Recently while looking through some 1920s marriage records for Crawford County, I suddenly realized that the Ordinary was Mrs. L. J. Hancock. This had me intrigued - Georgia at that time was not exactly a hotbed of feminism and women had only just achieved the vote. This got me looking at the 1930 census and I found 6 other women fulfilling this role. I also found a 1929 Butler Herald article talking about how extraordinary it was to have so many women in County Government roles and listing 5 of the 7 that I had found plus one I didn’t have. What is even more extraordinary is that these women's pioneering roles have mostly been forgotten For those not familiar with Georgia Courts, the Ordinary is now called the Judge of the probate court and the Ordinary court is now the probate court
Minnie Kate Cornelius Pafford (Kate), 1885-1950, Clinch County, is one of the few that I could find in a county history. She had the distinction apparently of being the first female Ordinary in Georgia. According to the 1940 census, she had completed 3 years of High School, which at that time would have meant she graduated. She was a teacher up until her marriage in 1908 to Leon Pafford, a grocer. They had 4 sons. Leon died in 1922 and she was elected Ordinary in 1925. The County history says that she served 12 years (until 1937) but in fact she is listed as Ordinary in the 1940 census and in her 1950 obituary. She also signed the County marriage licenses at least through 1947, the most recent available online.
Minnie Fairchild Corbitt (1865-1955), Atkinson, was more educated than average, having completed 2 years of college according to the 1940 census. She married Martin Corbitt in 1899, a Civil War Veteran 25 years her senior. They had 3 sons to add to the 6 children from his first marriage. Martin died in 1913. When Atkinson County was formed in 1917, Minnie just happened to be living in the new County Seat. In 1920, Minnie is listed as a truck farmer, running her own farm, with the 3 boys still at home. She became Ordinary at some point between 1923, when another signature is on a pension record, and 1929 when she signed as Ordinary. Marriage records for the county are not available online. She may have retired by 1936 when she visited Cuba on her own. She received a Confederate widow's pension in 1939, at which time she may have moved to Florida where her son lived and where she is listed in the 1940 census. She died in 1955 in Kentucky, although her death certificate lists Hillsborough, Florida as her normal residence.
Ella Sapp Spivey (1883-1963) Chattahoochee, was one of the women missed in the Butler Herald article. She married Samuel Spivey in 1908. They settled almost immediately in Columbus, Muscogee county. In 1910, she had no occupation and her husband was listed as a bill clerk for the Railroad. In 1920, he was the Secretary for the Chamber of Commerce. They divorced between then and 1925 when he remarried. By 1930, she was back in Chattahoochee County residing with her mother and two young nephews. The first Ordinary record for her is 1 April 1930. According to the press, she had been elected without opposition in a special election on 5 February 1930, since her predecessor had died. Although she was not found in the 1940 census, she was in office at least through 1949, per the online marriage records. She died in 1963 in Russell County, Alabama, near where she had lived while married.
Elsie Smith O'Neal Ellis (1889-1964), Meriwether, replaced her husband Judge Maltire O'Neal as the Ordinary in 1927. She continued to serve until 1940 when she lost the election. Elsie was a high-school graduate and in 1910 was working as a sales person in a drug store. I have not found a marriage date for her, but she married Maltire at some point between his wife's death in 1911 and their first child's birth in April 1917. In 1920, he is working as a lawyer in general practice and she was not apparently working outside the home. They had 2 more children between then and his death in 1927 while serving as Ordinary. Elsie was elected to replace him in the special election. The following year she was elected in her own right. In 1930, she was living with her father, stepdaughter, and 3 children. After losing the election in 1940, she became very involved in Democratic Party politics at both the local and state level. In 1948, she married. Dr. William Ellis and they settled in Chipley (now Pine Mountain), Georgia. She died in 1964.
Frances (or Fannie) Kate Scott Marshall (1889-1964), Putnam, is another who replaced her husband as Ordinary. She graduated high school and married Ed Marshall in 1907. She shows no occupation in 1910 but her husband is the manager of an electric power plant. By 1920, he is the Putnam County Ordinary while she is a clerk in the Ordinary office. Her husband died in 1926 and she became Ordinary but only served through 1932. In 1940 she is the Clerk for the Superior Court. She and her husband were unique in this group in that they did not own their house. They were boarding in 1910 and living in a rented house in 1920, Fannie was living with her mother 1930, still in a rental property, and was boarding again in 1940. She died in 1964.
Louisa Wright (1891-1938), Jefferson, was not only the Ordinary but was the first woman in Georgia to be appointed a member of the Board of Registrars. According to an article in "Business and Professional Women of Georgia", 1931, she began her career in World War 1 serving as an assistant clerk of the local exemption board, then worked in the office of the Clerk of the Ordinary. In 1921, she became the Clerk of the Ordinary, serving until 1927 when Judge Brown, then serving as Ordinary, died. She won the special election to complete his term and was elected in her own right the following year. She continued to serve as Ordinary until her sudden death in 1938. According to her obituary, she apparently had a stroke while working at her desk. She was taken to the hospital but died a few days later. She was unusually well educated, having attended Limestone College and the Winnie Davis school of history, in Gaffney, SC.
Nell Maxwell Fort (1896-1965), Decatur County, took over the role of Ordinary from her father Tom Maxwell when he stepped down from the role in 1928. She said on the 1940 census that she had completed 1 year of college. In 1920 she is working as an assistant in an office. Her father, then 77, stepped down in late 1928 with Nell assuming the role by early 1929. She had been clerk just before this. Online court records do not go far enough to indicate when she herself left the job but she is listed as Ordinary in the 1930 and 1940 censuses At some point after 1940, she apparently married Dr. Mannie Fort, a widower some 20 years older than her. He died in 1953.
Last but not least, the woman who started me on this search. Lizzie Ruth Jones Hancock (1894-?), Crawford, also completed High School before becoming a teacher in Crawford County. It was there that she married her husband, widower Jack Hancock, in 1917 He already had three children and they went on to have a daughter in 1918. Jack was described by his children as the sheriff but his official occupation in 1920 was that of Farmer. Lizzie (who consistently signed licenses as Mrs L.J. Hancock) took over as Ordinary in April 1929 after the previous Ordinary died suddenly. She continued to serve in the role until at least December 1948, with a new Ordinary taking over in January 1949. I have found no mention of her after that and there are no dates on her headstone.
So what do these women have in common? Well, they were all unmarried (single, divorced, or widowed) at the time of their election. Some of them did still have children or stepchildren at home. They each became Ordinary in a special election to fill out a term after the death or departure of the previous judge, but they all won election to at least one full term after that. For those who were finishing their husband’s term, this was possibly originally a sympathy vote. They were unusually well educated for women of their time. Possibly connected to this, several of those who did marry did so at a later age than average and often worked prior to the marriage
