Bessie S. McColgin
{{short description|American politician}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Bessie McColgin
| birth_name = Amelia Elizabeth Simison
| birth_date = {{birth date|1875|01|07}}
| birth_place = Minneapolis, Kansas, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1972|07|09|1875|01|07}}
| death_place = Sayre, Oklahoma, U.S.
| spouse = Grant McColgin (m. 1895)
| children = 10, including Sterling S. McColgin (son)
| state_house = Oklahoma
| district = Roger Mills County
| term_start = 1920
| term_end = 1923
| predecessor = J. T. Nicholson
| successor = W. A. Adams
| party = Republican
}}
Amelia Elizabeth Simison McColgin (January 7, 1875 – July 9, 1972), known as Bessie McColgin, was an American businesswoman and politician. A native of Kansas, she moved to western Oklahoma Territory in 1901. In 1920, she was the first woman elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
Early life and family
Amelia Elizabeth Simison was born in Minneapolis, Kansas, on January 7, 1875, to Edward Harding Simison and his wife, Jane Eliza Moody. Orphaned when she was three years old, she was raised by relatives in Earlville, Illinois and educated at the Teachers Normal College and Illinois Wesleyan University.{{cite web |last1=Wimmer |first1=Mike |title=Rep. Bessie S. McColgin |url=https://arts.ok.gov/Art_at_the_Capitol/Capitol_Collection.php?c=cac&awid=73 |website=arts.ok.gov |accessdate=December 7, 2019}} She married Grant McColgin (1870-1955) in 1895, and they moved to Oklahoma Territory in 1901.{{cite book |last1=Weatherford |first1=Doris |title=Women in American Politics: History and Milestones |date=January 20, 2012 |publisher=SAGE |isbn=9781608710072 |page=87 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wW5wumFHKSEC&pg=SL11-PA87 |accessdate=December 7, 2019}} The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture states that her husband bought a relinquishment in Roger Mills County, Oklahoma, in 1903.{{efn|Presumably this meant that he acquired land that had been claimed, then abandoned by a previous settler. Roger Mills County, Oklahoma was created from the short-lived Day County, Oklahoma Territory, after Oklahoma became a state in 1907.}} Bessie McColgin became a school teacher and the postmistress of the Ridgeton Post Office.{{cite gnis|1818466|Ridgeton Post Office (historical)}} A few years later, the family moved to Rankin, where she and her husband established the Rankin Telephone Company in their home. She organized a Women's Christian Temperance Union chapter,{{cite news |last1=Defrange |first1=Ann |title=State's first female legislator opened political frontier to others |url=https://oklahoman.com/article/2890351/states-first-female-legislator-opened-political-frontier-to-others |accessdate=December 7, 2019 |publisher=The Oklahoman|date=March 30, 2005}} and was a school teacher in Rankin's first public school. One of her sons, Sterling S. McColgin, also served in the Oklahoma Legislature.[https://oklahoman.com/article/2890351/states-first-female-legislator-opened-political-frontier-to-others State's first female legislator opened door to others], oklahoman.com. Accessed March 14, 2024.
Career
McColgin was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 1920 to represent the Roger Mills County district.{{cite news |last1=Lynn |first1=Linda |title=Before women were allowed to vote, two were the first to be elected to state Legislature |url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/history/2025/01/05/oklahoma-legislature-history-first-women-bessie-mccolgin-lamar-looney/77130329007/ |access-date=January 6, 2025 |work=The Oklahoman |date=January 5, 2025}} While pregnant with her 10th child, she became the first woman elected to the Oklahoma House. She served between 1921 and 1922.{{cite web |title=2005 Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame |url=https://www.ok.gov/ocsw/Events_/WHOF/2005_Inductees/index.html |website=ok.gov |accessdate=December 7, 2019}}{{cite news|title=Many Woman Elected to Political Jobs|date=December 27, 1920|newspaper=Greenville Evening Banner|location=Texas|page=4|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/politics-clipping-dec-27-1920-1461532/}}{{free access}}[https://okhouse.gov/Members/Historic.aspx Oklahoma Legislature-House of Representatives-Historic Members]. Accessed March 14, 2024. According to legend, men in her family entered her name in the election as a Republican without her knowledge. She was seen as a "superior orator."{{cite book |last1=Schrems |first1=Suzzane H. |title=Who's Rocking the Cradle?: Women Pioneers of Oklahoma Politics from Socialism to the KKK, 1900-1930 |date=2004 |publisher=Horse Creek Publications |isbn=9780972221726 |page=55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IxiPmk6scMAC&pg=PA55 |accessdate=December 7, 2019}}
While in office, McColgin was heavily involved in health and safety legislation, and introduced a bill to create a Bureau of Child Hygiene.{{cn|date=March 2024}} She attempted to pass legislation from Senator Lamar Looney, but few bills succeeded. She was also involved in a soldiers' relief program and helped establish a Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Oklahoma.{{cn|date=March 2024}}
Although she was not re-elected for a second term, three new woman members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives were elected in 1923. On the last day of her term, McColgin was presented with a wristwatch from her male colleagues to commemorate her service, which they jokingly stated was because "women legislators need to be watched".{{cite web |title=McCOLGIN, AMELIA ELIZABETH SIMISON (1875–1972). |url=https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=MC013 |website=okhistory.org |accessdate=December 7, 2019}} Nearly 40 years after her term ended, McColgin's son, Sterling, was elected to the same seat she had filled.
Death
McColgin died at the age of 97 in Sayre, Oklahoma, on July 9, 1972. She was posthumously inducted into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame in 2005.
Notes
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References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:McColgin, Bessie}}
Category:Republican Party members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives
Category:Women state legislators in Oklahoma
Category:20th-century American women politicians
Category:Illinois Wesleyan University alumni
Category:People from Earlville, Illinois
Category:People from Minneapolis, Kansas
Category:People from Roger Mills County, Oklahoma
Category:Schoolteachers from Oklahoma
Category:20th-century American women educators
Category:20th-century American educators
Category:20th-century members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives