Mayme Schweble

{{Short description|American prospector and politician (1974–1943)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| office = Member of the Nevada Assembly
for Nye County

| termstart = November 1924

| termend = November 1926

| party = Republican

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1874|8|5}}

| birth_place = Weston, Missouri, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1943|1|25|1874|8|5}}

| death_place = San Francisco, California, U.S.

| resting_place = Churchill County Cemetery, Fallon, Nevada

| spouse = A previous husband{{efn|Bennett states that she was twice-married, but does not indicate when her first marriage was, how it ended, or what her first husband's name was.{{sfn|Bennett|2010|p=97}}|group=note}}
{{Marriage|John Hunter Schweble|1908|1930|end=d.}}

| children = 2

}}

Mayme O'Connor Schweble{{efn|Some sources spell her first name as Maym.{{sfn|Van Geel|2003|p=25}}|group=note}} (August 5, 1874 – January 25, 1943) was an American prospector and politician who served in the Nevada Assembly from 1924 until 1926. A member of the Republican Party, she represented Nye County in the legislature. Schweble was a well-respected gold miner in Nevada, and operated a large mining property together with her husband and sons. She was also a prominent politician, quickly rising to become a leader in local Republican organizations, particularly in women's groups.

Biography

=Early life=

Mayme Schweble was born on August 5, 1874, in Weston, Missouri.{{Cite web |last=Tripp |first=Vicky |date=September 7, 2009 |title=Churchill County Cemetery |url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/nv/churchill/cemeteries/mason.txt |access-date=April 12, 2023 |website=USGenWeb Archives}} She moved to the mining town of Tonopah, Nevada, prior to 1910, becoming one of the town's first female settlers.{{sfn|Bennett|2010|p=97}} On September 10, 1908, she married gold miner John Henry Schweble.{{efn|She had been previously married, though sources do not state when, how that marriage ended, or what her first husband's name was.{{sfn|Bennett|2010|p=97}} Prior to her marriage to John Schweble, she used the surname Sullivan, though it is unclear if this was her maiden name or her first husband's surname.|group=note}} Her husband was a native of Houghton, Michigan, moving to Nevada in 1902 to work in the mines; at the time of their marriage he was a mining superintendent of the Rawhide Daisy mine and made a fortune trawling in the town of Goldfield, becoming one of Nevada's most prominent miners. The couple were married in a small ceremony at the Congregational church in Reno, and settled in the town of Rawhide, though at some point they moved back to Tonopah.{{Cite news |date=September 11, 1908 |title=Will Make Their Home at Rawhide |pages=5 |work=Reno Gazette-Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/122720871/will-make-their-home-at-rawhide/ |access-date=April 13, 2023}}{{Cite news |date=April 30, 1930 |title=J. H. Schweble Funeral Held |pages=2 |work=Reno Gazette-Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/122720851/j-h-schweble-funeral-held/ |access-date=April 13, 2023}}{{Cite news |date=December 18, 1907 |title=Big Dykes |pages=7 |work=Nevada State Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/122731131/big-dykes/ |access-date=April 14, 2023}}

