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{{Short description|American writer, social reformer, and anti-suffragist (1838–1911)}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Kate Gannett Wells
| image              = Kate Gannett Wells (1838-1911).jpg
| image_size         =
| caption            =
| birth_name         = Catherine Boott Gannett
| birth_date         = {{birth date|mf=yes|1838|04|06}}
| birth_place        = [[London]], [[England]]
| death_date         = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1911|12|13|1838|04|06}}
| death_place        = [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], United States
| occupation         = Writer, Social reformer, Anti-suffragist
| spouse             = Samuel Wells Jr.
| children           = Stiles Gannett Wells, Samuel Wells, Louisa Appleton Wells
| parents            = [[Ezra Stiles Gannett]] and Anna Tilden Gannett
| relatives          = William Channing Gannett (brother)
}}
'''Kate Gannett Wells''' (born '''Catherine Boott Gannett'''; April 6, 1838 – December 13, 1911) was an American writer and social reformer, and a prominent member of the [[Anti-suffragism|anti-suffragist movement]] in the United States. Wells served on the [[Massachusetts Board of Education]] for twenty-four years beginning in 1888 and was a vice president of the [[New England Women's Club]]. She also published several books, including the novel ''In the Clearings'' (1884) and the nonfiction work ''Campobello: An Historical Sketch''.
== Early life and education ==
Wells born in London, England, on April 6, 1838.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kate Gannett Wells (1838-1911). Ayres, ed. 1917. The Reader's Dictionary of Authors |url=https://www.bartleby.com/library/bios/6504.html |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=www.bartleby.com}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Wells, Kate Gannett (1838–1911) {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/wells-kate-gannett-1838-1911 |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref>  Her parents, Anna Tilden Gannett and [[Ezra Stiles Gannett]], a prominent [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] minister, were both American, but were staying in England to facilitate her father's medical treatment. Wells was reportedly named for her father's doctor, a Dr. Boott, and her mother's sister, Catherine Tilden.<ref name=":0" /> Catherine Tilden would later serve as a mother figure to Wells and her two siblings following Anna Gannett's death on Christmas day in 1846, when Wells was eight years old.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Wells, Kate Gannett, 1838-1911 {{!}} ArchivesSpace Public Interface |url=https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/agents/people/208 |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org}}</ref>
On her father's side, Wells was descended from the early New England colonist [[Mary Chilton]] and former [[Yale College]] President [[Ezra Stiles]].<ref name=":0" />
On June 11, 1863, Wells married Boston lawyer Samuel Wells, Jr., the son of former Maine governor [[Samuel Wells]], with whom she would have three children.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=University of Rochester Library Bulletin: Kate Gannett Wells, Anti-Suffragist {{!}} RBSCP |url=https://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/3562 |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=rbscp.lib.rochester.edu}}</ref> The financial stability of the marriage allowed Wells to pursue a career in philanthropy, activism, and literature.<ref name=":0" />
== Philanthropy and activism ==
In 1868, Wells joined the newly established New England Women's Club, and became a vice president of the organization in 1878. She served as chair for the Club's Discussion Committee for several years.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />
Wells was also an active member of the Massachusetts Moral Education Association, which aimed to prevent prostitution through education and charity, as well as the [[Association for the Advancement of Women]]<ref name=":0" /> and the [[Women's Educational and Industrial Union]], at which she was a frequent speaker.<ref name=":2" /> During the 1890s, Wells was involved in the Massachusetts Emergency and Hygiene Association, which promoted modern sanitation practices among working class families.<ref name=":0" />
In 1888, Wells was appointed to the Massachusetts Board of Education by then-governor Oliver Ames. She served on the board for three eight-year terms.<ref name=":2" />
=== Anti-suffragist activism ===
{{See also|Suffrage in the United States}}
In 1883, Wells became a founding member of the [[Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women]] and spoke on behalf of the association before the [[Massachusetts General Court|Massachusetts State Legislature]] in 1884, when the Legislature was considering a bill granting women the right to vote in municipal elections. In her speech, Wells argued that women were not yet educated enough to vote responsibly. She was reportedly the only woman at the hearing to speak in opposition to women's suffrage.<ref name=":2" />
