Mary Putnam Gridley
Mary Putnam Gridley was the first female president of a cotton mill in South Carolina. She was also one of the charter members of the South Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs.
Born on September 7, 1850, she devoted her life too trying to build the reputation of women in business. She graduated from Boston Highschool then went on to Boston Normal School graduating in 1871. She taught for three years but decided to move to Greenville, South Carolina to help her father with his cotton mill. After her father's death, she became the president of the Mill. She excelled in management and administration here. This led her to getting the skills to become leader of the Greenville Equal Suffrage Club, charter member of the, and organizer of the Hopewell Tuberculosis Association. She died in Greenville on December 19, 1939.
Early life
Mary Putnam Gridley was born September 7, 1850, in Hillston, Massachusetts. She was born to George Putnam and Mary Jane Shearson. Gridley graduated high school from Boston High and then went on to graduate Boston Normal School in 1871. After her college years, she went to teach for three years in Peabody, Massachusetts. Her family decided to move to Greenville, South Carolina where she followed them. Her father then became prominent in the developing of cotton mills.She met her husband, Issac A. Gridley, in Greenville. He died two years after they were married; they did not have children. Gridley worked throughout her life, advocating for businesswoman as well as women's right to vote. She died December 19, 1939. Gridley was buried in the Christ Church Cemetery in Greenville, South Carolina.
Career
Gridley worked for her father, owner of Batesville Mill; she was a bookkeeper and as her father's assistant. Her father's death led her to becoming Batesville Mill's president, becoming the first woman to be president of a cotton factory in South Carolina. She was president of the mill for twenty years until it was sold in 1912.While she was president of the Mill, she also was an advocate of the Women's Suffrage Movement beginning in 1890. She was the treasurer of the South Carolina Equal Rights Association. Despite the group's efforts, the right to vote for woman was not added in the updated 1895 constitution. Following the selling of the Batesville Mill in 1912, she began too focus the rest of her life on woman advocacy and their right to vote. In January 1919, Gridley strongly encouraged woman to write to the senator of South Carolina, William P. Peacock, to encourage him to take action on woman's rights.