Biography
Elsie Vervane was a member of the National Woman's Party and one of the "Silent Sentinels" imprisoned during the 1917-1919 campaign to picket the Wilson White House for woman suffrage. She was born in New York City in approximately; the exact day of her birth and her date of death are unresolved. She married Samuel Vervane on September 15, 1895 and divorced in January 1926. (Recorded as Elsie Probst Vervane; recorded variously as Elsie Ver Vane, Elsie Vervaene and Elsie Von Vane)
She was arrested on January 13, 1919, released on bail and rearrested that evening, held overnight, and sentenced on January 14 to five days in the District Jail. Stevens records that she served five days; no discharge record has been found, so the nominal release date of January 19 is not entered.
Stevens describes Vervane as a Bridgeport munitions worker and then president of the Woman’s Machinist Union of Bridgeport. She traveled to Washington with a group of union women for the January 1919 watchfire demonstration. The union presidency is a historical role.
Doris Stevens, Jailed for Freedom, Appendix 4, printed page 369.
