Mary F. Barry

{{Short description|American physician and politician (1859–1919)}}

{{For|the Canadian singer and songwriter|Mary Barry (disambiguation){{!}}Mary Barry}}

Dr. Mary F. Barry (1859 – December 1919) was a physician and state legislator in Colorado. She represented Pueblo County, Colorado in the Colorado House of Representatives for one term from 1899 to 1900 and was one of the first woman lawmakers in the country. She was a "Teller Silver Republican". She was one of several women elected in Colorado on a fusion ticket.{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ekTAAAAIAAJ&dq=mary.f.+berry.+pueblo+colorado&pg=PA51 | title=The History of Equal Suffrage in Colorado, 1868–1898 | last1=Brown | first1=Joseph G. | year=1898 }}

Barry was born in Millburn, Illinois in 1859, one of eight children. Her parents were from Northeastern United States. She attended Oskosh Normal School in Wisconsin. In 1887 she received her medical degree from Northwestern University in Chicago.{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/970143|title=The 'Open Way of Opportunity': Colorado Women Physicians and World War I|author=Jensen, Kimberly|year=1996|journal=The Western Historical Quarterly|volume=27|issue=3|pages=327–348|jstor=970143|doi=10.2307/970143}} After medical school, she moved to Pueblo, Colorado where she practiced and served as secretary of the Pueblo County Medical Society.{{Cite news |date=1900-01-12 |title=Woman In Politics |pages=6 |work=The Mining Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-mining-times-woman-in-politics/129826652/ |access-date=2023-08-11}} Running on the Teller Silver Republican ticket, she was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives becoming one the first woman lawmakers in the country.{{Cite news |date=1919-12-28 |title=Dr. Mary F. Barry Dies At Colorado Springs |pages=5 |work=The Washington Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-washington-times-dr-mary-f-barry-d/129826800/ |access-date=2023-08-11}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.strongsisters.org/women-who-served-in-the-colorado-house-of-representatives/|title=Women who served in the Colorado House of Representatives |}} She was also a supporter of women's suffrage.{{Cite news |date=1898-11-19 |title=A Woman Legislator |pages=3 |work=The Jersey City News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-jersey-city-news-a-woman-legislator/129829979/ |access-date=2023-08-11}} She served one term from 1899 to 1900.{{Cite web|url=https://www.colorado.edu/today/1999/12/14/fact-sheet-cu-boulder-colorado-usa-1899-1999|title=Fact Sheet CU-Boulder, Colorado, the U.S.A. 1899–1999|date=December 14, 1999|website=CU Boulder Today}} In 1901 she moved to Honolulu, Hawaii{{Cite news |date=1901-01-04 |title=The Woman in Politics |pages=5 |work=The Honolulu Advertiser |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-honolulu-advertiser-the-woman-in-pol/129832812/ |access-date=2023-08-11}} and was appointed health examiner for schools in 1902.{{Cite news |date=1902-09-04 |title=Dr. Barry Appointed |pages=8 |work=The Honolulu Advertiser |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-honolulu-advertiser-dr-barry-appoin/129827190/ |access-date=2023-08-11}}{{Cite news |date=1904-06-30 |title=School Girls Inspected |pages=5 |work=The Honolulu Advertiser |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-honolulu-advertiser-school-girls-ins/129827532/ |access-date=2023-08-11}} She later moved to Washington, D.C. where she resided for ten years. She died in Colorado Springs in December 1919.