Miriam Leslie played a significant and somewhat unorthodox part in the fight for women’s suffrage.  After her husband, Frank Leslie, passed away leaving her a publishing business several hundred thousand dollars in debt, Miriam legally changed her name to Frank Leslie and used her business skills to put the company back on track. 

By the time Miriam passed away, she had amassed a fortune of two million dollars, which she willed to Carrie Chapman Catt for the purpose of advancing the fight for women’s right to vote.  That money became instrumental in employing 200 workers to organize and orchestrate for suffrage, giving means and a new energy to the movement. 

Miriam Leslie defied convention and lived her life her way, by her own rules and standards.  For that, the women of America are eternally grateful.