Women's suffrage in Illinois began in the mid 1850s. The first women's suffrage group was formed in Earlville, Illinois by the cousin of Susan B. Anthony, . After the Civil War, former abolitionist, Mary Livermore, organized the Illinois Woman Suffrage Association (IWSA) which would later be renamed the (IESA). Frances Willard and other suffragists in the IESA worked to lobby various government entities for women's suffrage. In the 1870s, women were allowed to serve on school boards and were elected to that office. The first women to vote in Illinois were 15 women in Lombard, Illinois led by Ellen A. Martin who found a loophole in the law in 1891. Women were eventually allowed to vote for school offices in the 1890s. Women in Chicago and throughout Illinois fought for the right to vote ba