Libertyville resident state's first woman voter

On June 26, 1913, the state of Illinois approved women's suffrage, and a short time later Clara Colby of Libertyville became the first woman in Illinois to vote.

Illinois was one of many states that approved women's right to vote in advance of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920, which gave all women the right.

Until this time, women were considered second-class citizens, with limited rights and privileges, and were beholden to their husbands. It was the Anti-Slavery Movement of the early 1800s that spurred progressive minded women, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902), to begin a women's rights movement.

In 1848, Stanton held a convention in Seneca Falls, N.Y., to discuss the "social, civil and religious rights of women." This was the official beginning of the Women's Suffrage Movement.

Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) joined the movement in 1850, and became a central figure. Anthony was famously arrested for trying to vote for Ulysses S. Grant for president in 1872.

Many opposed elevating women to the status of voters. In 1905, President Grover Cleveland stated that "Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote."

The suffrage movement spread, and in 1910, chapter houses of the American Woman's League were built in North Chicago and Zion. The league worked to "advance, protect and uplift American womanhood," and spun off into the American Woman's Republic, which educated women about government in preparation for when they had the right to vote.

In July 1913, Clara Colby cast her historic ballot for a new town hall in Libertyville.

"I'm a very happy woman to have had this opportunity," Colby said. The papers reported that her husband stayed home to "scrub clothes in the laundry."

After Colby's vote, there would be many firsts for women in government.

In 1949, Adeline Geo-Karis became the first woman in Lake County elected as a justice of the peace. In 1971, she began a 34-year career in the Illinois legislature, and become one of its most influential members.

Stephanie Sulthin was the first woman elected to a countywide office when she was elected as Lake County Circuit Clerk in 1960. Grace Mary Stern was elected to the Lake County Board in 1967, and as county clerk in 1970. She went on to serve as a state representative and state senator, and ultimately had a 30-year career in politics.

Though it took more than 70 years to pass women's suffrage, getting the right to vote was probably the most significant step in improving the status of women in America.