Edna Beard

Edna Louisa Beard (July 25, 1877 – September 18, 1928) was the first woman to be elected to both the Vermont House of Representatives and the Vermont Senate.[1][2] Beard was born in Chenoa, Illinois, and her family returned to Orange, Vermont in 1883.[3] She served as superintendent of the Barre town schools beginning in 1906, and spent 16 years as town treasurer (from 1912-1928).[1] She lost the Republican primary for the Vermont House election to Burt L. Richardson, but then ran in the general election on the "Citizen's Party" and won.[1] She thus became the first woman elected to the Vermont House of Representatives in 1921, representing the town of Orange.[1][4] She was given the first choice of seats in the House, and, as reported by the Rutland Herald, "She chose seat no 146, and for a long time no mere man had the courage to select seat no. 145, which adjoins hers. The seat stood vacant for over an hour until Horatio Luce of Pomfret took the dare of his fellow members and sat down beside Miss Beard amid a storm of laughter and applause."[4]

Her first bill in the Vermont House of Representatives, Act 218, provided $2 a week child support for women whose husbands were "incapacitated by an incurable disease."[2] It passed.[2][4]

She served one term in the House, and in 1923 became the first woman to be elected to the Vermont Senate, where she chaired the Library Committee.[1] Her first successful bill as Senator made it possible for county sheriffs to hire women as deputies.[1]

There is a portrait of Edna Beard, by painter Ruth Mould, in the Vermont Statehouse.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Edna Louisa Beard. "Person Detail". Womenshistory.vermont.gov. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  2. 1 2 3 "Edna Beard". Vermonttoday.com. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  3. ↑ Duffy, John J.; Hand, Samuel B.; Orth, Ralph H. (2003). The Vermont Encyclopedia. University Press of New England. p. 51.
  4. 1 2 3 "Vermont Women: Edna Beard". VPR. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  5. ↑ Oct. 23, 2016, 6:55 am (2016-10-16). "Then again: Vermont's first female lawmaker helped women claim a stake in the Statehouse". VTDigger. Retrieved 2016-10-23.

External links

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