Cora Diehl Harvey
Register of Deeds for Logan County, Oklahoma Territory
In office
March 1892[lower-alpha 1] – 1893
Preceded byEdward Duvall[lower-alpha 2]
Succeeded byGeorge H. Dobson
Personal details
Born
Cora Victoria Diehl

(1869-01-19)January 19, 1869
Laurelton, Pennsylvania, US
DiedNovember 19, 1961(1961-11-19) (aged 92)
Political partyPeople's Party (after 1891)
Other political
affiliations		Greenback Party (before 1891)

Cora Victoria Diehl (also known as Cora D. Harvey; January 19, 1869 – November 19, 1961) was an American politician who served as the first woman elected to public office in Oklahoma Territory from 1891 to 1893. Her election was upheld by the Oklahoma Territorial Supreme Court in Duvall v. Diehl (1892).

Early life

Cora Victoria Diehl was born in Laurelton, Pennsylvania, on January 19, 1869. Her father was H.C. Diehl. At age 11, the family moved to Great Bend, Kansas. Diehl became active in the Greenback Party. After briefly moving to Montrose, Colorado, she returned to Great Bend and was appointed deputy register for the office of the register of deeds. She served in that position from 1878 to January 1, 1880.[2] Diehl had one sibling, a sister named Hilda.[3]

Election in Oklahoma

In August 1890 the Governor of Oklahoma Territory, George Steele, called for the first territorial elections. Scheduled for February 1891. The appointed-incumbent Republican Party officials campaigned for re-election against a fusion ticket of the People's Party and the Democratic Party, despite the state People's Party being officially anti-fusion tickets.[1]

In 1891, at the age of 21, Diehl campaigned with the fusion ticket slogan of "Equal rights to all, special privileges to none" and won the nomination for the People's Party of Oklahoma for the Logan County register of deeds.[4] She also campaigned with Mary Elizabeth Lease, who was also of the Populist Party.[5] During the campaign the fusion ticket system was heavily criticized by the Republican newspaper the Weekly Oklahoma State Capital. While the Republican paper extensively covered the election, it did not mention Diehl's gender or age and focused on promoting the Republican candidate M.D. Losey.[1]

On February 3, 1891, Diehl won the election with 1,475 votes to Losey's 1,311; the fusion ticket swept the election by winning all 10 county offices. The election win was credited to the People's Party's focus on class conflict winning over traditionally Republican-voting black voters.[1]

Duvall v. Diehl and re-election campaign

Her predecessor, Louis Laws, refused to accept the election results. Laws removed all of the county records and the county seal and locked them in a safe in the National Bank in Guthrie. Judge Edward B. Green issued an order allowing for the safe to be forced open in order to retrieve the stolen property.[1] The newly elected officials used dynamite to open the safe and retrieve the stolen records and seal.[4][6] Afterward violence broke out, causing U.S. Marshall William C. Grimes and Sheriff John W. Hixon to intervene.[1]

After the records were forcibly recovered and the violence had settled, Laws continued his campaign to remain in office. He filed suit in the Logan County District Court arguing that Diehl was ineligible to hold the office as a woman; that the election was illegally held; that the office did not exist separately from the office of county clerk; and that the office was still rightfully held by him.[1]

After Laws filed his lawsuit the newly elected county commissioners (despite being nominated on the same ticket) responded that they agreed Diehl had been illegally elected because she was a woman and appointed Edward Duvall to the office. Additionally, County Clerk Henry H. Bockfinger agreed with Laws that the office was not separate from the county clerk's office and claimed the seat was rightfully his. While two of the three claimants to her office were of her own party, Diehl maintained support of portions of the party, with the Logan County Spring Valley Township Farmer's Alliance writing "we nominated and elected Cora Diehl (not as an ornament to grace the ticket) but a young woman having the necessary qualifications to fill the office by virtue of her ability and experience."[1]

When the suit reached the Supreme Court of Oklahoma Territory as the 1892 case Duvall v. Diehl, all four claimants (Diehl, Laws, Bockfinger, and Duvall) maintained they had the right to hold the office.[1] Justice John C. Clark held that Diehl was "qualified" and "duly elected" in an opinion issued in January 1892.[1][lower-alpha 3]

In March 1892, Diehl finally took office for the final seven months of her term and faced re-election in November later that year. Diehl campaigned for re-election, but lost to George H. Dobson by 141 votes. Historian Megan Benson attributes her loss to elimination of partisan ballots and fusion tickets.[1] After leaving office she was sued by the new Logan County commissioners over a bond she was forced to sign to take office. The dispute would again reach the territorial supreme court with the case Commissioners of Logan County v. Harvey, where Justice Bierer found that the bond was extorted from Diehl and therefore void.[7]

Later advocacy

Diehl married John Nolan Harvey in Kansas City on July 17, 1893. The couple had two children, Helen and Bessie, before divorcing around 1906.[4][3]

After losing her re-election, she campaigned for women's suffrage in Oklahoma. By 1909 she was acting as secretary of the International Brotherhood Welfare Association (IBWA).[8] At the IBWA's 1911 convention, she was again the secretary of the organization.[9][10] She spoke at the national convention in 1911,[9][11] and was elected treasurer in 1912.[12] In reports of the 1912 Cincinnati convention, she was termed the "Queen of the Hoboes".[13][14]

