Mary Godat Bellamy (December 13, 1861 – January 28, 1955) was an American teacher, politician, and suffragist who served as the first female member of the

Wyoming House of Representatives The Wyoming House of Representatives is the lower house of the Wyoming Legislature, Wyoming State Legislature. There are 62 Representatives in the House, representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts across the Wyoming, st ...

Early life

Mary Godat Bellamy was born on December 13, 1861, in

Richwoods, Missouri Richwoods is an unincorporated community in northeastern Washington County, Missouri, United States. It is located on Missouri Route A one mile east of Missouri Route 47 Route 47 is a highway in eastern Missouri. Its northern terminus is ...

, to Charles Godat and Catherine Horine. Following her father's death her family moved to

Galena, Illinois Galena is the largest city in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. It had a population of 3,308 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A section of the city is listed on the National Register of Historic Plac ...

and later to Laramie,

Wyoming Territory The Territory of Wyoming was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 25, 1868, until July 10, 1890, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Wyoming. Cheyenne was the territorial capital. The ...

in 1873. She attended Laramie High School and was a member of its first graduating class. In 1878, she became a teacher and worked in Tybo, Nevada. In 1886, she married Charles Bellamy and later had three children with him (Benjamin Charles, Fulton Dodd). In 1895, she and her family moved to

Cheyenne, Wyoming Cheyenne ( or ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Wyoming, most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming. It is the county seat of Laramie County, Wyoming, Laramie County, with 65,132 reside ...

Career

Politics

In 1888, she ran for Laramie County Superintendent of Schools and was later elected to that position in 1902. During the 1916 presidential election she served as a Democratic delegate to the state and national conventions.

House of Representatives

During the 1910 elections Bellamy was given the Democratic nomination to run for a seat in the state House of Representatives from Albany County and won alongside four other Democrats. She was the first woman in Wyoming to serve in the Wyoming state legislature and the fifth nationally after four women who had served in the Colorado state legislature. Following the death of Associate Justice

John Marshall Harlan John Marshall Harlan (June 1, 1833 – October 14, 1911) was an American lawyer and politician who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1877 until his death in 1911. He is often called "The Great Disse ...

, Bellamy attempted to start a movement to have President

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices. ...

appoint a woman to replace him. In 1912, she chose to not seek reelection and did not run in the 1914 or 1916 elections. In 1918, she ran for a seat in the state House of Representatives with the Democratic nomination and won. During her tenure she voted in favor of the 18th Amendment which established the prohibition of alcohol in the United States.

Later life

On June 2, 1952, the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming, United States. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, ...

gave her an honorary

doctor of law A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

degree. On January 28, 1955, she died in Ivinson Memorial Hospital, in Laramie, Wyoming. On January 31, the four female members of the 33rd session of the Wyoming state legislature wrote a memorial for Bellamy that was read by Edness Kimball Wilkins on February 2.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bellamy, Mary 1861 births 1954 deaths 20th-century American women politicians Democratic Party members of the Wyoming House of Representatives People from Washington County, Missouri Politicians from Laramie, Wyoming Women state legislators in Wyoming Laramie High School (Wyoming) alumni 20th-century members of the Wyoming Legislature