141st Annual Meeting & Special Presentation at The Saratoga Springs History Museum Event Recap
Frank Leslie, Saratoga, and the Revolution That Finished the Revolution
141st Annual Meeting & Special Presentation Recap
October 23, 2024 – Canfield Casino
On October 23, the Saratoga Springs History Museum held its 141st Annual Meeting inside the historic Canfield Casino—an evening that blended institutional updates, community tradition, and a powerful story about a woman who helped “buy” women’s right to vote.
After a brief State of the Museum presentation outlining new exhibits, ongoing preservation work, and future plans for sharing Saratoga’s stories, guests were treated to a special program tied to our newest exhibit:
“Frank Leslie Buys Women’s Votes”
Presented by Nancy B. Brown, Curator
What followed was a fast-paced, eye-opening journey through the life of Miriam Florence Follin Leslie—better known to history as Mrs. Frank Leslie—and the crucial role she played in the fight for women’s suffrage.
Introducing the Speaker: Nancy B. Brown
Our presenter, Nancy B. Brown, brought both expertise and heart to the evening.
A retired advertising copywriter turned elementary school teacher, Nancy serves on the boards of:
Monumental Women
The National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites
The Women’s Rights Alliance of New York
The Elizabeth Cady Stanton Hometown Association
A Johnstown native (Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s birthplace) and mother of three daughters and two granddaughters, Nancy’s passion for women’s history is deeply personal—and it showed.
Her guiding idea for the talk was bold:
Saratoga Springs wasn’t just a turning point of the American Revolution—it helped turn the tide in a different revolution: women’s suffrage.
Saratoga & the Road to Women’s Suffrage
Nancy began by situating Miriam/Frank Leslie’s story within the larger suffrage movement.
1848 – Seneca Falls:
The organized women’s rights movement begins in New York.1854 & 1855 – Early Suffrage in Saratoga:
Susan B. Anthony and Matilda Joslyn Gage hold some of the earliest women’s rights meetings in Saratoga, at St. Nicholas Hall, strategically timed to coincide with other major political gatherings in town.1869 – Congress Hall, Saratoga Springs:
Here, the New York State Woman Suffrage Association (NYSWSA) is founded. A marker outside the museum today commemorates this pivotal meeting.
NYSWSA goes on to become one of the most organized suffrage groups in the country, building a network in every county in New York State.1915 – First Referendum Fails:
Despite strong organizing, a statewide vote for women’s suffrage in New York is defeated. The western states and Illinois are already ahead; the eastern seaboard is still holding back.1917 – Saratoga at the Center Again:
The final convention of NYSWSA is held at the Convention Hall in Saratoga Springs (today’s City Center).
A dramatic automobile parade begins in Buffalo and ends on Broadway—at a time when only one in four families even owned a car.
Carrie Chapman Catt attends, and President Woodrow Wilson publicly expresses interest in the meeting’s outcome.
Later that year, New York finally passes women’s suffrage.
Historians have called New York’s 1917 victory the “Gettysburg of the suffrage movement”—a brutal, hard-fought turning point that proved a national amendment was possible.
And into this moment of history steps… Miriam / Frank Leslie.
“Meet Frank Leslie”: Reinventing a Life
The woman the world would come to know as Frank Leslie was born Miriam Florence Follin in 1836. Much of her early life was unstable:
She grew up moving between New Orleans, Manhattan, Cincinnati, and back to New York, while her father, Charles Follin, chased fortune and repeatedly failed to find it.
There is no known birth certificate, and historians believe her mother may have been an enslaved woman. Miriam spent much of her adult life working to conceal her dark complexion and reinvent her origins.
As a girl, she lived in poverty in the Bowery, yet excelled in school and became fluent in four languages, crediting public education for her confidence.
By 16, she and her stepmother Susan Danforth Follin were barely surviving. Miriam faced two harsh choices typical for poor women of the era: low-paid factory work or sex work. Ever pragmatic, she chose the path that would at least give her some control—and income.
And then she began re-writing her story.
Later in life, standing in front of a grand house in New Orleans, Miriam would tell reporters she’d been born in a mansion, raised on a plantation, taught refinement by a Bostonian mother and culture by a wealthy cotton-broker father. It was a carefully constructed myth—but a very effective one.
From Scandal to Saratoga: Enter Frank Leslie
Miriam’s life took several dramatic turns:
A coerced first marriage to David Peacock, a jewelry clerk, arranged by her stepmother to make a “respectable” woman out of her.
A stint as protégée to the infamous performer Lola Montez, touring theaters across the country (including Albany), after Miriam’s half-brother and Lola’s manager, Noel Follin, died at sea.
A marriage to Ephraim George Squier (EG), a respected anthropologist and diplomat. They traveled, but Miriam’s health deteriorated.
Her doctor prescribed a solution:
“Try a change of air—take her to the Queen of Spas.”
So in 1859, Miriam and EG came to Saratoga Springs.
Around this time, publisher Henry Carter, who wrote under the name Frank Leslie, was already enamored with Saratoga. His Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper ran rich visual spreads of the resort long before photography was common.