=Career=

Since first arriving in Nevada, Schweble had been active in local Republican Party politics, despite the fact that women could not vote in the state until 1914.{{sfn|Bennett|2010|p=94, 104}} In 1916, women were allowed to attend and participate in the state party conventions.{{Cite news |date=September 6, 1916 |title=Women Participate State Conventions for the First Time |pages=1 |work=Nevada State Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/122311334/women-participate-state-conventions-for/ |access-date=April 13, 2023}} Schweble, who was a founding member of the executive committee of the Nye County Republican Women's Committee and chairwoman of the Tonopah Republican Women's Club,{{Cite news |date=October 24, 1916 |title=Women's Republican Club Organized |pages=3 |work=Tonopah Daily Bonanza |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/122311085/womens-republican-club-organized/ |access-date=April 13, 2023}} was elected as one of Nye County's delegates to the 1916 Republican state convention. Schweble played a significant role at the convention,{{sfn|Bennett|2010|p=104}} serving as one of the key supporters for Republican candidate Samuel Platt, the former speaker of the Nevada Assembly, who was running against incumbent Democratic senator Key Pittman in the 1916 United States Senate election.{{Cite news |date=October 5, 1916 |title=Platt Captures Pittmans Own City |pages=1 |work=The Silver State |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/122311191/platt-captures-pittmans-own-city/ |access-date=April 13, 2023}}{{Cite web |title=Samuel Platt |url=https://www.onlinenevada.org/articles/samuel-platt |access-date=April 14, 2023 |website=Online Nevada Encyclopedia}} She also gave the nominating speech for the re-election bid of U.S. representative Edwin E. Roberts.{{Cite news |date=September 9, 1916 |title=Ed Roberts is Nominated |pages=1 |work=Yerington Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/122311243/ed-roberts-is-nominated/ |access-date=April 13, 2023}}

Following the American entry into World War I, the couple briefly left Nevada, moving to Wharton, New Jersey, where her husband became employed with the Wharton Steel Company. They returned to Nevada in 1919. In 1923, they moved to the town of Ione, where her husband became the superintendent of the Shamrock Mining Company.{{Cite news |date=January 30, 1943 |title=O.E.S. Chapter Holds Service |pages=5 |work=Nevada State Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/122311134/oes-chapter-holds-service/ |access-date=April 13, 2023}} The couple also operated an extensive mining property spanning the towns of Ione and Berlin.{{Cite news |date=January 27, 1943 |title=Schweble Rites Held at Fallon |pages=5 |work=Reno Gazette-Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/122310994/schweble-rites-held-at-fallon/ |access-date=April 13, 2023}} Due to "lingering illness[es]" developed by her husband during this period, Schweble largely ran the property herself.{{sfn|Bennett|2010|p=99}} The property became quite successful, making her a "highly respected prospector", popular among even the "old time mining men". The local newspaper in Yerington described her as the most "outstanding woman prospector in Nevada".{{sfn|Bennett|2019|p=81}}{{Cite web |last=Bennett |first=Dana R. |date=June 8, 2022 |title=Prospecting women |url=https://elkodaily.com/mining/prospecting-women/article_31207af6-d1b9-11ec-b633-1f3e160d2b66.html |access-date=April 13, 2023 |website=Elko Daily Free Press |language=en}} During interviews, Schweble highlighted her independence and skill, stating: "I can still handle a muck stick with the best of them. I've prospected all over Nevada, kicked all the rocks out of most of the old trails for the past 35 years". She also once stated that "the world needs gold and we have to live, so we are helping the men folks dig it".{{Cite news |date=October 5, 1933 |title=Nevada Women Dig for Gold |pages=5 |work=The Post-Register |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/122731177/nevada-women-dig-for-gold/ |access-date=April 14, 2023}}

Schweble was one of eight women who ran for the Nevada Assembly in the 1924 election, and one of four who were elected; with the election of Schweble and Florence B. Swasey, half of Nye County's four representatives in the assembly were women.{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Harry H. |date=November 15, 1924 |title=Nevada Democrats Await Reorganization Program |pages=6 |work=Reno Gazette-Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/122311162/nevada-democrats-await-reorganization/ |access-date=April 13, 2023}} Her campaign was aided by local schoolchildren, who assisted in distributing her campaign literature.{{sfn|Bennett|2010|p=97}} Schweble became the first female prospector elected to the legislature. Serving in the 1925 regular session, she was a member of four legislative committees: Mines and Mining; Corporations and Railroads; State Institutions; and Claims, serving as chairman of the latter.{{sfn|Brown|2017|p=22}}{{sfn|Van Geel|2003|p=32}} Schweble was "a good friend" of prominent Nevada financier George Wingfield, and was seen as an ally of his in the assembly.{{efn|Ironically, Wingfield was strongly anti-suffrage in the 1910s, once stating that he would leave Nevada if women were granted the right to vote.{{Cite web |last=Marcus |first=Emerson |date=October 29, 2014 |title='Epic in politics': Nevada women got vote a century ago |url=https://www.rgj.com/story/news/2014/10/29/epic-politics-nevada-women-got-vote-century-ago/18146467/ |access-date=April 14, 2023 |website=Reno Gazette-Journal |language=en-US}}|group=note}} As a result, she was considered a potential surrogate for Wingfield, able to propose his preferred legislation.{{sfn|Bennett|2009|p=182}} In 1925, she voted against a bill which would have legalized all gambling in Nevada.{{sfn|Bennett|2009|p=182}}{{sfn|Bennett|2010|p=110}} Schweble left office at the end of her term in November 1926.{{sfn|Bennett|2010|p=104}}{{sfn|NSLAPR|2009|p=62}}

