During the struggle to secure a woman’s right to vote, Henrietta Baldy Lyon was one of the leading social reformers in north-central Pennsylvania. Born in 1864 in Danville, her parents were Henry H. and Henrietta Cooper Montgomery Baldy. Her father was a leading attorney in Montour County and later practiced law in Philadelphia.

Miss Lyon's mother died shortly after her birth, and she was raised by an aunt, Mrs. Carolyn Lyon. Henrietta Baldy Lyon attended private schools in Williamsport and studied at Elmira College in New York, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, Columbia University, and Bryn Mawr College.

She became one of the organizers of the first woman’s suffrage movement in Lycoming County in 1915. She was Chairman of the County Suffrage Association, helped organize the Lycoming County Chapter of the American Red Cross, and was involved in various other clubs and organizations.

Information from the Lycoming County Women’s History Project noted, “She threw herself enthusiastically into the women’s suffrage cause and frequently traveled throughout the state promoting the cause. Her most active work was here in Lycoming County, and she was the sparkplug for it locally.

She was one of the key figures when the Pennsylvania State Suffrage Association held its state convention in Williamsport in November 1916.

When the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote, was approved in August 1920, Baldy Lyon gave a celebratory address marking the occasion.”

Henrietta Baldy never married and took the last name of Lyon in deference to her aunt,

One newspaper account reported she was a descendant of one of the notable families in colonial Pennsylvania. Her father and grandfather were presidents of the Danville National Bank.

Her mother was the daughter of Danville attorney John G. Montgomery, who was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1857. He was a personal friend of President James Buchanan. It was reported his death was from the effects of poison placed in food served at a banquet in Washington D.C> during the inauguration of Buchanan.

Through her mother’s family, Miss Baldy Lyon was the great-great-granddaughter of Thomas Cooper, president judge of Lycoming County courts from 1806 until 1811, and later president of the University of South Carolina. President Jefferson described Judge Cooper as “the greatest man in America in the prowess of mind and acquired information. 

Dr. Cooper’s Judicial Court covered the 8^th District in Pennsylvania, including Lycoming County. He was impeached and removed from office --- reportedly for having offended the Federalist following of President John Adams.

Henrietta Baldy Lyon died at her home in Williamsport in January of 1950 at the age of 85. She was buried at Wildwood Cemetery in Williamsport.

At the time of her death, several nieces and nephews survived, including Doctor Edward Jennings, a medical specialist in Paris, France; Miss Henrietta C. Jennings, the head of the department of economics and political science at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Ill; and Miss Alice Jennings, a laboratory supervisor at Geisinger Memorial Hospital.