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Esther Hobart Morris (August 8, 1814 – April 3, 1902), was the first woman Justice of the Peace in the United States. A mother of three boys, she began her tenure as justice in South Pass City, Wyoming, on February 14, 1870, serving a term of less than nine months.〔 This educational website contains a variety of profiles of notable Wyoming residents.〕 The Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners appointed Morris as justice of the peace after the previous justice, R. S. Barr, resigned in protest of Wyoming Territory's passage of the women's suffrage amendment in December 1869.〔 Popular stories and historical accounts, buttressed by state and federal public monuments, point to Morris as a leader in the passage of Wyoming's suffrage amendment. However, Morris' leadership role in the legislation is disputed.〔 by James W. Loewen. Simon and Schuster. 2007; ISBN 0-7432-9629-X.〕〔Grace Raymond Hebard: The Independent and Feminine Life; 1861–1936 by Virginia Scharff. From ''Lone Voyagers: Academic Women in Coeducational Universities. 1870–1937''. Edited by Geraldine Joncich Clifford. The Feminist Press at the City University of New York (1989).〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=More Than She Deserves: Woman Suffrage Memorials in the Equality State )〕 It is clear, however, that she had strongly encouraged and influenced South Pass City saloon owner, William H. Bright, then a representative to the Wyoming Territorial Constitutional Convention, to introduce in 1869 a women's suffrage clause into the territorial constitution. When the constitution was approved by Territorial Governor John A. Campbell in December 1869, Wyoming became the first jurisdiction in the United States to grant women the right to vote, a right which was not granted women nationally until 1920.〔〔Weis, Norman D. - ''Ghost Towns of the Northwest'', The Caxton Printers Ltd., Caldwell, Idaho, 1971. ISBN 0-87004-201-7.〕 ==Early life== Esther Hobart was born in Tioga County, New York on August 6, 1814. Orphaned at an early age, she apprenticed to a seamstress and ran a successful millinery business out of her grandparents' home, "making hats, and buying and selling goods for women."〔 Moreover, Hobart agitated as a young woman against slavery, reportedly during one incident countering efforts of slavery advocates who threatened to destroy a church that supported abolition.〔 Eight years into her millinery business, Hobart married Artemus Slack in 1841. Three years later, just short of her 30th birthday, her husband died. Morris subsequently moved to Illinois, where her late husband, a civil engineer, had acquired property. She encountered legal roadblocks, however, in settling her husband's affairs because women were not allowed to own or inherit property.〔 Thereafter she moved to Peru, Illinois, where in 1842 she married a local merchant, John Morris. In the spring of 1868 her husband, along with Esther's son from her previous marriage, Edward Archibald "Archy" Slack, moved to a gold rush community at South Pass City, Wyoming Territory to open a saloon.〔 In 1869, Morris and her two eighteen-year-old twin sons, Robert and Edward, ventured west to rejoin the rest of their family. They first traveled by train to a waystation on the newly completed transcontinental railroad at Point of Rocks, 25 miles east of present-day Rock Springs, Wyoming. From there, Morris and her boys continued north by stagecoach. They crossed the Sand Dunes before ascending a gradual mountain pass to Mining District. The dry, rocky landscape that confronted fifty-five-year-old Morris as she stepped off the stage at South Pass City appeared startlingly different from the fertile landscape she had known in Illinois and New York. Instead, her new home at in elevation meant scratching out a living in a barren gulch at the mouth of canyon near the Continental Divide. The Morrises settled into a 24 foot by 26 foot (7 × 9 m) log cabin with a sod roof that Esther's oldest son had purchased.〔 Winters were brutal. South Pass area residents, whose population swelled to as many as 4,000 residents, according to one estimate,〔''Wyoming, a Guide to Its History, Highways, and People''. By Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Wyoming, T.A. Larson, Federal Writers' Project. Compiled by Federal Writers' Project Contributor T.A. Larson. Published by U of Nebraska Press, 1981; ISBN 0-8032-6854-8. This estimate appears high compared to other references which cite area the population in the 1,500 to 3,000 range.〕 either left the camp for the winter or faced extreme isolation during the long winters. Those who stayed on the mountain passed the battled sub-zero temperatures, high winds, and deep snow which might not retreat until June. Both John Morris and Archy purchased interest in mining properties soon after their arrival, including the Mountain Jack, Grand Turk, Golden State, and Nellie Morgan lodes, according to historian Michael A. Massie.〔 Initially prospects looked good in the midst of the gold rush, where the mines and adjoining businesses of South Pass City spurred employment for 2,000 workers during 1868 and 1869, according to a Stanford University study. But then came the bust. By 1870 most miners had left, leaving as few as 460 residents. By 1875 less than 100 remained.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Esther Hobart Morris」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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