Mary E. Haggart (1843-1904) was born and died East Pike Run Township, Pennsylvania. In 1868, Haggart moved with her husband, David, a homeopathic doctor, to Danville, Indiana. It was while living in Danville that she became active in the cause of women's suffrage, starting a long public speaking career by giving her first lecture, "Woman's True Culture," in 1870. In May 1879, she served as a delegate at the National Woman Suffrage Association. She later held office in the NWSA, as well as the American Woman Suffrage Association. She published a weekly newspaper, Woman's Tribune, from 1878-1879. In 1883, she spoke as part of "The Lever Lecture Course" as "the Defender of Woman." She assisted with hearings before the Kentucky state legislature on women's legal rights, including suffrage, property ownership, and legal guardianship of children. In one of her later lectures, she made a plea for women's suffrage to the audience, saying that "humanity as a whole, not humanity as a half, would before many decades solve the problem of humanity." In the late 1890s, ill-health forced her to end her career as a lecturer.

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