History is Made: Algoma and It's First Woman Council Member

There is no doubt millions of U.S. citizens felt it was a man’s world until passage of the 19^th Amendment, giving women the right to vote. Hundreds of thousands of men, and even women, felt ratification on August 18, 1920 was a mistake.

U.S. history is full of strong women who were unable to run for office or to vote. Presidential spouses Abigale Adams and Dolly Madison come to mind. Among others in the early days of the country was Margaret O’Neal Eaton, also called “Pot-house Peggy.” Her intelligence and forthright commentary offended the high-born women who were incensed that she rose above her station, that of an inn-keeper’s daughter. Since Peggy O’Neal/Margaret Eaton was reported to be a beauty, jealousy could have played a part in what became known as the “Petticoat Affair.” Of course, Mrs. Eaton never held office, but she affected presidential politics and President Andrew Jackson. Mrs. Eaton was far from the only woman to raise eyebrows before 1900.

About 20 years after Mrs. Eaton made headlines, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott were making them. Stanton was the principal author of the declaration that came from the Seneca Falls Convention in July 1948, an event which was the beginning of the women’s suffrage movement in the U.S. At the time, women were expected to focus on housework, children and husbands. With the exception of extenuating circumstances, women  were unable to own property, nor did they have claim to money they earned. Women were denied the vote.

Almyra Chapel Eveland

Early Wolf River/Ahnapee* had its own women of strength, women who would not be subservient to the men around them.What would Kewaunee County life have been like if Almyra Eveland and Nancy Higgins had been elected to office? They were women who “spoke out.” Almyra Eveland came to Wolf River with her husband and family in the mid-1850s. She was truly outspoken on slavery and the plight of slaves. Although it is not a proven fact, this blogger feels there is history suggesting that Mrs. Eveland had a role in the Underground Railway.

Mrs. Nancy Higgins became well-known about 15 years later, but not because of slavery. Mrs. Higgins was a proponent of women’s rights. In June 1873 George Wing and Charles Borgman, both teen-agers, originated Ahnapee Record. The young men had a progressive record in advancing women’s rights, however Kewaunee Enterprise,* which began publication in September 1859, wasn’t so sure about such a stance. During March 1869, Mrs. Higgins wrote a letter to the editor of the Enterprize, her only newspaper option. At first, that paper denounced the letter saying that “old Higgins was a reliable subscriber” and might be upset enough to cancel his subscription. Mrs. Higgins insisted that such treatment was an “abridgement of her rights,” prompting the editor to finally say he would “cheerfully” give her space in the paper.

Mrs. Higgins wrote that “female men” in Chicago lectured about poor women being robbed of their rights and being slaves to the miserable men they called husbands. She felt that if women didn’t have rights, it was because they failed to fight for them. As for women voting, she felt that married women could get their husbands to vote the way the wives wished. She also wrote that she would like “to see Jeremiah Higgins vote for something I didn’t want him to.” It was Mrs. Higgins’ opinion that women should fight more and talk less so there wouldn’t be quite so much “babbling” about women’s rights. More than likely, there were those who thought Mr. Higgins was a weak man who couldn’t control his wife. Others certainly felt pity for the man married to a shrew who wore the pants in the family.

Mrs. Eveland and Mrs. Higgins were ahead of their time, as were many others in Kewaunee County and beyond. In the early days of the 1900s, women were beginning to show up on school boards, but not in elected public offices. When newspapers began carrying little digs directed toward women, perhaps it was because the “little woman” was gaining a voice.

In May 1915, the Record said, “Even with women in politics, it is doubtful the campaign cigar can be made any worse.” Five years later, the same paper said, “There is one good thing about the participation of women in politics. They won’t keep pulling off crooked deals because they couldn’t keep the secret.”

Just a year later, Jeannette Rankin of Montana, became the first female to be elected to federal office. Rankin, an advocate of women’s rights, served in the House of Representatives. The stage was set!

Mrs. Pauline Danek was Algoma’s first woman candidate for office in a race against William Perlewitz. The two faced off for city treasurer in the spring election on April 23, 1924, a year when !Calvin Coolidge and Robert LaFollette were on the primary ballot. The Record reported that Mrs. Danek’s lieutenants were out working to swing enough votes her way. Other candidates went around town asking for votes while still others asked for votes by using colored chalk to write messages on sidewalks.

As interesting as the election was, onlookers filled the vote counting room. When the votes were counted, 560 Algoma residents had cast ballots. One-third of the number was women, and they were relatively new voters. Hard as Mrs. Danek and her supporters worked, she lost the election to Perlewitz, 301 to 235. Not every city voter cast a ballot in the treasurer’s race, but Mrs. Danek won more than 1/3 of the total votes cast, suggesting that some men cast their first vote for a female candidate.

