Photo File: Boyd, Eliza Stewart. American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming

Before Laramie built a courthouse, court met at the the Trabing Brothers store. Here, the first women served on juries. Courtesy Nancy Trabing Mickelson.

First Female Juror

In 1868, Eliza Stewart (September 8, 1833 - March 9, 1912) moved to Laramie, Wyoming, and became the first teacher in Laramie Public Schools. Later, in late March of 1870, she became the first woman juror in the United States.

She sat in a jury made up of nine men and six women. Which included Eliza Stewart, Amelia Hatcher, Mary Jane Mackle, Jane Hilton, and Sarah Pease. Some of the cases they sat in on were murder, horse stealing, and illegal branding. Only a few of them served again in 1871 before it was banned.

The Unsuccessful Experiment

Women jurors were created because some commissioners opposed female suffrage and thought if women were put on a jury, they would do poorly. Another reason is judges were annoyed by the men not paying attention and being unwilling to convict their acquaintances.

One year later it was decided that jury duty did not apply to the Female Suffrage law so it was banned. Although only lasting a short while, they created a frontier in politics, and the program was named the "Unsuccessful Experiment."

The front of the building in which the first Woman's Jury of the world sat in, March 1870. Laramie, Wyo. Picture made Nov. 10, 1919, by Eunice G. Anderson, State Historian, Cheyenne, Wyo.

Signatures of the first women to serve on a jury in Wyoming. Lawyer Stephen Downey preserved the signatures in his autograph book. American Heritage Center.