Rachel Emma Berry (née Allen) (March 11, 1859 – November 25, 1948) was an American suffragist and politician who in 1914 was elected to a seat in the

Arizona House of Representatives The Arizona State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. The upper house is the Senate. The House convenes in the legislative chambers at the Arizona State C ...

to represent

Apache County, Arizona Apache County is in the northeast corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. Shaped in a long rectangle running north to south, as of the 2020 census, its population was 66,021. The county seat is St. Johns. Most of the county is occupied by part ...

Family and early life

Rachel Allen was born in

Ogden, Utah Ogden is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the US Census Bureau, making it Utah's eighth ...

on March 11, 1859. She grew up in

Kanarraville, Utah Kanarraville ( ) is a town in Iron County, Utah, United States. The population was 355 at the 2010 census. Demographics As of the census of 2000, there were 311 people, 125 households, and 96 families residing in the town. The population den ...

and taught school there. Rachel married William Berry in 1879. In the fall of 1881, Rachel and William left for Arizona with a group of 18 other members of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

by covered wagons. They arrived in

St. Johns, Arizona Saint Johns ( nv, , )Wilson, A. ''Navajo Place Names'' Audio Forum 1995 is the county seat of Apache County, Arizona, United States. It is located along U.S. Route 180, mostly west of where that highway intersects with U.S. Route 191. As of t ...

on January 27, 1882. William Berry became a leading rancher and cattleman with the horses and herd of cattle he had brought from Utah. The Berrys had seven children, four daughters and three sons.

Arizona legislator

In 1912, shortly after it became a state, Arizona gave women suffrage, so Arizona's women gained the right to vote eight years before universal suffrage occurred in the United States. Women in Arizona soon after ran for elected office. In 1914 Rachel Berry became one of the first women to win a seat in a State Legislature in the United States.''Note'': the first women to serve in a state legislature were elected in Utah in 1894 Her term representing Apache County began on January 11, 1915. During her one term in office, Berry focused on bills that were concerned with education and child welfare, and served as Chairwoman of the Good Roads Committee. She worked to adopt a bill for Arizona's current state flag.

Public service

After she completed her term in the House of Representatives, Berry was appointed the chairman of the Apache County Child Welfare Board. She was president of the local Relief Society and the Mutual Improvement Association of her church. She was the trustee of the school in St. Johns.

Death and legacy

Berry died at her home, in Phoenix, on Thanksgiving Day, 1948. She was inducted into the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame in 1984.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, Rachel Women state legislators in Arizona Politicians from Ogden, Utah People from Iron County, Utah People from St. Johns, Arizona Members of the Arizona House of Representatives 1859 births 1948 deaths Latter Day Saints from Utah 20th-century American women politicians Latter Day Saints from Arizona 20th-century American politicians 19th-century American educators Educators from Utah 19th-century American women educators