In September 1914, it was reported that the IBWA was presenting a play written by Diehl with the proceeds going towards establishing an employment bureau in Philadelphia. The play was entitled "On the Road" and was intended to highlight the unfairness of vagrancy laws.[15]

By the 1910s her rhetoric took a more socialist and revolutionary turn, putting her at odds with the moderate faction of the organization. She left the IBWA in 1924 after suing James Eads How, the founder of the organization, for breaking a contract to marry her. Their engagement had been announced since 1919,[5] but instead he married his stenographer Ingeborg Sorenson on August 19, 1924.[16][17][5][18] According to How, the couple called off their engagement after they found they were incompatible with one another. He said he felt it would be wrong to be engaged to her and possibly spoil her career. According to How, the IBWA recommended that How pay Diehl a settlement of over $5000, which he obliged. Diehl claimed to have received $2250.[19]

By February 1925, Harvey had returned to Hinton, Oklahoma, where she purchased considerable property.[20] By April 1926 she had also bought a holiday cottage in Bella Vista, Arkansas.[21]

Cora Diehl Harvey died on November 19, 1961.[3]

Electoral history

February 1891 Logan County, Oklahoma Territory Register of Deeds election[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Cora Victoria Diehl N/A N/A
Populist Cora Victoria Diehl N/A N/A
Total Cora Victoria Diehl 1,475 52.9%
Republican M.D. Losey 1,311 47.1%
Total votes 2,786 100
Populist gain from Republican
November 1892 Logan County, Oklahoma Territory Register of Deeds election[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican George H. Dobson 2,173 51.6%
Democratic Cora Victoria Diehl N/A N/A
Populist Cora Victoria Diehl N/A N/A
Total Cora Victoria Diehl (incumbent) 2,042 48.4%
Total votes 4,215 100
Republican gain from Populist

Notes

  1. ↑ While elected in February 1891, Diehl did not take office until March 1892 after the Duvall v. Diehl decision found she was the rightful holder of the office.[1]
  2. ↑ Diehl was elected to succeed Louis Laws, but the Logan County Commission initially refused to recognize her election and appointed Edward Duvall to the office.[1]
  3. ↑ Of the other claimants the Court found:"the right of Louis H. Laws to exercise the duties of the office... expired when Cora V. Diehl was elected"; "Bockfinger cannot legally exercise the duties of Register of Deeds"; and Duvall's claim was dismissed with "costs of this proceeding taxed against him."[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Benson, Megan (October 1995). "Reform and Retaliation:Cora Diehl and the Logan County Election of 1891". Oklahoma Politics: 25–41. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  2. ↑ Willard, Frances E.; Livermore, Mary A. (1893). "Cora Victoria Diehl". Woman of the Century. Buffalo, Chicago, New York: Charles Wells Moulton. p. 248. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 "Funeral Services Held Tuesday For Mrs. Cora Harvey". The Hinton Record. November 23, 1961. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 Benson, Megan. "Diehl, Cora Victoria". okhistory.org. Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 "$100,000 for heart balm asken by Guthrie girl from hobo millionaire". Oklahoma State Register. 2 Oct 1924. p. 1.
  6. ↑ Synar, Edwyna (17 July 2020). "Remember the Ladies: Cora Victoria Diehl". Muskogee Phoenix. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  7. ↑ "COMMISSIONERS OF LOGAN CO., v. HARVEY, ET AL, 6 Okla. 629 | Casetext Search + Citator". casetext.com. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
  8. ↑ "Will tell of unemployed". The Washington Post. 24 Apr 1909. p. 3. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  9. 1 2 "She aids the hoboes: Miss Cora D. Harvey, Artist and astute politician". The Washington Post. September 3, 1911. p. 9. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  10. ↑ "Millionaire Hobo 5". Evening Star. 1 September 1911. p. 1. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  11. ↑ "Hoboes take hall". The Washington Post. No. 12872. September 6, 1911. p. 1.
  12. ↑ "Hoboes elect St. Louisans". St. Louis Globe-Democrat. 4 Feb 1912. p. 14.
  13. ↑ ""Queen of Hoboes" talks". Stevens Point Journal. 2 Feb 1912. p. 2.
  14. ↑ "Tramps will invade city hall". The Cincinnati Enquirer Cincinnati, Ohio. February 3, 1912. p. 18.
  15. ↑ "Hoboes will portray grievance in a play". Philadelphia. Evening Public Ledger. 29 September 1914. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  16. ↑ "How marries female Sorenson". The Anniston Star. 20 August 1924. p. 1.
  17. ↑ "Mrs. Cora Harvey says James Eads Howe promised to marry her, brings suit". The Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune. 27 Sep 1924. p. 3.
  18. ↑ Calson, Christine (May 2023). "Silk, Supplies and Socialism: How Women Exercised Public Power in the American West, 1890-1920" (Master's Thesis). University of Central Oklahoma Department of History.
  19. ↑ "James Eads How Says Mrs. Harvey Received $5,000". The St. Louis Star and Times. 13 October 1924. p. 3. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  20. ↑ "Mrs. Cora Harvey buys Hinton Realty". Caddo County Tribune. 12 Feb 1925. p. 4.
  21. ↑ "Mrs. Harvey in Ozarks". The Hinton Record. 15 Apr 1926. p. 7.
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