received an email addressed to me as chair of the Dickens County Historical Commission.
A student assistant with the Center for Women in Government atTexas Woman’s University, working on a research project, is seeking to identify the first woman elected to public office in each of Texas’s 254 counties.
“ The goal of this project is to compile a comprehensive, statewide dataset that will be featured on the 2021 TAMMIES award-winning Interactive Texas Map, housed in the Sue S. Bancroft Women’s Leadership Hall,” she wrote.
“At this time, I have not been able to locate any records for Dickens County, and I’m reaching out in hopes that you might be able to help. If you’re aware of who the first woman elected to office in your county may have been—or if you know of someone who might have that information—I would be incredibly grateful for your guidance.”
I turned, of course, to our county judge and our county attorney, two courthouse professionals who might’ve had some information.
“It would take a while manually going back through the election records in the vault in the old Clerk’s Office to make a definitive call,” responded County Attorney Aaron Clements. “I can say that there has not been a female sheriff or county attorney, but I don’t know about JP, Clerk, TAC, and Treasurer.”
Clements, who has combed related records in the past, noted that Helen (Hotchco) Arrington was clerk back in the 1980s and ’90’s; her husband’s uncle Fred Arrington was clerk from 1942 to 1970.
The records in question aren’t available in digital form at present. So, until time permits an in-person search, might any of you Spur Exes happen to recall any additional leads?
We’ll keep you posted here when, in due time, we turn up an answer.
