Stella (Hostetler) Stubbs
Born: Bedford, Lawrence County, Indiana, on July 8, 1868. Married: Walter Roscoe Stubbs, in Mulvane, Sumner County, Kansas, on September 21, 1887. Died: Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 1954.
Estella B. Hostetler was born to Jonathan Newland and Martha Miranda (Fish) Hostetler, in Bedford, Lawrence County, Indiana, on July 8, 1868. The Hostetlers moved to Mulvane, Sumner County, Kansas, around 1882 and Jonathan served as postmaster, state legislator, and school board member. Stella Hostetler, among pupils in Professor Butcher’s room, was noted for “acting well” in Kansas Immigrants, a drama in three acts, on the difficulties and inconvenience of settling in a new land. Stella and classmate Ben McDaniel sang a duet on woman’s rights in 1886. She married Walter Roscoe Stubbs of Hesper in Douglas County at a ceremony in her family’s home in Mulvane, Sumner County, Kansas, on September 21, 1887. They had six children.
Walter had grown up with modest means but began to find success with investments and contractor as a young adult. He was elected to the state legislature in 1902 and governor in 1908, holding that position until 1913. Stella focused on raising the family and hosting prominent guests. She rarely spoke out about political causes. That began to change in 1910 when she indicated that she believed woman’s suffrage was inevitable. “. . . the day is not far off when the women of America will have a ballot on the terms of men,” she told a reporter in 1910. She believed it was especially important for widows and unmarried women who were earning a living and property owners to have a voice. Stubbs admitted that she herself did not vote. “I am frank to say that my husband can look after my affairs as far as voting is concerned, but I do think that the women who pay taxes should have a voice in the affairs of this state. They should be permitted to vote in all matters. They have interests which must be conserved; which are affected by the laws of this state. And tell me one good reason why they shouldn’t be enfranchised?” she told the Wichita Beacon in 1911.
Joining Lucy Browne Johnston, she became a legislative agent in 1911 to lobby on behalf of the Kansas woman’s suffrage bill in 1911. That effort was successful. The state legislature passed the bill, which Governor Stubbs signed, to send to voters in 1912. Commenting on her own gentle lobbying efforts, Stubbs said, “I couldn’t bear the thought of going there with all those men.” Instead, Stubbs wrote a letter to every member, “simply asking him to do what was right by the bill—I didn’t even ask them to vote for it. I think what helped more than anything else was the literature against woman suffrage that came pouring in from Boston.” to the Wichita Beacon in 1911. Stubbs served as vice president of the Kansas Equal Suffrage Association in 1912 during the campaign to convince voters to support the amendment. The secretary of the Labette County Suffrage Association said Stubbs was “one of the most energetic workers,” whose “intense enthusiasm is an inspiration to advocates of the cause across the State.”
Walter died in 1929, and Stella soon moved to west to be with her children, first to Denver, Colorado, then to Los Angeles, California. She died in Los Angeles on June 8, 1954. She was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Lawrence, Kansas, where her husband was buried.
Entry: Stella (Hostetler) Stubbs
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.
Date Created: December 2024
Date Modified: December 2024
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