Ellen A. Martin

Who was Ellen A. Martin?

Ellen Annette Martin was an early and little-known American attorney who achieved an early victory in securing women's suffrage in Illinois. She was the first woman to vote in Illinois.

Ellen Martin graduated the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor law school in 1875 and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1875 or 1876.

On April 6, 1891, in Lombard Illinois, Ellen Martin led a group of 14 prominent women to the voting place at the general store. Although suffrage was restricted to men in Illinois at that time, Lombard was governed by its pre-1870 compact which omitted any mention of gender. Miss Martin therefore demanded that the three male election judges allow the women to vote. Reportedly, the voting judges were flabbergasted by Miss Martin: "Mr. Marquardt was taken with a spasm, Reber leaned stiff against the wall, and Vance fell backward into the flour barrel."

A county judge eventually proclaimed the legitimacy of the women's votes, which became the first women's votes tabulated in Illinois history. Thus, Ellen Martin was the first woman in Illinois to vote.