Women | Page 18 | MNopedia

Paige, Mabeth Hurd (1870–1961)

In 1922, Mabeth Hurd Paige became one of the first four women to be elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives. Before the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, she was a public speaker and an advocate for women’s suffrage and helped found the Minnesota branch of the League of Women Voters. Paige also studied both art and law, and was admitted to the bar. She was involved in charity and volunteer work that she continued until her death in 1961.

Hannah Kempfer with Mabeth Hurd Paige

Minnesota Representative Hannah Kempfer (left) confers with Representative Mabeth Hurd Paige, 1941. Photo by the St. Paul Dispatch-Pioneer Press.

Legislative stationery and campaign cards of Hannah Kempfer

Legislative stationery and campaign cards of Hannah Kempfer, undated. Otter Tail County Historical Society, Fergus Falls.

Hannah Kempfer at the Minnesota Legislature

Hannah Kempfer at the Minnesota Legislature, ca. 1920s. Otter Tail County Historical Society, Fergus Falls.

Hannah Jensen

Hannah Jensen in a shirtwaist she made for the first day of teaching school in 1897. From the Kempfer Collection, Otter Tail County Historical Society Archives, Fergus Falls.

Hannah Kempfer

Hannah Kempfer at work in the Minnesota Legislature, ca. 1930. From the Kempfer Collection, Otter Tail County Historical Society Archives, Fergus Falls.

Kempfer, Hannah Jensen (1880–1943)

Hannah Jensen Kempfer was the first woman from rural Minnesota elected to the state legislature. She brought her personal knowledge of farming, education, child welfare, business, and natural resources to the House, serving nine terms in the Minnesota legislature between 1922 and 1942.