Mott Street
From Worcester Activist wiki
Also QUAKERS, PENN AVE., BARCLAY, CLARKSON , BERKELEY & COLTON STS.
Whenever Lucretia Mott at a wedding heard the clergyman say: “ I pronounce you man and wife,” she would utter “Husband and wife!”
A clergyman in Philadelphia once asked her why. She explained that “man and wife” left the wife “ a mere appendage”; that all the clergyman was required to do was to pronounce the new relationship-husband and wife.”
“I was impressed with the reasonableness of this,” said the clergyman later, “and although I marry several hundred couples, I never again pronounced them man and wife.”
Lucretia Mott, a Philadelphia Quaker, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, are credited as pioneers in emancipation of women from the kitchen to the voting booth.
Lucretia was one of the principal speakers at the first National Woman’s Rights Convention held in Brinley Hall, Worcester, on Oct. 23, 24, 1850.
The convention was called to “discuss the questions of woman’s rights to equality before the law to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
This meeting led to agitation which swept throughout New England and crossed the ocean to old England, where women took up the cry.
Lucretia’s interest in female suffrage began while she taught in a Quaker school at Nine Partners, near Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Because of her sex, she got half as much as men doing similar work.
Insults, raw humor and discrimination followed her in the early days of the struggle.
When Lucy Stone, another suffragette, went to Malden to speak, a clergyman announced the proposed meeting from the pulpit: “This evening at the Town Hall, a hen will attempt to crow!”
Lucretia persisted; won her battle; got newspapers to refer to her as “the world-renowned Quaker, Mrs. Lucretia Mott.”
Mrs. Mott’s motto was: “Truth for authority-not authority for truth.”
Mott street, which runs from Coral street to Barclay street, honors a battling Quaker. It was named in 1868.
Several other streets are named for famous men associated with Quakers.
Penn avenue honors William Penn. Barclay street is for Robert Barclay (1648-1690), a Scottish Quaker associated with Penn, who wrote a book of Quaker tenets.
Clarkson street is for Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846), English abolitionist, who wrote a book about Penn. Berkeley street honor George Berkeley (1684-1753), English bishop and metaphysical philosopher, whom Quakers admired.
Colton street honors Samuel H Colton (1804-1875), Worcester publisher, insurance broker and city official. He did much for agriculture and horticulture in Worcester County.
The core of this article comes from A History of Your City Streets.
