by Barbara Rimkunas
This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, November 6, 2020.
In late October of 1920, the Exeter News-Letter noted: “Visitors in Exeter are two former residents, Mrs. J.P. Emerson and her daughter, Mrs. J.H. Gay, of San Diego, California.” To better identify these married ladies, the notice continued, “As Miss Jennette P. Talbot, the latter graduated in 1893 from Robinson Seminary, in which she retains keen interest.” The mother and daughter, who most Exeter residents knew as Jeannette and Jennette Talbot, were visiting during a crucial year for women. In just a few weeks, the nation’s women would be casting their ballots for the first time in a presidential election. Both of the former Talbots would have brought encouragement to the town’s new voters. Where they now lived, California, women had been enfranchised since 1911. Mrs. Gay, before her move out west, had been the first woman to ever run for office in town, going down to defeat in the school board election of 1884. But if Exeter’s women were still a bit skittish about voting, there was plenty of public education to lessen their uneasiness.
The Current Events Club and the Civics Department of the Women’s Club held sessions to discuss the ballot. Along with the general election, there were several New Hampshire constitutional amendments to consider. The Supervisors of the Checklist, tasked with registering voters, reminded everyone that they had to be properly registered to vote in the election. “A voter is required to be more than 21 years old, a resident of Exeter for more than six months and able to read and write English.” In case the ladies weren’t inclined to give their age, the notice added, “the supervisors have no curiosity as to the age, provided the registrant convinces them that the majority has been reached.” No supporting identification would be needed, it seems.
The Daughters of the American Revolution met in early October to address the “duty and responsibility of the woman voter.” They chose as their speaker Exeter’s most knowledgeable writer of national politics: Mrs. George (Mira) Richards. Richards had, for nearly a decade, been a political correspondent for dozens of New England newspapers. Richards hadn’t been directly involved in the suffrage movement; indeed, she seemed a bit dismissive when it finally passed. “Congress heaved a mighty sigh of relief the day the suffrage amendment was wiped off the slate. Even the men who most bitterly opposed it were glad to be rid of the constant heckling of the militant women, who now are jubilant,” she wrote at the time. But now that women were involved, it was time for her to bring her knowledge of politics to them. To the D.A.R., she urged them all, “Women demanded suffrage and an entrance into political life. Politics is not a fireside game. It must be played at the polls. And now we women have suffrage we must not be dregs in the Political Cup.” For Richards, this meant aligning with a political party and staying the course. Vote the ticket. “The independent voter has a perfect right to cast his vote according to his personal preference, but he gets nowhere by such a course, and nine times out of ten helps defeat the very cause he had hoped to aid.” The D.A.R. reported that, “her talk was entirely non-partisan” but Mira Richards herself was not. A staunch Republican, she made it her goal to get Warren G. Harding elected on November 4th. Her weekly columns in the Exeter News-Letter made the case for a shift in national political make up.
Helen Tufts, the 23-year-old daughter of Academy professor James Arthur Tufts, had been an anti-suffragist. Her father, a state senator, had voted against granting women the vote. Yet her diary reveals her excitement when she cast her primary vote in September. “My first X ever put on a ballot was for Father for State Senator.” She was quickly recruited by the town Republican party to assist with the election. There were two large Republican rallies held that year. The first, reported by the News-Letter, was, “preceded by a band concert in the Swasey Pavilion and the burning of red fire in the Square. A pleasing innovation was furnished by the efficient corps of ushers, all young women.” Among them, was Helen Tufts. After having spent the day in Boston, she hurried to the event at 7:30.
The election soundly went for Harding. None of the doomsayers had been right about women’s participation. They had not been ignorant of the issues or inefficient in their voting. The Exeter News-Letter had nothing but glowing approval. “All day long, whether the task was to greet the bewildered new voter, to explain the procedure to the doubtful, to arrange for transportation at convenient times, to use tactful pressure to bring out the reluctant – all day long the women were steadily on the job. Suffragists who had long wanted to vote, antis who had equally long rebelled against voting worked side by side and in full co-operation with the men without jealousy or dispute, intent only on the success of the party ticket.” Helen Tufts worked the polls and stayed late, with Mira Richards, to hear the returns. Jennette and Jeannette Talbot, who had by this time returned to California, would have been proud. The younger Jeannette Talbot was so attached to her hometown, that she later donated funds to build our current polling location, Talbot Gym. It seems that getting the women involved proved to be a good investment.
Barbara Rimkunas is curator and co-executive director of the Exeter Historical Society. To read earlier stories about Mira Richards and Jeannette Talbot, visit the Historical Society website: www.exeterhistory.org. Or, to watch Exeter History Minutes on Mira RIchards, Jeannette Talbot, the Anti-Suffragists and the Suffragists, visit our Exeter Women in History webpage.
Image: In 1920, the United States realized that women were citizens just like men. Advertisers, like the First National Bank, rushed to appeal to women.