Nellie Tayloe Ross Nellie Tayloe was a woman of remarkable skills, responsibility and endurance. Before she became the first woman governor of the United States, Nellie was a kindergarten teacher and a presenter of informative papers at her local women’s group. She also helped her husband with his law practice as well as his governorship. Nellie was born in Missouri in 1876. “She was the sixth child and the first daughter of James and ‘Lizzie’ Tayloe” (Scheer, 2). Nellie was very private about her childhood and little is known about the family from which she came. The only story of her childhood that she ever shared was of her home being destroyed by a fire (Scheer, 1). In 1924, just one month before the general election, William Bradford Ross died of complications from appendicitis, leaving the democrats without a candidate (Thompson, 36-37). Many of Nellie’s friends, “... encouraged her to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination” (Mackey, 26). Analysis once suggested that “... women are put forward when their parties feel that they have little chance of winning and nothing to lose by nominating a controversial candidate” (Thompson, 36-37). Ross defeated Sullivan (the republican candidate) by more than 8000 votes. During her reign as Governor of Wyoming Nellie Tayloe Ross addressed many issues including the state’s budget deficit. While looking into the mining operations, Ross found that a lot of property and equipment was escaping taxation and Ross thought “that equitable taxation would be a positive step in dealing with budget shortfalls” (Mackey, 28). Ross also “called for the passage of new banking laws to protect the state’s financial institutions and their depositors” (Mackey, 28). She also had requests to investigate the Park County and Hot Springs County Sheriffs for continual drunkenness on the job. She signed the order to remove one from his position while the other resigned the fall of 1925. During her term as governor she went to conferences around the country. In 1925, Ross went to Maine for the National Governors’ Conference, where she suggested they hold the 1926 conference in Wyoming. Ross went to Washington D.C. to talk about Wyoming’s water rights with the Colorado River Compact. While she was busy with all of her duties, Ross had many requests from newspapers and magazines asking her to write articles. The Republican candidate for the 1926 election accused Ross of: ... draining the state’s permanent trust fund to supplement the lower state operating budget In the next election in 1926, Ross ran for office again. However, this time she did not have the support of all the women voters. They claimed she did nothing for women’s rights. Nellie Tayloe Ross did many things for the state of Wyoming. She had a good family and many friends that supported her throughout her reign as governor. She cared for the people of the state of Wyoming by enforcing laws to protect their health and well being. A women’s dormitory, on the campus of the University of Wyoming, was named after her: Nellie Tayloe Ross Hall. In 1977, at the age of 101, Nellie died from a fall in her apartment near Washington D.C.. She was buried in Cheyenne, Wyoming (Scheer, 213-214). Her contributions to Wyoming helped pave the way for future generations of politicians as well as women and women’s rights. Other websites for Nellie
In 1902, she became Nellie Tayloe Ross after marrying a successful lawyer and future governor of Wyoming, William Bradford Ross. Nellie was a stay at home mother with their four sons; twins George and James Ambrose, Alfred, who died at the age of ten months, and William Bradford II (Mackey, 26).
she had approved the year before. However, a report from the state treasurer’s office showed
that the permanent fund had increased by approximately $4,000,000, while at the same time
the
state’s budget deficit was decreased by more than $1,000,000 under Ross’s
administration. (Mackey, 31)
Ross was a supporter of prohibition, child labor laws, and safety laws to help coal miners (Van Pelt, 4). Ross made a few mistakes as governor, but not anymore than any other elected official.
“... Nellie lost, by the narrowest margin of any Democratic candidate, the state’s Democratic press estimated that two to four thousand votes were cast against her because she was a woman” (Thompson, 36-37). “Mrs. Ross was defeated by a man who, according to historian T. A. Larson, was not as good a governor as she was” (Mackey, 33). After her reign as governor, Ross went on to be the director of the United States Mint from 1933 to 1953. She stayed involved in politics and became head of the Women’s Divisions of the Democratic National Committee. She also wrote articles for Good Housekeeping and was a speaker on the Chatauqua circuit (Mackey, 33).
Nellie Tayloe Ross,
Wikipedia,
Wyoming Archives,
Blog 1,
Blog 2
References
By: Amanda Hitshew, Cheyenne Christian, Stephanie Duncan