In Covington, three women were placed on the Republican ticket, but were defeated. About 5,000 women voted. In Newport two women were placed on the Democratic ticket, but it was defeated. About 2,800 women registered.
The Prohibitionists nominated Mrs. Josephine K. Henry for clerk of the Court of Appeals in 1890. Though in many places the election clerks refused to enter her name on the polling-books, doubting the eligibility of a woman, she received 4,460 votes. This case is worthy of note because it was the first in Kentucky where a woman was a candidate for election to a State office; and because, as she ran on a platform containing a suffrage plank, practically all the votes for her were cast for woman suffrage.
Women have been State librarians continuously since January, 1876, when the first one was elected.
In 1894 the Senate for the first time elected a woman as enrolling clerk, and women have held this office ever since.
During the session of 1900, stormy as it was, the House for the first time elected a woman as enrolling clerk.
Women serve as notaries public. (For other offices see Legislative Action.)
Occupations: Women are engaged in all the professions and no occupation is forbidden to them by law. On Dec. 15, 1886, the Court of Appeals affirmed the right of women to dispense medicines. The case was that of Bessie W. White (Hager), a graduate of the School of Pharmacy of Michigan University. She applied to the State Board of Pharmacy for registration in 1883, complying with all the requirements. They rejected her application, whereupon she applied for a mandamus. The writ was granted but an appeal was taken. Judge William H. Holt delivered the opinion of the Appellate Court, saying in his decision: "It is gratifying to see American women coming to the front in these honorable pursuits. The history of civilization in every country shows that it has merely kept pace with the advancement of its women."
Education: On April 27, 1889, at a called meeting of the Board of Curators of Kentucky University (Disciples of Christ) in Lexington, it was decided to admit women students. This was the result of a petition the preceding June by the Fayette County E. R. A. In response a committee had been appointed, President Charles Louis Loos, chairman, and, upon its favorable report, the resolution was carried by unanimous vote. An immediate appropriation was made for improvements to the college buildings to accommodate the new students, the opening was announced in the annual calendar and women invited to avail themselves of its advantages. This was the second institution of higher education opened to women, the State Agricultural and Mechanical College and Normal School, also in Lexington, having admitted them in 1880.
In 1892 the work done by Mrs. Sarah Hardin Sawyer resulted in the admission of women to Wesleyan College in Winchester. The Baptist College at Georgetown became co-educational through the influence of Prof. James Jefferson Rucker. The Homeopathic Medical College, opened in Louisville the same year, admitted women from the first and placed a woman upon the faculty. In 1893 the Madison County E. R. A. secured the admission of girls to Central University at Richmond.
Co-education now prevails in all the normal and business schools, and in the majority of the institutions of higher learning; the only notable exceptions being Centre University, Danville; Baptist College, Russellville; Baptist Theological College[289] and Allopathic Medical College, Louisville.