Yesteryear

Notable NH Women in Politics

By Kathi Caldwell-Hopper

The typical day for the average American housewife in the 1920s and 30s encompassed baking bread, making sure dinner was on the table when the man of the house returned from work, keeping every room clean and tackling the laundry, which was done in a wringer washer and hung to dry on a clothesline in the backyard. Added to this, there were the children to care for and such tasks as mending and sewing to complete. In the Victorian era, the chores were much the same, but you could add keeping the woodstoves going, cooking meals in even more crude kitchens, and generally housekeeping without aid of electricity or running water in some homes.

All this left little time for women to think about a career or life outside the realm of homemaker. That is why it is amazing some women in New Hampshire ran for and were successful in holding public office. 

Whether the women all over New Hampshire knew it or not, one woman in the state was fighting for the right to vote and other freedoms for he gender in the 1880s. Voting was a right Marilla Ricker of New Durham fought long and hard to achieve. A portrait of her in the NH State House, painted some time ago, shows the determination in her face and a steely resolve to get things done.  

It seems amazing that a young woman from such a tiny rural town as New Durham could achieve such great things and go into a much larger world. But Marilla was raised to be a free thinker and while others of her age and gender were dreaming of marriage, her sights were set on other things. Born in 1840, Marilla grew up to work in one of the few professions open to women at the time: she was a teacher. She held the position until she married Joh Ricker of Dover, NH.

Marilla’s husband was a wealthy farmer and when he died in the 1860s, Marilla found herself in the enviable position of being a wealthy widow. She traveled to Europe in the 1870s and gained a wider world view – and a solid education – while abroad.

Little is known of exactly why Marilla decided to become a lawyer, because it was a profession open only to men at the time. But given her years of travel, her free thinking childhood and the opportunities her wealth afforded her, these things likely put her on a career path. 

Marilla began to study law in Washington, DC, and gained admittance to the bar of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia in 1882, according to Wikipedia. She outranked all 18 men who also took the exam. 

Serving the less fortunate during her years as a Washington, DC lawyer held top priority for Marilla and she was known as the “prisoners’ friend.” (She often worked for her clients for free.) In 1884 she was appointed examiner in chancery by the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia and later became New Hampshire’s first woman lawyer in July1890. The irony of her situation was not lost on Marilla: she was a NH resident and lawyer and even ran for governor, the laws of the land did not allow her to vote. (It should be mentioned that Marilla petitioned the NH Supreme Court for the right to practice law in the state after being denied that right because of her gender. The petition won in the court and the female lawyers of NH remember Marilla as a trailblazer.)

Marilla is believed to be among the first women in the state to attempt to vote and because she was a land owner and taxpayer in Dover, she believed she should have the voting right. She fought tirelessly and shortly before her death in 1920, women were given the right to vote.

Another tireless fighter in the world of law and politics was Doris “Granny D” Haddock of Laconia, NH. If you read the news in the late 1990s to around 2000, you surely heard of Granny D who took a walk – a very long walk – to bring awareness to the issue of campaign finance reform. 

She was aware of the issue and especially so after Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold made an effort to regulate campaign finances. The effort failed and Granny D decided to bring awareness to the cause. She started her walk in California in the first of January, 1999 (she was 88 year of age at the time) and ended the walk 14 months later at age 90. Needless to say, her walk and determination brought awareness to the issue, as did her visit to Washington, DC. 

Another Lakes Region woman who made a mark in politics was Bristol’s Maude Ferguson. She was born in 1883 and over the years, she accomplished a great deal.

Her name was actually Edna Maude Ferguson, although she went by the name E. Maude and most likely few called her by her first name. She was born to Edgar and Addie Fowler in August of 1883 in Danvers, Massachusetts. 

Maude graduated from Tilton Seminary in 1900 and went on to attend the Greeley School of Elocution and Dramatics in Boston, graduating in 1903. Historical information states Maude was an elocutionist, which is the study and practice of oral delivery and the control of voice and gesture. 

Perhaps this training eventually led Maude to politics, but she listed herself on census records as a housewife. This was not unusual at a time when women may have started to venture beyond the confines of home, but still maintained many of the conventions and pride in being a wife first and foremost.

Maude married Samuel Ferguson in 1912; they resided in Bristol (in the Newfound Lake area). When Maude was just one year of age, her father died; Addie moved to Bristol with the young Maude. In those days, Bristol, NH was a long way from Danvers, Massachusetts. What would have brought Addie to the little town?

It can be assumed that, upon the death of her husband, Maude’s mother moved to Bristol to live with her family. Maude’s maternal grandfather was Otis Kilton Bucklin, a successful local businessman. Otis at one time ran a hotel in nearby Grafton and later built and ran Brown’s Hotel in Bristol. He owned a carriage factory, also in Bristol and was a fruit grower with about 2,300 apple trees. He owned over five farms and also maintained property in Florida. Addie later remarried and became the wife of a local doctor and continued to reside in the Bristol area.

Before marriage, Maude had an interesting career. An early newspaper clipping reports a Boston entertainment bureau booked Maude often; she was one of the company’s most successful elocutionists. The same clipping states Maude worked as an elocutionist at her alma mater, Tilton School, at New Hampton Institute and also at Maryland College. 

Once she married, Maude took an active role in local goings on. She was the chairperson of the Bristol Republican Women’s Committee, and she served on the Bristol Board of Education.

Maude became a representative to the NH House of Representative and was given positions on the revision of statutes and the state library. She served as chairman of the joint committee on State Library and in her second term as representative in 1929, she was chairman of the committee on Normal School, a member of the Judiciary Committee, clerk of the Grafton County delegation and the pre-legislative caucus; she was the first woman to serve on the Judiciary Committee.

Politics must have agreed with Maude, because she rolled up her sleeves and jumped into the race for the Republican nomination for state senator in the fifth district. This was quite a bold move for a woman from a small town at the time, but she beat out two male candidates and was the first woman to serve in the senate. 

It is said that her experience and interest in politics led her to study law. It is intriguing to think of Maude, a woman from a rural town, doing so very well in a man’s world. There is no information on her study of law, but she surely would have made a good lawyer, due to her elocution skills and her grasp of politics.

For three years, Maude served as state chairperson of the Legal Status of Women of the NH League of Women Voters. She also was past grand matron of the Order of the Eastern Star and past president of the Bristol Woman’s Club, to name but a few of the offices she held.

Maude passed away in 1932, and the entire Bristol community, as well as the state, mourned the loss. It is a mark of her importance in the community to note that when her funeral was held in Bristol, businesses were closed as a mark of respect. Flags were lowered to half-mast due to her position as senator. Tributes poured in from local groups, as well as from the NH Power Company, the NH Senate, NH Governor Winant and many others. Those who attended her funeral included state senators, Laconia’s mayor, state representatives, and more.

Maude rose to success at a time when most women were at home raising a family. She was certainly liked and respected by her male political colleagues, no easy accomplishment in the 1920s and 1930s when men ruled every corner of the political and business world.

As we prepare to vote in the elections in November, we can look back and give a nod of thanks to the trail blazing women in politics and law, such as Marilla Ricker, Granny D and Maude Ferguson, who rolled up their sleeves and got things done, making the world a much better place for their efforts.