Emma Grigsby Meharg | |
---|---|
Secretary of State of Texas | |
In office January 17, 1925 –January 17, 1927 | |
Governor | Miriam A. Ferguson |
Preceded by | Henry Hutchings |
Succeeded by | Jane Y. McCallum |
Personal details | |
Born | Lynnville,Tennessee,United States | August 14,1873
Died | September 4,1937 64) Plainview,Texas,United States | (aged
Political party | Democratic |
Alma mater | Southwestern Normal College |
Emma Grigsby Meharg (August 14,1873 - September 4,1937) was the first female Secretary of State of Texas,serving from 1925 to 1927 under Governor Miriam A. Ferguson.
Emma Grigsby was born to Jasper N. and Mary Amanda (Calvert) Grigsby in Lynnville,Tennessee on August 14,1873. The family moved to Italy,Texas in 1883,and Emma attended public school there. She later attended Southwestern Normal College,graduating in 1895,and returned to Italy to teach. [1]
She married Samuel W. Meharg of Anniston,Alabama on June 24,1902. The couple moved to Plainview,Texas,where Samuel became the public school principal and Emma taught. [1]
In 1925,Governor Miriam A. Ferguson appointed her as Secretary of State. Ferguson and Grigsby were the first female governor and Secretary of State in Texas. Among her recommendations during the position was the creation of a civil service system for the state;she also oversaw the restoration and cataloguing of state historical records. She also recommended that position be modified from how it was set out in the state's 1876 constitution,including a higher salary and being changed from an appointed position to an elected position. [1] [2]
Meharg served on the board of the Texas Technological College from 1932 to 1937. She died in Plainview on September 4,1937,and was buried there. [1]
Lynnville is a town in Giles County,Tennessee. The population was 287 at the 2010 census. The name is from a local creek. Richland High School is located in Lynnville and serves the town and surrounding areas.
Barbara Kay Roberts is an American politician from the state of Oregon. A native of the state,she served as the 34th Governor of Oregon from 1991 to 1995. She was the first woman elected to serve as Oregon governor,and the only woman elected to that office until 2016. A Democrat,Roberts was also the first woman to serve as majority leader in the Oregon House of Representatives. She also won two terms as Oregon Secretary of State,and served in local and county government in Portland. Roberts was married to Oregon state Sen. Frank L. Roberts from 1974 until his death in 1993. From February 2011 until January 2013,she served on the council of Metro,the regional government in the Portland metropolitan area.
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Miriam Amanda "Ma" Ferguson was an American politician who served two non-consecutive terms as the governor of Texas:from 1925 to 1927,and from 1933 to 1935. She was the first female governor of Texas,and the second woman to be governor of any U.S. state,after Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming.
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