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Eugenie Kountze Nicholson

Kathryn S Gardiner | Published on 9/6/2025

Forgotten Foremothers

Profiles of lesser-known heroines in the fight for women’s right

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“Women are citizens and they should be granted a citizen’s privileges. They should not be compelled to fight for suffrage. It is their simple right and should be extended without question since a woman is as much as citizen as a man.”

Eugenie Kountze Nicholson

Beside a Georgian Revival-style home in Indianapolis, Ind., a placard records its cultural significance: “Hoosier author Meredith Nicholson...wrote The House of a Thousand Candles (1905) in this house, which was built in 1903.” In total, Meredith authored 29 books and dozens of newspaper articles. He is considered one of Indiana’s best and most notable writers.

A 1903 printing of his novel The Main Chance bears a simple dedication: “To E.K.N who will remember and understand.”

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On July 11, 1867, Herman and Elizabeth Kountze welcomed daughter Eugenie Clementine Kountze. In all, the couple would have two girls and two boys. Though the family lived in Omaha, Neb., she would spend significant parts of her youth in Indianapolis with her grandparents. In Indy, she attended the J.H. Kappes School. Called a “young ladies’ institute” by The Indianapolis News in 1878, the Kappes School aimed to instruct “young ladies in the higher branches of English education, in the ancient and modern languages and in music.”

Eugenie graduated from the Kappes School, then traveled to New York State to attend Vassar College. She continued her language studies and began to express her opinions as a member of the editorial board of The Vassar Miscellany, the student newspaper. She gathered campus information, and penned various short stories and essays. In the May 1 edition in 1887, she used the reappearing column titled De Temporibus et Moribus to argue for the value of reading novels: “From a woman’s life is excluded the knowledge of many of the evils of the world, and the very ignorance resulting from her carefully guarded girlhood may expose her to many temptations and trials. Through novel-reading she will meet these evils and will be warned of their dangers.”

In 1888 at age 21, Eugenie graduated from Vassar with an AB, or Artium Baccalaureus, and returned to Indianapolis. In her 20s, she met a fellow writer, Crawsfordville-born Meredith Nicholson. The couple found more in common than just their love of literature; they shared a political mindset as well, with a bent toward progress. Eugenie was likely the inspiration for Evelyn Porter in Meredith’s novel “The Main Chance.”

Meredith described Evelyn in the book as both gentle and frank. “A woman who is not too subservient to fashion may reveal a good deal of herself in the way she wears her hair,” he wrote. “The straight part in Evelyn Porter’s seemed to be akin to her clear, frank eyes, contributing to an impression of simplicity and directness. ... There was in her hair that pretty ripple that men are reluctant to believe is acquired by processes in which nature has little part.”

They married on June 16, 1896. Together, Eugenie and Meredith briefly moved to Denver, Colo., where Meredith tried his hand at business, but soon they settled for good in the familiar streets of Indianapolis in 1901. The couple would have four children—Elizabeth, Eugenie, Meredith, and Lionel. Their second daughter, Eugenie, died at four months old.

As a parent, Eugenie only became more politically active and outspoken. On June 11, 1911, a subheading in The Indianapolis Star read, “Mrs. Meredith Nicholson Believes Franchise Would Aid Rather Than Distract Mothers.” Throughout the piece, reporter Betty Blythe depicted Eugenie as a capable and devoted mother with healthy children, an “ordered” home, and attractive garden. Betty wrote about one of the boys playing with a hose nearby and soaking his “own play jumpers.” The photo accompanying the piece featured Eugenie with Elizabeth, Meredith Jr., and Lionel.

“A Meredith Nicholson Reader,” a collection of his works, includes a preface by Meredith Nicholson III and an image of Eugenie and Meredith in 1905

Betty noted that Eugenie “laughed” at the various arguments against women’s suffrage. Surely, opponents said, married women would just vote like their husbands. To this, Eugenie responded, “Few women think as do their husbands in private matters. Neither do two women of the same family ever hold the same political views, so that the man of the family could not possibly represent both his wife and daughter. And what about the thousands of self-dependent women who are not represented at all?”

Reporter Betty Blythe emphasized Eugenie’s motherhood and housekeeping capabilities alongside her suffrage arguments in a 1911 interview

But think of the children, opponents argued. Surely voting women would neglect their families. Eugenie replied, “The happiest women are those who have been blessed with homes and families—the rearing of a family is a woman’s highest destiny. But even with the most devoted attention, the care of a family does not consume every moment of a mother’s time. ... Besides, the sensible mother understands that she must be a companion of her children as well as attending to their physical needs. ... The home is better if the wife and mother does not confine her interests within its four walls.”

Eugenie’s quotes reveal a pragmatic argument crafted for the suffrage debate of her era. “The ideal condition is undoubtedly for women to remain in their homes,” she said, “but many women are compelled to earn their own living and the changed conditions make it necessary that they shall leave their homes to do so. Since, therefore, these women must needs go forth to labor with the men, it is manifestly unfair that they should be deprived of the right of a voice in governing the conditions under which they work.”

