Grace Garrison Lincoln was born in Green County, Wisconsin, on March 28, 1871. Her family later moved to Lone Rock, Wisconsin, where, in her early teens, Grace Garrison ran a small millinery business. Riding cross-country on horseback selling hats, she earned her way through schools at Platteville and Madison. Graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1899, she moved to Richland Center where she became the first public school music teacher employed by that city. She also used her musical skills to entertain local social gatherings as “a sort of one woman band.” In that same year, 1899, Grace Garrison married Pearl Lincoln, a local attorney who later became the district attorney and mayor of Richland Center and a county judge of Richland County. They had one child, Garrison.
Grace Lincoln became interested in women's suffrage at the state level, and she worked actively for this movement for some time. Her parents were said to have had socialist leanings which may have led to her involvement in the socialist movements of the time. She joined the Social-Democratic Party of Milwaukee in 1908 and lectured on socialism throughout the Richland County area. She was also a local correspondent for the Capital Times of Madison. Grace Lincoln was active in the Richland Center Women's Club and the Federation of Women's Clubs, and was involved in the development of special projects in Richland Center such as the Carnegie Library, the city auditorium project, and Richland hospital. In 1967, she donated Garrison Park to the city of Richland Center. She was believed to be the oldest living resident of Richland Center at 99, when she died in Madison on May 17, 1970.
Processor's Note: Since the bulk of this collection dates from the years 1899-1924, and covers Grace Lincoln's activities in the socialist, suffrage, and temperance movements, biographical information relating to this period would be helpful. However, this information is lacking because the collection itself does not contain much relevant data on her life during this period. Sources that do mention Grace Lincoln do so cursorily usually failing to mention any early socialist activity. Most of the information for the biography comes from Garrison Lincoln, and from her obituary in the Richland Observer, May 21, 1970.
