Marilyn Kite horseback riding with friends in the Teton Mountain Range (Kite is fourth one in from left). Marilyn S. Kite of Jackson, Wyoming was the first woman to serve on the Wyoming Supreme Court and as its chief justice. Appointed by Republic Governor Jim Geringer, she was sworn into office in to become the … Continue reading Marilyn Kite Horseback Riding →

  Frank Leslie’s illustrated newspaper captured the sketch of women exercising their right to vote for the first time. It was published Nov. 24, 1888. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, later renamed Leslie’s Weekly, was an American illustrated literary and news magazine founded in 1852 and published until 1922. Publisher and illustrator Frank Leslie provided weekly illustrations and … Continue reading First Woman to Vote in General Election Cartoon →

Marilyn S. Kite of Jackson, Wyoming was the first woman to serve on the Wyoming Supreme Court and as its chief justice. Appointed by Republic Governor Jim Geringer, she was sworn into office in to become the first woman to serve on the Wyoming Supreme Court in June 2000 and the chief justice in July … Continue reading Marilyn Kite →

Wyoming was the first territory (and eventual state) in the Union to grant women the right to vote in 1869. William Bright, who held a seat in the 20-member territorial legislature, sponsored a bill that all citizens should have suffrage — or equal rights — including the right to vote. The story of why Bright actually … Continue reading The Western Suffrage Story →

Amalia Post was the first woman to serve as a jury foreman on the world’s first jury to include women, which convened in March of 1870. The women on the grand jury and trial jury were selected less than six months after Wyoming’s first territorial legislature granted women the right to vote. Post was originally the kind … Continue reading Amalia Post →

Agnes Chase Baker of Laramie was among a select group of women called upon to serve on the world’s first jury to include women, which convened in March of 1870. However, she was dismissed upon her request. The women on the grand jury and trial jury were selected less than six months after Wyoming’s first territorial legislature granted … Continue reading Agnes Chase Baker →

Sarah W. Pease of Laramie served on the first grand jury to include women, which convened in March 1870. The women on the grand jury and trial jury were selected less than six months after Wyoming’s first territorial legislature granted women equal political rights. Eliza Stewart Boyd’s name was the first female’s to be drawn … Continue reading Sarah Pease →

I.M. Hartsough was one of the first women to be called to serve on a criminal or “petit” jury in Wyoming to try Andrew Howie for the murder of John Hoctor. The jury voted unanimously to convict Howie. Wyoming has long enjoyed a series of “firsts.”  In early 1870, Laramie’s judges called for female jurors.  The … Continue reading I.M. Hartsough →

In the early 1900s, Elinore Pruitt was the ultimate single mother in search of a better life for herself and her young daughter in the Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory of Oklahoma. She took a position as a domestic for a widowed schoolteacher in Denver, Colorado, but an ad in the Denver Post caught her eye … Continue reading Elinore Pruitt Stewart →

Louisa Ann (Eliza) Swain of Laramie was the first woman in the United States to vote in a general election after the Wyoming Territorial Legislative Assembly gave women the right to vote in December 1869. On September 6, 1870, Mrs. Swain happened to walk by the polling place, which had not yet officially opened, but election officials asked her to come … Continue reading Louisa Ann (Eliza) Swain →