Even as great care is given to frequently reinforce the importance of marriage and children, Eugenie’s foundational argument is a woman’s personhood, not motherhood. She said to Betty, “Women are citizens and they should be granted a citizen’s privileges. They should not be compelled to fight for suffrage. It is their simple right and should be extended without question since a woman is as much as citizen as a man.”

Though Eugenie’s first name rarely appeared in print, and she was frequently called simply, “Meredith Nicholson’s wife,” they give the impression of being a “Power Couple” comprised of equally capable individuals. Eugenie and Meredith both spoke to the Indiana Senate in support of a suffrage bill in January of 1911. The Indianapolis Star quoted Meredith’s passionate statements at length. “If the women of Indianapolis were allowed to vote the quality of our electorate would be improved,” he said. “I will guarantee that I can bring to you a woman before 4 o’clock tomorrow afternoon who can better fill the position of mayor of Indianapolis better than it is being filled now.” A write-up in The Indianapolis News noted that Eugenie and the other women present were “effective talkers and the committee was kept interested until a late hour.”

In 1912, Eugenie became vice president for the Woman's Franchise League of Indiana, a progenitor organization of the League of Women Voters, and served until 1915. Public interest in women’s suffrage in Indiana grew more vibrant during this time, with leaders like Eugenie and her contemporaries.

During her tenure as vice president, The Indianapolis Star published a statement from the Franchise League, tucked at the bottom of page 34 beside a beauty cream ad and a joke column calling for a vaccine to cure the epidemic of roller skates in public. The League wrote, “We believe that America can never be a true democracy without equal suffrage, and that there will never be a satisfactory solution of the relations between men and women until women have full and equal citizenship. Our plea is not made as superiors or inferiors, but as equals. Race wrongs have been righted. The sex wrong must not always remain as the only blot upon American suffrage.” Like many suffragists at the time, they seemed to overlook continued racial barriers to the ballot. A common argument at the time was that women, specifically white women, should have the right to vote to balance the enfranchisement of Black men.

“Mrs. Meredith Nicholson” appeared frequently the society pages of Indianapolis newspapers. She coordinated or attended meetings for various groups throughout the city, such as the Indianapolis Women’s Club, Consumers’ League, Progressive Club, Contemporary Club, Art Association of Indianapolis, and the Indianapolis Public Health Association. She participated in countless initiatives and special projects.

In 1917, one of those special projects involved coordinating with the Red Cross. Women in Indianapolis and around the nation joined workshops to learn the skill of rolling surgical dressings. Suffragists like Eugenie, who personally spearheaded these efforts for several months, hosted workshops to teach the skill to other women. These hand-made rolls were distributed to French and U.S. hospitals to assist with care for the war wounded, according to Red Cross publications.

With World War I still raging, Eugenie continued working with the Red Cross the following year, this time as part of the Canteen Service at Union Station. The Indianapolis Star reported that she and other women provided soldiers passing through with “cool, refreshing drinks of lemonade and ice water in the summer time and hot, steaming coffee on the wintry journeys. ... What the canteen does is what every mother would like to do for her son, but unluckily, she is unable, for often the solider boys are many miles away from their home towns.”

In the late 1920s, Eugenie and Meredith continued to appear in the newspaper’s society pages, for their political activities and travels—and soon for the milestone and wedding announcements of their children. Throughout her life, Eugenie considered Omaha “home” and visited frequently. She welcomed three grandchildren, including a Eugenie for a third generation.

On Sunday, Dec. 21, 1931, the first Eugenie died at age 64 in the family home after a long illness. “The community sustains a real loss in the death of a citizen of Mrs. Meredith Nicholson’s qualities and usefulness,” reported The Indianapolis Star the following day. In interview with The Indianapolis Times, a classmate called her “the most unselfish person I ever knew,” and her chauffeur said, “You don’t feel about her the way you feel about a person who employs you. It was one person to another.”

Eugenie Kountze Nicholson, the E.K.N. to whom Meredith dedicated “The Main Chance”, is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis. At the end of his novel, Meredith’s protagonist—after confessions of apology, regret, and love—recorded one last image of the Eugenie-inspired Evelyn. “She walked away through the orchard path, which suddenly became to him a path of gold that stretched into paradise…”

The first Eugenie with grandchildren Meredith Nicholson III and the third Eugenie of the family. Public domain.

Sources:

The Indianapolis Star: Jan. 27, 1911; June 11, 1911; May 4, 1913; Aug. 4, 1918; Dec. 22, 1931

The Indianapolis Times: Dec. 21, 1931

The Indianapolis News: July 5, 1878; Jan. 7, 1905; Jan. 27, 1991

The Vassar Miscellany: May 1, 1887

The Main Chance by Meredith Nicholson

Encyclopedia of Indianapolis: Eugenie Nicholson

Indiana Women’s Suffrage Centennial: “A Woman Is as Much a Citizen as a Man”: Eugenie Kountze Nicholson, a Hoosier Suffragist

Indiana Humanities: Nicholson House

Indiana Memory: Eugenie (Kountze) Nicholson and grandchildren

Find a Grave: Eugenie Clementine Kountze Nicholson

Indiana History: American Red Cross, Indianapolis Area Chapter Records, 1916-1978

A Meredith Nicholson Reader

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