Dora Pinkham (September 27, 1891 — November 19, 1941) was a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

politician and the first woman elected to the

Maine Legislature The Maine Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maine. It is a bicameral body composed of the lower house Maine House of Representatives and the upper house Maine Senate. The Legislature convenes at the State House in Aug ...

. She served in both the

Maine House of Representatives The Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 voting members and three nonvoting members. The voting members represent an equal number of districts across the state and are elected via p ...

and

Maine Senate The Maine Senate is the upper house of the Maine Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maine. The Senate currently consists of 35 members representing an equal number of districts across the state, though the Maine Constitution ...

Early life

Dora Bradbury was born September 27, 1891, in

New Limerick, Maine New Limerick is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 574 at the 2020 census. The town was settled in 1775 and incorporated on March 18, 1837 from New Limerick Plantation. It received its name from the fact that man ...

. Her parents were Lester and Dora (Small) Bradbury. The family moved to Fort Kent in 1892. Bradbury attended grade school in Fort Kent, and then Houlton High School in Houlton. Bradbury graduated from

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

in 1913, and earned a master's degree from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1914. She then worked as a teacher, civil servant, and bookkeeper. In 1917, Bradbury married Fort Kent businessman Niles Pinkham.

Political career

Pinkham ran in the 1922 election, and defeated two-term Democrat William J. Audiber. Pinkham was the only one elected of nine women who ran for the legislature that year. She began serving in the

on January 3, 1923. Pinkham, a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

, represented an overwhelmingly

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

region of Maine that bordered on the Canadian province of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. In the legislature, Pinkham served on the Joint Committee for Public Health, the Maine Publicity Committee, the Joint Committee for Education, and on several ad hoc committees. Of the six bills she sponsored in the Maine House of Representatives, five were passed. Pinkham ran for re-election in 1924 and lost to the previous incumbent William J. Audibert. In 1926, Pinkham was elected to the

. That year, both Pinkham and Katherine C. Allen became the first women to serve in the Maine Senate. Pinkham was re-elected to the Senate in 1928. As a senator, Pinkham held a chair on the Joint Standing Committees on Education and Public Health, and served on the Joint Standing Committees on State Prisons and Interior Waters, the Senate Committee on Bills in Second Reading, and on numerous special and ad hoc committees.

Later life

After leaving the Senate, Pinkham served as special secretary to Maine Governor

William Tudor Gardiner William Tudor Gardiner (June 12, 1892 – August 3, 1953) was an American politician and the 55th Governor of Maine. Early life Gardiner was born in Newton, Massachusetts on June 12, 1892, the youngest of five children born to Robert Hallowel ...

. From 1932 to 1935, she was a member of a state advisory council on health and welfare. Pinkham remained active in Republican politics in Maine. Pinkham died on November 19, 1941.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pinkham, Dora Republican Party members of the Maine House of Representatives Republican Party Maine state senators Women state legislators in Maine 1891 births 1941 deaths Mount Holyoke College alumni Columbia University alumni People from Aroostook County, Maine 20th-century American women politicians 20th-century American politicians