Jackson County IA Archives Biographies.....Pendray, Carolyn 1881 - 1958
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ken Wright wright@prestontel.com February 12, 2010, 10:17 pm

Source: Iowa Women's Hall of Fame
Author: Iowa Commission on the Staus of Women

Carolyn Pendray

Carolyn Pendray of Maquoketa, was the first female to serve in the Iowa 
Legislature. Born in Mt. Pleasant in 1881, she was elected from Jackson County 
to the House of Representative in 1928, two years after women were first 
allowed to serve in the Iowa Legislature. She was re-elected in 1930. In 1932 
she won a State Senate seat, unseating an incumbent to become the first woman 
to serve in that body. She was the only woman to serve in both chambers at the 
time of her death in 1958 at age 76. As a legislator, Pendray co-sponsored a 
bill permitting a wife to hold certain property of her own, exempt from seizure 
for debt. Prior to this law, only the husband was recognized as head of a 
household, and only he could claim property exempt from seizure for debt.

Iowa Commission on the Staus of Women.
Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame.


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