Winifred Starr Dobyns

Winifred Starr Dobyns
Winifred Starr Dobyns in the 1910s, from the Library of Congress
Born(1886-10-21)October 21, 1886
Cook County, Illinois
DiedDecember 30, 1963(1963-12-30) (aged 77)
Duarte, California
OccupationsSuffragist, landscape designer

Winifred Starr Dobyns (October 21, 1886 – December 30, 1963) was an American suffragist and landscape designer.

Early life

Winifred Ursula Starr was born in Chicago, Illinois,[1] the daughter of Merritt Starr and Leila Whadock Starr. Her father was a lawyer. She got married in Christ Church Winnetka to attorney Fletcher Dobyns.[2]

Career

Dobyns became chair of the Illinois Republican Women's executive committee in July 1919.[3] She was in charge of the women's division of the 1920 presidential campaign of Frank Orren Lowden.[4][5] She attended the celebration and convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Chicago that year.[6] In 1927 she wrote "The Lady and the Tiger (or, the Woman Voter and the Political Machine)",[7] in which she described the place of new women voters in party politics.[8] "With some possible exceptions, the aim of the political organizations is not good government, patriotic service, public welfare," she explained,[3] concluding that "the political machine is the greatest menace to democracy that exists today."[9]

Dobyns worked as a landscape designer in Pasadena,[10] and lectured on gardens.[11][12] She was the author of California Gardens (1931),[13][14] which is considered a valuable photographic source in California architectural history.[15][16] "The text by Mrs. Dobyns sketches the rise and growing interest in gardening and shows the historical background underlying California garden art," noted a reviewer in 1932.[17]

Personal life

In 1909, Winifred Starr married lawyer and writer Fletcher Dobyns.[2][18] After 1932, they lived in an estate in Pasadena overlooking the Rose Bowl.[19] Her husband died in 1942,[20] and she died in 1963, at a retirement home in Duarte, California, aged 77 years.[21]

References

  1. ^ DOBYNS, Mrs. Fletcher (Winifred Starr Dobyns), in Who's Who in America (14th edition, 1926); p/ 604
  2. ^ a b "Too Busy Planning Wedding, So He Forgot to Get License". Palladium-Item. 1909-10-21. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-09-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b Andersen, Kristi (1996). After Suffrage: Women in Partisan and Electoral Politics Before the New Deal. University of Chicago Press. pp. 42–43, 100, quote on p. 43. ISBN 978-0-226-01957-4.
  4. ^ "Woman Joins Lowden's Committee". The New York Times. 1920-01-23. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  5. ^ "Mrs. Paisley on Lowden Committee". Carbondale Free Press. 1920-02-13. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-09-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Women Take Places in 1920 Political Plans". Riverside Daily Press. February 3, 1920. p. 7. Retrieved September 20, 2021 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  7. ^ "The Lady and the Tiger". The Montclair Times. 1927-03-12. p. 41. Retrieved 2021-09-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Naples, Nancy A. (2014-01-14). Grassroots Warriors: Activist Mothering, Community Work, and the War on Poverty. Routledge. pp. 237, note 2. ISBN 978-1-317-79601-5.
  9. ^ Freeman, Jo (2002). A Room at a Time: How Women Entered Party Politics. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-8476-9805-9.
  10. ^ "Two Historic Gardens in Pasadena". California Garden & Landscape History Society. May 19, 2018. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  11. ^ "Landscape Expert to be Forum Speaker". Lindsay Gazette. 1942-02-13. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-09-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Darling, Flora M. (1932-01-23). "Highways of Color Urged for Olympics". The Long Beach Sun. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-09-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Dobyns, Winifred Starr (1996). California Gardens. Allen A. Knoll. ISBN 978-1-888310-88-7.
  14. ^ H., T. K. (1932). "Review of CALIFORNIA GARDENS". Landscape Architecture. 22 (4): 349–350. ISSN 0023-8031. JSTOR 44669229.
  15. ^ Prinzing, Debra (2009-02-21). "Uprooting the past". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  16. ^ Scheid, Ann; Lund, Ann Scheid (1999). Historic Pasadena: An Illustrated History. HPN Books. p. 115. ISBN 978-1-893619-01-2.
  17. ^ "Winifred Dobyns' Garden Book Praised by Critics". The Pasadena Post. 1931-11-11. p. 20. Retrieved 2021-09-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Wayte, Beverly (1991). "Linda Vista Revisited: From Indian Days to Modern Pasadenans: Part III". Southern California Quarterly. 73 (4): 346. doi:10.2307/41171595. ISSN 0038-3929. JSTOR 41171595.
  19. ^ Barragan, Bianca (2018-05-07). "Winsome 1932 estate overlooking the Rose Bowl seeks $5.6M". Curbed LA. Archived from the original on May 7, 2018. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  20. ^ "Obituaries: Fletcher Dobyns". Chicago Tribune. 1942-12-15. p. 18. Retrieved 2021-09-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Pasadena Socialite's Rites Held". Pasadena Independent. 1964-01-03. p. 21. Retrieved 2021-09-21 – via Newspapers.com.
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