=Later life and death=

In April 1930, John Schweble fell severely ill; he was taken to the hospital in Fallon, where he died a week later. Despite her husband's death, Schweble continued to run the mining property with her two sons. She also remained politically active, serving as one of Nye County's delegates to the 1940 Republican state convention.{{Cite news |date=May 8, 1940 |title=Delegates Named in Various Counties |pages=2 |work=Reno Gazette-Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/122311478/delegates-named-in-various-counties/ |access-date=April 13, 2023}} At some point around this period, she moved to the town of Austin. Schweble died on January 25, 1943, while visiting her sister in San Francisco, California, aged 68. She was buried in the Churchill County Cemetery in Fallon. Schweble was a member of the local branches of the Order of the Eastern Star and the Odd Fellows.{{Cite news |date=May 26, 1916 |title=Odd Fellows Bury W. M. Trabert at Tonopah |pages=5 |work=Reno Gazette-Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/122311310/odd-fellows-bury-w-m-trabert-at/ |access-date=April 13, 2023}}

References

= Notes =

= Citations =

= Works cited =

{{cite journal |last1=Bennett |first1=Dana R. |title=The Up-Growth of New Industries: Transformation of Nevada's Economy, 1918-1929 |journal=Nevada Historical Society Quarterly |date=2009 |volume=52 |issue=3 |url=http://epubs.nsla.nv.gov/statepubs/epubs/210777-2009-3Fall.pdf |access-date=April 13, 2023}}
{{cite journal |last1=Bennett |first1=Dana R. |title=Smokin' in the Boys' Room: A Case Study of Women State Legislators in Nevada, 1919-1931 |journal=Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies |date=2010 |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=89–122 |doi=10.5250/fronjwomestud.31.1.89 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5250/fronjwomestud.31.1.89 |access-date=April 13, 2023 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |jstor=10.5250/fronjwomestud.31.1.89 |issn=0160-9009}}
{{cite journal |last1=Bennett |first1=Dana R. |title=Nevada Mining and Women's History |journal=Mining Quarterly |date=2019 |url=https://issuu.com/magicvalleytn/docs/mq_winter_2019_small |access-date=April 13, 2023 |language=en |via=Issuu}}
{{cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Michael J. |title=Women Helped Blaze the Nevada Mining Trail |journal=Mining Quarterly |date=2017 |url=https://issuu.com/magicvalleytn/docs/web_2017_mq_summer |access-date=April 13, 2023 |language=en |via=Issuu}}
{{cite book |title=Nevada Legislators, 1861-2009 |date=2009 |publisher=Nevada State Library Archives and Public Records |url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/19100524/nevada-legislators-1861-2009-nevada-state-library-and-archives |access-date=April 13, 2023 |language=en |via=Yumpu |ref={{harvid|NSLAPR|2009}}}}
{{cite book |last1=Van Geel |first1=Michelle L. |title=Women in the Nevada Legislature 1918-2003 |date=2003 |publisher=Nevada Legislature |location=Carson City |url=https://www.leg.state.nv.us/Division/Research/Publications/Bkground/BP03-01.pdf |access-date=April 13, 2023}}