A Woman of Firsts

March 15, 2022 • cardillo

by David Cardillo, DDNP Staff

Marilla M. Ricker managed to have several “firsts” to her name.  Thus, in honor of Women’s History Month, the July 7, 1910 edition of the Evening Journal has a brief biography of her.  The main part of the article was about her run to be the first female governor of New Hampshire, but it also detailed several other firsts in the process.

Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.), 07 July 1910. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

A suffragette, Marilla not only ran for governor of New Hampshire, but also applied to President McKinley for the position of ambassador to Columbia.  She did not expect to win either of these positions, but she viewed her attempt to attain them as a large step forward for women. She wanted to encourage other women to run for such positions in opposition to the thought that they were “for men only”.

#ChronAmParty
#WomensHistoryMonth