Lesser Know; No Less Important

You may have heard of William Howard Taft. He served as United States President in the late 1800s. You may have heard of the musical artists Harry Chapin and Mary Chapin Carpenter. These three people, and their respective families, share an ancestor that is less well-known, but no less important.

Lydia Chapin Taft was the first woman in British America to legally cast a vote. The setting of this little-celebrated act was Uxbridge, Massachusetts. The year was 1756.

Born in 1712 to a family of ten children (an additional four died at or before birth), Lydia ran through fields on the family farm in western-central Massachusetts and assisted her mother in the home. At the age of nineteen she married Josiah Taft. The couple settled in Uxbridge and had eight children. Josiah owned a prosperous farm, and he served in several capacities in local and colonial government. As happened too often in that century, several children died before age five, and of those who lived to adulthood, not all lived to old age. Caleb went to Harvard at age eighteen, became ill, and died. When his father Josiah returned from burying him in Boston, he, too, became ill and died at the age of 47.

At the time, Uxbridge's town council was contemplating a vote to uphold or deny support for the French and Indian War. This was an important meeting, and Josiah's vote, as one of the largest freeholders in town, was necessary. With his death, his estate was handed to his son, Bazaleel, who was still a minor, so the town voted to allow "the widow Josiah Taft" to vote in his place. This historic vote took place in October 1756, but Lydia also voted in town meetings in 1758 and 1765. She lived long enough to see her home declare its independence from Britain, but she died in 1778.

If you're wondering how she voted -- she cast a vote to increase Uxbridge's material support of the French and Indian War.

* * *

Lydia Taft was the first woman to vote on this continent. New Jersey passed a law, clarified in 1790, allowing women who met the property requirements to vote. This was not the same as universal suffrage because there was still a property requirement. In 1869, Wyoming became the first state to give women the vote -- full stop. Other towns and states followed suit, but national, universal suffrage was not granted until the 19th Amendment ratified on August 18, 1920. We celebrate this momentous event on National Women's Equality Day, August 26.

Next year will be an even more momentous occasion, as we celebrate 100 years since the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified.

But remember Mrs. Taft, too. She may be lesser known, but she is no less important to this wonderful, hard-won story of women's rights.