Miriam soon caught his eye. By the time of Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural ball, she was noted in Leslie’s own pages as the “belle of the ball”—young, intelligent, fluent in several languages, beautifully dressed, and socially electric.
Leslie hired her as editor of one of his women’s magazines. They fell in love.
There was just one problem:
They were both married.
What followed was a scandalous arrangement by Victorian standards: Frank moved in with Miriam and EG. Eventually, with the help of some conveniently obtained “evidence,” EG granted Miriam a divorce. Leslie eventually secured his own.
High New York society, led by Caroline Astor, never forgave Miriam’s past. She would never be “let in” to the famed social “400.”
So Miriam and Frank built their own world—here in Saratoga.
They bought 92 acres between Lake Lonely and Saratoga Lake and created a lavish estate called Interlaken. Tour boats would glide past just to glimpse it. They called Saratoga “Paris in the country” and spent their summers here, entertaining and enjoying the season.
“Stop the Presses”: The Empress of Journalism
When Frank Leslie died in 1880, his business empire was in trouble:
Dozens of publications
Outdated technology
About $98,000 in debt
And a restless staff of 300–400 men
He left the copyrights—and essentially the entire publishing house—to Miriam. To strengthen her claim, and to be taken seriously in court and in business, she legally changed her name to:
Frank Leslie
But the creditors came quickly: she was given a week to produce $50,000 or lose everything.
Enter another overlooked woman: Eliza Jane Smith, a widow who deeply admired Miriam’s tenacity and business sense. Eliza Jane loaned her the $50,000, using Miriam’s jewels as collateral.
Then history—and news—intervened.
In 1881, President James A. Garfield was shot. Miriam moved decisively:
She sent her artists to Washington within hours.
She kept them working through the weekend with champagne and sandwiches.
On Monday, she released the first fully illustrated coverage of the shooting.
When Garfield later died, she made another bold choice: she stopped the presses, scrapped her already-printed edition, and created a new issue featuring exclusive illustrations of his sickbed and funeral.
Circulation soared. The phrase “Stop the presses!” is often credited to her.
Her business turned around, and she became known as the “Empress of Journalism.”
She worked from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., made ruthless but necessary cuts to unprofitable titles, and modernized operations. Later, she would briefly marry Willie Wilde (Oscar Wilde’s brother), return to running the business herself, and host famous Thursday salons in New York filled with caviar, music, strong drink, and multilingual conversation.
It was likely at one of these salons that she met Carrie Chapman Catt.
The Bequest That Bought Votes
By the 1910s, Carrie Chapman Catt had become the leader of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and the architect of a state-by-state strategy for winning the vote.
In March 1914, Catt wrote to Mrs. Frank Leslie asking for a contribution—perhaps $500 or $1,000—toward a $10,000 press fund. Miriam replied with a modest $100 gift and a note about her fragile health and limited means.
Six months later, on September 18, 1914, she died.
And then came the surprise.
When her will was opened, it revealed that she had left approximately $2 million—the bulk of her estate—to Carrie Chapman Catt, to be used entirely at Catt’s discretion for the cause of women’s suffrage.
After legal battles and estate costs, Catt ultimately received about $977,000 (roughly $30 million in today’s dollars). She created the Leslie Woman Suffrage Commission, meticulously accounting for every dollar between 1917 and 1929.
That money funded:
A national suffrage press bureau
Educational materials for legislators and the public
Strategic campaigns—including the successful 1917 New York referendum
In other words:
Mrs. Frank Leslie’s fortune underwrote the final push that helped secure the 19th Amendment.
New York’s 1917 victory energized the movement and helped set the stage for national women’s suffrage in 1920.
Saratoga as a Turning Point
By the end of her talk, Nancy returned to her central idea:
Saratoga hosted some of the earliest suffrage meetings in New York.
Saratoga was where the New York State Woman Suffrage Association was born in 1869.
Saratoga hosted the pivotal 1917 convention and suffrage parade just before New York passed women’s suffrage.
Saratoga was where Miriam / Frank Leslie found renewal, built Interlaken, deepened her ties, and set in motion a legacy that would deliver millions of dollars to the suffrage cause.
The American Revolution secured voting rights for some.
The Civil War Amendments extended them—at least on paper—to others.
But the “unfinished revolution”—ensuring that women could vote—needed money, strategy, and relentless organizing.
Thanks in no small part to Mrs. Frank Leslie, and to the networks and history rooted here in Saratoga Springs, that revolution finally reached the ballot box.
Visit the Exhibit
If you missed the program—or if you want to see the story come to life—be sure to visit our exhibit:
“Frank Leslie Buys Women’s Votes”
Now on view at the Saratoga Springs History Museum
Come meet Miriam / Frank Leslie through photographs, illustrations, and documents, and explore how one complicated, forward-thinking, fiercely determined woman helped change American democracy.
And as always, thank you for supporting the Saratoga Springs History Museum—141 years and counting of preserving, interpreting, and sharing the stories that shaped this extraordinary city.