Louisa Swain

GAYLE M. IRWIN

For the Star-Tribune W yoming is known for many firsts, including America’s first national monument (Devil’s Tower, 1906) and the world’s first national park (Yellowstone in 1872). The 1870s also saw many firsts in women’s su rage: first female in the United States to serve as justice of the peace (Esther Hobart Morris, February 1870 in South Pass City), first women to serve on a jury (in Laramie, March 1870) and the first woman to cast a ballot in a general election (again in Laramie, September 1870).

That woman was Louisa Swain. The Quaker woman was about 69 years old when she made history.

“Two stories exist about the day Louisa Swain voted,” said Weldon Tuck, executive director of the Louisa Swain Foundation. “One is that she was going to the store with a pail for yeast and as she came upon the polling place, she decided to go in and cast her vote. The other is that a group of women in Laramie got together and decided she should be the trailblazer and cast the first ballot. I think that has some merit, for there are pictures of a bonnet that Laramie ladies gave her to commemorate the occasion.”

An article published in a Maryland newspaper about 50 years ago also suggests the plausibility of the second story. Composed by Katherine Scarborough, who interviewed Louisa’s great-granddaughter, the article states, in part: “As the oldest woman in (Laramie) … she was accorded the honor of being the first to cast her ballot by agreement of the others….”

The Wyoming territory recognized women’s right to vote, to hold o ce and to own property in 1869. That right continued into statehood, with Wyoming’s constitution allowing for universal suffrage. According to Tuck, that right almost kept Wyoming from receiving statehood.

“When Wyoming applied for statehood, which had to be ratified by Congress, they were told they would not be accepted unless they rescinded women’s su rage,” he said. “Wyoming legislators didn’t relent and said they would remain a territory instead.”

Wyoming received statehood in 1890 by a slim margin (139 to 127), according to Wyohistory.org.

Louisa Swain was born Louisa Ann Gardener in 1800 in Norfolk, Virginia. Her father, a sea captain, didn’t return from a voyage when Louisa was 7 years old. She and her mother moved to

FIRST WOMAN VOTER RECOGNIZED

Louisa Swain made history made history in Laramie in Laramie 150 years ago 150 years ago

CASPER COLLEGE HISTORY CENTER Louisa Swain was the first woman in the United States to vote in a general election. That historic vote happened 150 years ago in Laramie.

Charleston, South Carolina, for an unknown reason, Tuck said, where Louisa’s mother died. An uncle and family living in Baltimore, Maryland, finished raising her, and it was in that city that Louisa met and married Stephen Swain. The couple and their children later moved to Ohio.

A few years later, their son Alfred Gardner Swain and his family relocated to Laramie, and historians believe Louisa and her husband followed to help the young family. Here began Louisa’s slow ascension to Wyoming celebrity.

The older woman likely didn’t think much about casting that historic vote. She is described in a Laramie Daily Sentinel article as “a gentle white-haired housewife, Quakerish in appearance.”

That description seems appropriate, Tuck said. He visited Louisa’s grave in Maryland and spoke with someone familiar with the Quaker faith.

“I’ve always wondered what was going through her mind that historic day,” Tuck said. “The man I spoke with said, ‘Remember that Quaker women were involved with the Underground Railroad. They were also equal (with men) during meetings. She wouldn’t have been intimidated.’”

Wyoming was still a territory in 1870 and the area considered “the Wild West,” Tuck said. However, no one seemed to stand in Louisa’s way of casting that ballot. An article in the Laramie Daily Sentinel at the time read, “There was too much good sense in our community for any jeers or sneers to be seen on such an occasion.”

A dispute between Laramie and Cheyenne ensued for the title of first woman to cast a ballot. However, according to Cora Beach’s book, “Women of Wyoming” published in 1927, Judge M.C. Brown, Laramie’s first mayor, witnessed the voting in that community and corroborated the story that Louisa cast the first vote – a mere 30 minutes before a woman in Cheyenne cast her ballot.

Not long after that historic day, Louisa and her husband returned east to live near a daughter. According to several online sources, Stephen died in 1872; his wife died eight years later.

Sunday marks the 150th anniversary of Louisa’s vote; the date is designated as Louisa Swain Day. The foundation which bears her name planned a major celebration, starting in August in Washington D.C. at the Library of Congress. A semi-tractor-trailer driven by women and with a photograph of Louisa on the side traveled across the country, arriving Friday in Cheyenne with plans to continue to Laramie, Tuck said. A woman will re-enact the role of Louisa and her historic vote in the community.

“She was an unassuming Quaker woman, walking down the street on that historic day. She epitomized courage, character and community,” Tuck said.

The foundation operates Laramie’s Wyoming Women’s History House (which did not open this summer due to COVID-19). Visitors can find displays about many Wyoming women who have impacted the state and nation, including Nellie Taylor Ross, Lynn Cheney, Barbara Cubin and Louisa Swain. Additionally, the foundation has bestowed awards to five women who showcase Louisa’s qualities and who have made significant impacts upon the state and nation: Lynn Cheney, Jane Sullivan, Diana Enzi, Bobbi Barrasso and Margaret Parry.

An “unassuming Quaker woman” who made history nearly 150 years ago and continues to impact the state in many ways, stands memorialized in statue form in Laramie, the community where her historic action took place.