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Saturday, August 29, 2015

Women's 95th or 145th Equality Day?

It was Women's Equality Day on Wednesday, which reminded me that women had the right to vote in Utah before it was national. It was granted first in 1870 by the territorial legislature but revoked by Congress in 1887 as part of a national effort to rid the territory of polygamy. Read more info here. Martha Hughes Cannon was the first women elected to office in Utah during the time when women lost the vote (she actually beat her polygamist husband in the election).

So now I want to find which of my Great-Grandmothers were able to vote both times, although I don't know if they actually voted. I only listed those who were alive and living in the USA after 1870.
  1920   1870

1st Great-Grandmothers
Eleanor Elizabeth Excell Riding 1880-1950
Clara Minerva Riddle Heaps 1889-1984
Amy Clarissa Neel Spackman 1896-1975
Madora Laverna Rogerson Jensen 1883-1963

2nd Great-Grandmothers
Mary Ellen Eardley Riding 1859-1943
Elizabeth Austen Button Excell 1856-1936
Beatrice Twitchell Heaps 1864-1939
Clara Maria Berry Riddle 1867-1940
Elsie Marie Andersen Jensen 1854-1934
Sarah Jane Perkins Rogerson 1861-1936
     Sarah Jane also held office. She was the county clerk for 15 years and also the Monticello town clerk. When she died the San Juan Record wrote she was a prominent lady.
Axie Matilda Bohman Spackman 1867-1920
Cora Caroline Walker Neel 1875-1925

3rd Great-Grandmothers
Mary Ann Hale Riding 1816-1875
Ann Cross Eardley 1826-1904
Eleanor (Ellen) Swan Excell 1840-1896
Susannah Goldthorpe Heaps 1835-1922
Vesta Lucetta Bishop Twitchell 1843-1924
Mary Ann Levi Riddle 1835-1872
Elizabeth Cherrington Berry 1846-1887
(Kristin) Marie Jensdatter Jensen 1801-1874
Mary Harrison Farren Rogerson 1804-1888
Jane Benson Perkins 1824-1900
Sarah Ann Criddle Spackman 1841-1911
Christina Elizabeth Mattson Bohman 1830-1896
Ellen Christina Stevens Neel 1851-1927
Charlotte Wright Walker 1846-1898

4th Great-Grandmothers
Eliza Ann Pratt Bishop 1819-1895
Elizabeth Wilson Stewart Riddle 1803-1878
Julia Ann Carroll Levi 1809-1887
Sarah Belcher Cherrington 1823-1900
Mary Ann Bull Criddle 1813-1894
Maria Christina Gavert Bohman 1808-1889
Clemency Litten Casper Neel 1816-1892
Emma Crowden Stevens 1823-1900
Maria Antoinette Swallow Walker 1816-1889
Elizabeth Barrett Wright 1827-1895


Since most of my ancestors come from England I looked up when women could vote there. In 1918, women over the age of 30 who met minimum property qualifications were allowed to vote and be elected into Parliament. Then in 1928, voting was extended to all women over the age of 21.
I also have family in Canada. The Spackman and Neel families left Utah around ±1900 for Canada. In Canada most women had the vote by 1918.

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