Born in New Hampshire, United States, on February 29, 1864, Minnie Priest Dunton was the daughter of Silas S Priest (1814–1890) and his wife Nancy M Wilder (1822–1887). She moved to Massachusetts and worked as a servant in the family of Charles D. Weston. In 1883, she married Herbert W. Dunton, a district attorney for Boise, Idaho in the 1880s.[1]
During her lifetime, Minnie was an active member of the Rebekah Assemblies in Idaho.[1] In 1894, she was appointed secretary and became its president in 1904. Through her position she started campaign in support of Women's suffrage. In July 1896, she attended the Idaho's second Suffrage Convention in Lewiston, Idaho, as part of the press committee in which she served as a member.[3] This convention mainly focused on suffrage and sobriety. To gain more support, efforts were also made to combine suffrage campaign with the Temperance movement.[1]
In 1907, she was appointed as a State Librarian of Idaho.[4] She resigned this position in 1915 over a salary dispute.[1]
Her house constructed in 1899 in Boise, Idaho, United States, was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 17, 1982.[1]
She died in Boise, Idaho, on July 13, 1921.[1]
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