Women in Iowa had been given partial suffrage in 1894, allowed to vote “on school issues, local officers, or bond-related matters.” The suffrage movement had been active in Iowa for half a century before ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in August 1920, guaranteeing women the right to vote in all elections. On August 27, there was a school election…
Grundy County Dispatch, September 1, 1920:
Grundy has the first woman voter
To Grundy county has been given the honor of having the first woman to vote under the new national woman’s suffrage law. This lady is Mrs. Jens G. Thuesen, of Fairfield township, in the northeastern part of this county. At a special election for the formation of a consolidated school district of which Fairfield township was a part, Mrs. Thuesen cast the first vote, and by this act brought the above, mentioned fame to Grundy county. Speaking of the event, last Saturday’s Waterloo Times-Tribune says:
Women in the western section of Black Hawk county and the eastern section of Grundy county cast their first ballot under the privilege exercised them by the Nineteenth amendment yesterday and assisted in establishing the largest consolidated school district in Iowa. …
The women voting yesterday were probably the first in Iowa to cast their ballots under the provisions of the amendment officially promulgated by Secretary of State Colby on Thursday and were among the first in the United States. South St. Paul women claim similar honors, but the election at that place was on a bonding proposition.
Mrs. Jens. G. Thuesen, of Fairfield township, Grundy county, won the honor of being the first woman to vote in the election. She was present sometime before the polls were opened and shortly after 1 o’clock deposited her ballot in the ballot box. A number of other women were present, but inasmuch as Mrs. Thuesen was the first to arrive she was given the honor of being the first woman to take advantage of equal suffrage.
Thuesen did not get the dignity of having her own name in the story. I found one mention online — a Waterloo Courier article from July 2010, when RAGBRAI was passing through — that gives her the recognition she deserves.
Julia Marie (Guldager) Thuesen of rural Dike, Fairfield Township, Grundy County, Iowa, was the first woman to vote in any election in the U.S. after the 19th Amendment was ratified.
The Courier story also mentions that the fifth woman to vote was Chuck Grassley’s mother. The Bleeding Heartland blog goes into more detail about her*. During about an hour of research, until finding that story, I was wondering if anyone had chronicled her first name. I had even found her 2-sentence wedding announcement in the Grundy Republican (Feb. 23, 1916, published Feb. 24).
The school district Julia Thuesen voted for no longer exists. The Fairfield Township part is now in the Dike-New Hartford school district, while the Black Hawk County portions including the town of Finchford are in the Cedar Falls school district.
*The blog post also shows that the Waterloo Times-Tribune photograph misspells the last names of both Thuesen and Grassley!
