Week 44—Voting—Records of My Grandmother, Anna M. Sullivan Hork Voting

My grandmother, Anna Marie Sullivan, lived in Montana until about 1922. She turned twenty-one on 15 October 1913. Did she vote in the next election?

The women’s suffrage movement worked hard to the vote for women in Montana, beginning when it was still a territory. Women were allowed to vote for school board elections and on tax issues since 1887 and that right continued after Montana became a state.

In 1913, the Montana Legislature passed a bill that led to a referendum for the vote in 1914. There was many speeches and campaigns, including letters to individuals and contacts with newspapers. 30,000 copies of a pamphlet written by the Missoula Teachers’ Suffrage Committee called “Women Teachers of Montana Should Have the Vote” were distributed. The vote was held 3 November 1914 and the amendment passed 41,302 to 37,588, making Montana the eleventh state to give women the right to vote.

During the voting campaign, Anna likely was teaching at her first school, possibly a school in Corvallis in Ravalli County.[1] The referendum was defeated in her hometown of Anaconda as well as Beaverhead County where she attended the Normal School. However, Ravalli County voted in favor.[2]  Her first national election would have been 1916, when the incumbent, Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat, beat Charles Evans Hughes, a Republican. Wilson carried Montana, as well as most of the west except for Oregon. Did she vote?

There are few voting records available at FamilySearch for areas in Montana and most are earlier records before women won the right to vote. Later in the 1920s, after she married William Cyril Hork, she lived in California, which does have extensive voting registers online. These voting records are wonderful, and like city directories, they were published about every two years. They give name, address, and occupation, which helps fill in family’s movements and activities between census years.

She and Cyril were found in three voter registrations. The first in 1926, found them living at 414 Linnie Canal in Los Angeles. She registered as a Democrat and Cyril as a Republican.[3]

1926 Calif voter registration

In 1932, they both registered as Democrats and lived in Ontario at 846 East D Street.[4]

1936 Calif voter registration

In 1936, they were still living in Ontario, but at 741 North Vine Ave, and both as Democrats.[5]

1936 Calif voter registration

Anna and Cyril separated sometime before 1940 and she moved to Napa, where she continued registering as a Democrat.[6] She had returned to teaching.

Ancestry has two wonderful collections for voting registers in California: “California, U.S., Voter Registers, 1866-1898,” and “California, U.S., Voter Registrations, 1900-1968.”[7] Unfortunately, not all counties in all years are represented in the later database. Try contacting the local historical society, archives, or voter registration office in the county where your family lived if the database doesn’t have records for your family.

This is my fourth year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

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[1] "Local Brevities," The Missoulian (Missoula, MT), 25 Dec 1914, p. 2, col. 5.

[2] “1914 Suffrage Vote,” ArcGIS (https://ceic.maps.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=ae30931850f24c85b8e06c13135e7bbd&extent=-119.3983,39.448,-99.0517,51.6548). Yellow counties show voting in favor. Click on the county to see the tally.

[3] "California Voter Registration 1900-1968," digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com), 1926, roll 19, Los Angeles Co, Los Angeles Precinct no. 1100, William C. Hork & Mrs. Ann M. Hork.

[4] "California Voter Registration 1900-1968," digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com), 1932, San Bernardino Co, Ontario Precinct 15, roll 6, William C. Hork & Mrs. Anna M. Hork.

[5] California Voter Registration 1900-1968," digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com), 1936, San Bernardino Co, Ontario Precinct 7, William C Hork & Mrs. Anna M. Hork.

[6] "California Voter Registration 1900-1968," digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com), vol. 1944, Napa No. 4 Precinct, Mrs. Anna M. Hork.

[7] See the collections listed in the Card Catalog for California, https://www.ancestry.com/search/places/usa/california/. 

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