Louisa Ann Swain
Encyclopedia
Louisa Gardner Swain was the first woman to vote in a general election in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. She voted on September 6, 1870, in Laramie, Wyoming
Laramie, Wyoming
Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 30,816 at the . Located on the Laramie River in southeastern Wyoming, the city is west of Cheyenne, at the junction of Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 287....

.

Biography

Born Louisa Gardner, she was the daughter of a sea captain who was lost at sea while she was a child. She and her mother moved to Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

, where her mother died. Orphaned, Louisa went to Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

 to live with an uncle, Ephraim Gardner. While in Baltimore, she met and, in 1821, married Stephen Swain, who operated a chair factory. When their fourth child was six weeks old, Stephen Swain sold the chair factory and the family moved, first to Zanesville, Ohio
Zanesville, Ohio
Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. The population was 25,586 at the 2000 census.Zanesville was named after Ebenezer Zane, who had constructed Zane's Trace, a pioneer road through present-day Ohio...

, and later to Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

. Soon after their son Alfred and his young family moved to the new town of Laramie, Wyoming
Laramie, Wyoming
Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 30,816 at the . Located on the Laramie River in southeastern Wyoming, the city is west of Cheyenne, at the junction of Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 287....

, in 1869, the Swains joined them.

On September 6, 1870, Louisa Swain rose early, put on her apron, shawl and bonnet, and walked downtown with a tin pail in order to purchase yeast from a merchant. She walked by the polling place and concluded she would vote while she was there. The polling place had not yet officially opened, but election officials asked her to come in and cast her ballot. She was described by a Laramie newspaper as "a gentle white-haired housewife, Quakerish in appearance." She was 69 years old when she cast the first ballot by any woman in the United States in a general election.

Soon after the election, Stephen and Louisa Swain left Laramie and returned to Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

 to live near a daughter. Stephen died October 6, 1872, in Maryland. Louisa died January 25, 1880, in Lutherville, Maryland. Her body was buried in the Friends Burial Ground Friends Burial Ground (Baltimore, Maryland)
Friends Burial Ground (Baltimore, Maryland)
Friends Burial Ground is a historic Quaker cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is the earliest cemetery in Baltimore, established in 1713, and in size. It contains a total of approximately 1,900 small, simple grave markers, arranged in compact rows interspersed with large trees...

, Harford Road, Baltimore. A statue in her honor was dedicated in front of the Women's History House, Laramie, Wyoming, in 2005.

September 6, 2008 was recognized by Congress as Louisa Ann Swain day via House Concurrent Resolution 378.

External links

  • http://womenshistory.about.com/library/ency/blwh_first_vote2.htm
  • http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,826543-2,00.html
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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