This article is about the American clubwoman and legislator born in 1866; for the First Lady of the United States who had a similar name and was born in 1864, see Frances Cleveland.
Cleveland was born in Sterling, Illinois, the daughter of William A. Cleveland and Mary Humaston Cleveland. Her father was a farmer and stock-raiser.[1] Axtell earned a bachelor's degree (Ph.B.) in 1889[2] and a master's degree in 1892,[3] both at DePauw University in Indiana,[4][5] where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta.[6][7]
Cleveland taught Latin and mathematics at Northwest Normal School as a young woman.[5] She moved to Bellingham, Washington, then known as New Whatcom, with her husband and two young daughters in 1894.[1] She was the first president of the New Whatcom Ladies Cooperative Society, and a founding member of the city's Aftermath Club. She unsuccessfully ran for school district district in Bellingham in 1897, and worked for women's suffrage in Washington State.[1][4]
Axtell nearly became a U.S. senator in 1916, losing by about three thousand votes. Her relationship with her brother Frederick, who worked in the administration of President William Howard Taft, coupled with the publicity surrounding her 1916 attempt as a senator, brought her to the attention of President Woodrow Wilson. On January 5, 1917, President Wilson appointed her to the Federal Employees' Compensation Commission.[8][9] She was one of the highest ranked women in the Wilson administration.[10] She served as chair of the Commission in 1918 to 1921.[1] In 1917, she spoke at the national meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA).[4]
After her term of office in Washington, D.C., ended, Axtell returned to Washington State, and ran for another Senate seat in 1922,[11] again without success. From about 1930 to 1936, she was Supervisor of Mothers' Pensions and a probation officer in Bellingham.[12] She moved to Seattle in 1944, where she continued active in clubs and churchwork.[1][4]
Cleveland married physician William Henry Axtell in 1891. The couple had two daughters, Ruth Axtell, born 1892, and Helen Frances Axtell, born 1901. She died on May 27, 1953, in Seattle.[1] Her house in Bellingham, known as the Axtell House, was divided into apartments in her later years, and is considered a historic site in the city.[13][14]
