Happy Women’s Day

Happy [belated] International Women’s Day!

The featured image on today’s post depicts all of my female ancestors for whom I have a photograph. I am so proud to descend from these strong and beautiful women!

On this occasion I wondered…How have my ancestors watched women’s rights and status in the United States advance throughout history?

1869 – When my ten-year-old 2nd great-grandmother, Anna Irwin, immigrates to the US from Canada the first woman is allowed to practice law.

1887 – The year that my great-grandmother Grace McKee is born, the first woman is elected mayor in the US.

1890 – My second great-grandmother, Mary Eva Beal, is married in the same year that the first state allowing women to vote, Wyoming, is admitted to the union.

1920 – My third great-grandmother, Laura Shimp,  lives to see women obtain the right to vote.

1932 – My great-grandmother, Pauline Coleman, is married in the same year that the first woman is elected to the US Senate.

1963 – My great-grandmother, Grace McKee, lives to see the passage of the Equal Pay Act.

1973 – My great-grandmother, Katherine Hartzell, lives to see the outcome of Roe v. Wade.

1983 – The first woman goes to space the year before my mother is married.

2017 – When I finish graduate school the number of women in congress reaches a record high and a woman has run for president backed by a major political party.

[Dates from US News, “Stepping Through History,” 20 Jan 2017]

How have your female ancestors see their world change?