Page 20, "Haddam's Hundred 1869 - 1969"
....."When women get riled things get done as the election of 1901 clearly proved! Remember at that time women did not have the right to vote, but as any woman will tell you there is more than one way to "skin a cat."
How did all those females get elected at a time when males dominated the political scene? Now-a-days we would call it bribery and coercion, but in those days they called it wifely persuasion, for something got the men out to vote in that election.
There were 142 votes cast for mayor with Mrs. Elizabeth Vedder receiving 100 of them. This was over twice as many votes as were cast in the previous election. The other officers elected were Mrs. William Kennedy, clerk; Mrs. Fannie Liebel, police judge; Mrs. Henry Ochiltree, Mrs. J. M. Teague, Mrs. George Foster, Mrs. Elias Hawk and Mrs. W. H. Taylor, council members.
The ladies got right to work on the business of the day and June 4 they voted to advertise for bids for the erection of a jail. They accepted Mr. Sherm Peabody's bid of $325 and by October 7 the new stone jail was ready for occupancy.
Fritz Zenger and Andy Rosendranz quarried the rock and Sherm Peabody did the blacksmithing and iron work on it. The ladies equipped the jail with a $3 stove, a pair of handcuffs costing $3.50 and blankets.
....."Yes, indeed, the hand that rocks the
cradle can truly rule the world if given half a chance! Either the women weren't fully appreciated or the men had taken all the progress they could stand for one year.
Whatever the reason the ladies were defeated in the 1902
election, and the city settled back into its dull routine
once again." Dora Hoffman Brown
Photo of Dora Hoffman Brown 2002
That isn't all the women did. But that is another story.