Wells' brother, [[William Channing Gannett]], a liberal Unitarian minister and a strong advocate for women's rights, was reportedly dismayed when he learned of his sister's devotion to the anti-suffragist cause, though the two maintained a close relationship.<ref name=":2" /> Wells was publicly criticized for her anti-suffragist stance by her fellow women's rights advocates, who had heretofore assumed that she was a supporter of women's suffrage. However, Wells maintained her stance and continued to speak publicly on the issue.<ref name=":2" />
A letter by Wells opposing women's suffrage was read before the Massachusetts Committee on Election Laws on February 1, 1900. In this letter, she wrote, "Our country needs that one half of its people at least should be freed from the restrictions of political organization and ready to work for home, school, and state as women, and not as partisans."<ref>{{Cite web |title=[Letter from Kate Gannett Wells] |url=https://curiosity.lib.harvard.edu/women-working-1800-1930/catalog/45-990094982510203941 |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=Women Working, 1800-1930 - CURIOSity Digital Collections |language=en}}</ref>
== Literary career ==
Wells' novel ''Little Dick's Son'' (1901) was reportedly inspired by her own family life.<ref name=":2" />
Wells also co-authored several editions of the ''Manual of Unitarian Belief''  with [[James Freeman Clarke]] between 1884 and 1906<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Kate Gannett Wells (Wells, Kate Gannett, 1838-1911) {{!}} The Online Books Page |url=https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Wells,%20Kate%20Gannett,%201838-1911 |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu}}</ref> and published several essays in [[The Atlantic]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wells |first=Kate Gannett |title=Kate Gannett Wells |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/author/kate-gannett-wells/ |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=The Atlantic |language=en-US}}</ref>
=== List of fiction works ===
* ''In the Clearings'' (1884)<ref name=":3" />
* ''Miss Curtis; A Sketch'' (1888)<ref name=":2" />
* ''Little Dick's Son'' (1901)
=== List of non-fiction works ===
* ''Women in Organizations'' (1880)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wells |first=Kate Gannett |date=1880-09-01 |title=Women in Organizations |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1880/09/women-in-organizations/632760/ |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}</ref>
* ''The Transitional American Woman'' (1880)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wells |first=Kate Gannett |date=1880-12-01 |title=The Transitional American Woman |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1880/12/the-transitional-american-woman/632839/ |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}</ref>
* ''An Old New England Divine'' (1884)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wells |first=Kate Gannett |date=1884-08-01 |title=An Old New England Divine |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1884/08/an-old-new-england-divine/633028/ |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}</ref>
* ''The Quoddy Hermit'' (1885)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wells |first=Kate Gannett |date=1885-06-01 |title=The Quoddy Hermit |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1885/06/the-quoddy-hermit/632993/ |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}</ref>
* ''About People'' (1885)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wells |first=Kate Gannett |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009605983 |title=About people |date=1885 |publisher=J. R. Osgood and company |location=Boston}}</ref>
* ''Campobello: An Historical Sketch'' (about the history of [[Campobello Island]])<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wells |first=Kate Gannett |url=http://archive.org/details/campobellohisto00well |title=Campobello : an historical sketch |date=c. 1890s |publisher=S.l. : s.n. |others=W. D. Jordan Special Collections and Music Library Queen's University Library}}</ref>
* ''Child Study for Mothers and Teachers'' (1901, co-written by [[Charlotte Brewster Jordan]], [[Lucy Wheelock]], [[Emilie Poulsson]], [[Charlotte Perkins Gilman]], [[Nora Archibald Smith]], and [[Margaret Elizabeth Sangster]])<ref name=":3" />
== Death ==
Wells died in her home in [[Back Bay, Boston]], on December 13, 1911. She is buried at [[Mount Auburn Cemetery]] in Cambridge, Massachusetts.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1911-12-14 |title=Kate Gannett Wells. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1911/12/14/archives/kate-gannett-wells.html |access-date=2022-11-28 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
==References==
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[[Category:American Unitarians]]
[[Category:Writers from Boston]]
[[Category:American Christian writers]]
[[Category:Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery]]
[[Category:1838 births]]
[[Category:1911 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American anti-suffragists]]