On 18 August 1920, the 19th amendment to the United States Constitution was passed, giving women the right to vote. As a quick exercise, I decided to see which of my female ancestors were impacted by the passing of this amendment.
The following female ancestors of mine were living on 18 August 1920:
- Grandparent:
- Ida Trautvetter, born 1910–too young to be impacted.
- Great-grandmothers:
- Fannie (Rampley) Neill, born 1883–became eligible to vote.
- Ida (Sargent) Trautvetter, born 1874–became eligible to vote
- Tena (Janssen) Ukes, born 1895–became eligible to vote
- Tjode (Goldenstein) Habben, born 1882–became eligible to vote
- Great-great-grandmothers:
- Anna (Dirks) Goldenstein, born 1861–became eligible to vote.
- Anke (Fecht) Habben, born 1860–became eligible to vote
- Great-great-great-grandmothers
- Trientje (Behrens) Sartorius, born 1843–became eligible to vote
- Heipke (Mueller) Dirks, born 1832–became eligible to vote
How many voted in their first election after suffrage, I don’t know.
Can you make your genealogical database tell you which of your female ancestors became eligible to vote when suffrage for females passed?
Steve says:
I don’t know how many of your ancestors on that list would be effected by this, but from previous posts I know you have a lot of ancestors that lived in Illinois and that state granted women the right to vote in 1913, several years before the 19th amendment was passed.