Martha Jane Whitman
Information is condensed from an article by Valerie Hayes-Ross published in the News-Examiner, 26 Oct 2020
Martha Jane Whitman, described as one of the "stalwarts" of the
Idaho suffrage movement, was one of the main women involved in Idaho becoming
the fourth state to grant women unrestricted voting rights.
Martha Jane Jamison was born 12 Feb 1863 in Oquawka Illinois, to William Beatty Jamison and Elizabeth Edmonds. It's not clear when she arrived in Idaho but she worked as a court stenographer in the late 1880s and then as a deputy clerk for the circuit court in southeastern Idaho. She married Frederick Whiteman, a mining operator in Paris on 10 Jan 1891. They made their home in Montpelier and had three children.
Martha's involvement began when the Idaho Equal Suffrage Association held in organizational meeting in Boise on Nov 20, 1895. Eight Idaho counties were represented and Bear Lake was one of them. Martha Jane was chose to serve on an advisory planning board to work with the elected officers. At the next convention in May 1896, Martha was appointed to oversee organization of suffrage clubs in southeastern Idaho. She was also elected as president and returned home to organize her own Bear Lake County. On Aug 8, she spoke to the Republican delegates to their Convention. On Aug 15 she spoke to the Democratic delegates to their Convention. Both groups approved the suffrage resolution. The Democrats were the only county delegation to pledge so.
On Nov 3, 1896, voters approved the suffrage amendment and on Dec 11, 1896, the justices ruled in favor of the amendment. Martha Jane became the first woman to register to vote in Montpelier, voting in the municipal elections in 1897, becoming the first woman in Idaho to vote. On March 8, 1897, Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg nominated her as the University of Idaho's first women regent.
Martha passed away 2 Mar 1939 in Gardena, Los Angeles County, California and was buried in the Fairview Cemetery in Soda Spring Idaho.