When Mrs. Huey Long was appointed in 1936 to fill the Senate vacancy created by the assassination of her husband the year before, the paper noted the women in politics. Of the seven woman serving in Congress, five were appointed to succeed their husbands. The paper pointed to a new book by John Erskin, author of The Private Life of Helen of Troy. It was claimed Erskin knew more about woman than most men and that Erskin said women had no business entering politics nor any other mass movement. Commenting somewhat tongue in cheek, the Record thought maybe Erskin knew what he was talking about because it would be easier to name male senators and “more masculine Congressmen who are worse fizzles in political life than are any of the women who now grace the halls of Congress.”

Kewaunee County’s first woman sheriff, Emma Lutien, was appointed in July 1925 by Gov. Blaine to fill a vacancy created by the death of her husband, however Mrs. Joseph (Jennie) Kassner was the

first woman sheriff ever elected in Kewaunee County or (said to be) the State of Wisconsin. She topped six Democrats in the primary before going on to win the 1932 race that included a Republican and two Independent candidates. Perhaps Mrs. Kassner was well-positioned: Democrats took every contest for county office, however she was succeeding her husband who was elected in 1928. Joseph Kassner served as his wife’s under-sheriff and her election placards noted that she would provide the service the county came to expect from him. Joseph Kassner ran again in 1938 and, according to the Record Herald, he won a “sizzling four-cornered race.” 

Newspaper articles indicate that Mrs. Lutien was Wisconsin’s first woman sheriff and that Mrs. Kassner was Wisconsin’s first elected woman sheriff, but online checks do not bear that out. That “first” seems to go to Langlade County.

Governor Warren Knowles was running for re-election in October 1958 when he predicted Mrs. Dena Besserdich Smith would be Wisconsin’s first elected woman in state office. Knowles was speaking at a Republican campaign event at Butch Van’s in Rostok, between Alaska and Kewaunee, when he said that the first woman would be Kewaunee County’s own Mrs. Smith who was honored in that testimonial dinner. Knowles said, “It is a tremendous job for a woman to campaign alone.” He went on to say Mrs. Smith was entitled to be elected treasurer of Wisconsin because of her long experience working with her husband in the office. Mrs. Smith assisted as deputy under her husband Treasurer Warren R. Smith, and, at his death, was appointed to replace him by Gov. Vernon Thompson.

Attorney Don Jirtle told the assembled group that “opportunity comes seldom to a small community as ours to welcome back a native resident.” He went on to say that for 20 years Wisconsin had a balanced budget at the end of every biennium and there was no debt. He said the principles of good government “made Wisconsin the blue ribbon government of the nation.” Assemblyman Frank Graass said Wisconsin was the first state to give women the right to vote and he would not understand it if women didn’t get out to vote for Dena Smith. Mrs. Smith won the election and served from 1957 to 1959 and again from 1961 until her death in 1968.

Kewaunee County saw a semi-political women’s first when Luxemburg’s Mrs. Henry Seidl was the first woman juror called in November 1936. When the paper noted the facts, it mentioned she was the first woman to see “actual service,” and that she was “drawn and accepted” in the Euclid case.

After over 100 years in existence, Kewaunee County Board made history with the swearing in of Martha Procter of Kewaunee. Mrs. Proctor was the first woman to serve, representing Kewaunee’s First Ward. However, Mrs. Proctor was appointed by Mayor Jerome Reinke who noted he was breaking tradition when he chose her to fill a vacancy created by the death of Wenzel Helbick. When Reinke discussed the appointment, he said he was “fully cognizant” of the departure from tradition and wanted to make it clear that “despite her sex,” she, and other women, had a place in politics. When a Record-Herald  reporter asked for her reaction to the appointment, she said it was “a very, very interesting thing to happen. I think they’re going to let me in – I hope.” She continued saying the world was half women and they “might as well have a little representation.”

The following spring Ione Van Price made history in Algoma when she became the first woman to be elected to the city council. That was April 1978. Van Price was called the representative from the Third Ward while the men were called aldermen. “Alderwoman” and “alderperson” were terms that came later.

When Proctor was appointed, Reinke said “departure from tradition” and “despite her sex,” words that said a lot. Lutien and Smith were appointed following the deaths of there husbands. It was well-known that should Mrs. Kassner win the election, she would be sheriff in name but her husband would continue calling the shots.

Ione Van Price was not appointed. She ran for election, won and made history in Algoma and in Kewaunee County.


*Ahnepee was renamed Ahnapee in 1873, and Enterprize became Enterprise in 1865.

Sources: Ahnapee Record/Algoma Record Herald; Kewaunee Enterprise; Google. 
Almyra Eveland's photo is from a private collection. Other graphics come from the papers mentioned.