Ferrin, Mary Upton (1810–1881)

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Ferrin, Mary Upton (1810–1881)

American women's-rights activist. Name variations: Mary Upton, Mary Ferrin. Born Mary Upton, April 27, 1810, in South Danvers (now Peabody), Massachusetts; died April 11, 1881, in Marblehead, MA; dau. of Jesse and Elizabeth or Eliza (Wyman) Wood Upton; m. Jesse C. Ferrin (grocer), Dec 2, 1845.

Unhappy in marriage, sought a divorce only to learn that, according to law, "the whole of the wife's personal property" belonged to husband; drew up a petition for amendment of law (1848), then traveled, collected signatures, and submitted the petition annually to the legislature through a friendly legislator (1848–53); as the 1st woman in the state to petition legislature for women's rights, influenced the passage of the liberal married women's property act (1855); authored pamphlet, Woman's Defence (1869).