature passed the bill in 1848. Rose then became active in the new women’s rights movement, which started at Seneca Falls, N.Y., in 1848 (see Woman suffrage ).
Rose was an excellent orator. She addressed women’s rights conventions and state legislatures. She also worked to abolish slavery and to end the manufacture of alcoholic beverages. In 1869, she joined Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in founding the National Woman Suffrage Association, which campaigned for women’s right to vote.
Ernestine Potowski was born on Jan. 13, 1810, in Piotrkow (now Piotrkow Trybunalski), Poland. She and her husband, William E. Rose, a British silversmith, settled in the United States in 1836. The Roses moved to England about 1870. She died on Aug. 4, 1892.
