life of scarlet fever. In 1864, the Whites moved to San Francisco, California to take a position with a bank owned by William Chapman Ralston. Lovell White subsequently advanced in position at the bank, and the couple's financial situation was secured. In gratitude for Ralston's assistance, the Whites named their third and last child for him. Career By 1870, White was contributing travelogues and morality tales to the Overland Monthly and other journals. Her writing challenged the aggressive exploitation of natural resources by such means as the hydraulic mining that she had witnessed in the Sierra Nevada. She wrote to encourage a public debate that could find a balance between the conservation of nature and its economic uses. In the 1870s and 1880s, White's political activity centered on her home, with discussions among her invited guests. However, she became frustrated that the male electorate did not take up the causes she considered important, and thus she began to advocate for women’s suffrage. Her son Ralston approaching majority, White joined the campaign for women’s votes in California in 1896. To that end, she organized the 41st Assembly District Club. Initially unsuccessful at securing suffrage, White refocused her activity on issues of interest to women generally. In San Francisco in 1897, she founded the California Club, a civic association that soon numbered 500 women as charter members. The California Club championed child welfare, the establishment of kindergartens, compulsory schooling, and developing the state's juvenile court system. To protect women, White worked to reform state hospitals for the insane and to pass antivice legislation. The Club sought to regulate smoking, public baths, tenements, and workshops. The Club expanded its influence by linking up with other clubs in the state. In 1900, White and Clara Burdette founded the California Federation of Women's Clubs (CFWC). At the organizing convention, delegates selected Burdette as president and White as first vice-president. The California Club and the CFWC turned their attention to the conservation of wildlife and natural resources. In 1901, with the support of White and the Club, legislation was passed to protect the Western meadowlark from excessive hunting. Continuing her passion for protecting forests, White joined what became a protracted battle to preserve the Calaveras "Big Trees" tract, a stand of ancient giant sequoia trees and adjacent forest in the Sierra Nevada. An option to buy the property was purchased in January, 1900 by lumberman Robert