Dora J. (Bradbury) Pinkham (1891 - 1941)

Born 27 Sep 1891 in New Limerick, Aroostook, Maine, United States

Ancestors

Wife of Niles Cassius Pinkham — married 20 Sep 1917 in Fort Kent, Aroostook, Maine, United States

Died 19 Nov 1941 at age 50 in Fort Kent, Aroostook, Maine, United States

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Biography

Dora Bradbury was born in 1891 in New Limerick, Maine, a daughter of Lester Fremont and Dora Adelia (Small) Bradbury. She attended schools in Fort Kent and Houlton, Maine and graduated from high school in 1908. She also graduated from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts in 1913 and earned a Master's Degree in Political Science from Columbia University in New York in 1914.

Between 1914 and 1917, Dora taught at the Madawaska Training School for the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. She also was bookkeeper for a bank in Fort Kent, Maine. She also was an investigator for the U. S. Children’s Bureau.

Dora signed a petition in Fort Kent to ask people to vote in favor of Woman Suffrage at the special election on September 10, 1917.

In 20 Sept 1917, She married Niles Cassius Pinkham, a Fort Kent businessman. He was born in Fort Kent and his parents were Asa M. Pinkham and Ella Sears. She was clerk and he was merchant at the time of their marriage.

Dora was appointed as chairman of the Southern Aroostook of the Women’s Liberty Loan Committee in 1918. This committee was to raise money for World World 1 by selling U.S. Government war bonds, also known as Liberty Bonds.

Dora and eight other women ran for the Maine legislature in 1922 and she was only one who won in that election. She defeated the Democrat incumbent, William J. Audibertran, for State Representative, representing Fort Kent and Wallagrass Plantation. She was a Protestant, representing an overwhelmingly Catholic region of Maine. Dora was elected only two years after women were granted the right to vote with the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

In Dora's first year, she served on the Joint Committee for Education, the Joint Committee for Public Health, the Maine Publicity Committee, and on a number of ad hoc committees. With her considerable oratorical skills, almost all her sponsored legislation passed, which included:

* Support for an international bridge between Fort Kent and the Village of Clair, St. Francis, New Brunswick

* Funds to restore the historic blockhouse at Fort Kent

* New regulation for optometry

* A change in the time to elect school superintendents

* Support for a State of Maine building at the Eastern Agricultural and Industrial Exposition in Springfield, Massachusetts

* Legislation for Maine to participate in the federal program established by the 1921 Sheppard Towner Act concerning maternal and child welfare and health

In 1924, Dora lost her bid for re-election to William J. Audibertran. But in 1926, she was one of three state Senators from Aroostook County. Dora and Katherine C. Allen, of Hampden, were the first women elected to the Maine Senate. She was later re-elected in 1928 for a second term.

As senator, she served on the Joint Standing Committees on Education and Public Health, the Senate Committee on Bills in Second Reading, the Joint Standing Committees on State Prisons and Interior Waters, and on numerous special and ad hoc committees. She her sponsored legislature included:

* Support for highways and bridges

* Regulations on financial businesses

* Funding for education and health facilities, child welfare, teachers’ pensions

* Support for veterans and their dependents

* Reimbursement to communities for caring for the indigent.

After Dora left the Senate, she was special secretary to Governor William Tudor Gardiner and, from 1932 to 1935, was a member of the Advisory Council on Health and Welfare of Maine. In 1930, she organized and was the first president of the first Fort Kent Business and Professional Women’s Club (BPW). She also served on Fort Kent's Republican Committee for many years and as an Aroostook County representative to the State Republican Committee for five years.

In 1937, she and her husband spoke at the funeral of Roland S. Connors, a native of St. Francis.

Dora died in 1941. She is buried at Christ Congregational Church Cemetery at Fort Kent, Maine.

Dora's work was recognized with a Joint Resolution Recognizing the 80th Anniversary of Women Members Serving in Both Chambers of the Legislature by the 123rd Maine State Legislature

Sources

• THE MAINE VOTER SUMMER 2014 ~ VOLUME 31, NUMBER 3, published by LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF MAINE, page 11, at bottom of page [1]

• "S. J. Court Next Week" Houlton Times, Houlton, Maine, 14 Nov 1923, page 1 [2]

• "Pinkham, Dora" Maine An Encyclopedia, Contributed by Phyllis vonHerrlich, Augusta, Maine, 2008.[3]

• Bangor Daily News, September 10, 1924.

• Dora Bradbury files (covering 1913-1942), Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections, Sootj Hadley, Massachusetts.

• “First Woman Solon Ends First Week As Maine Lawmaker,” Kennebec Daily Journal, January 6, 1923.

• Legislative Records of the Eighty-First, Eighty-Third, and Eighty-Fourth Legislatures of the State of Maine.

• Moehling, Carolyn M. and Melissa A. Thompson. “The Political Economy of Saving Mothers and Babies: The Politics of State Participation in the Sheppard-Towner Program.” http://www.econ.yale.edu/seminars/echist/eh09/moehling-0908.pdf (accessed March 14, 2012) [NOTE: Both associated with NBER, the National business Research Council]

• "Maine Suffrage Who's Who Resource Packet" Maine State Museum [4]

• “Peacock Sees Big Republican Victory,” Bangor Daily News, September 9, 1922.

• "Dora Pinkham" Wikipedia [5]

• Potholm, Christian P. (2011). Maine: An Annotated Bibliography. Lexington Books. p. 115. ISBN 9780739170052.

• "On this date in Maine history: Sept. 11" Central Maine, September 11, 2020 [6]

• SP0128, item 1, 123rd Maine State Legislature

JOINT RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF WOMEN MEMBERS SERVING IN BOTH CHAMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_123rd/billpdfs/SP012801.pdf]

• "Obituary of Roland S. Connors" Bangor Daily News, Bangor, Maine, 11 Feb 1937, Page 45

• Find a Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com/memorial/143412826/dora-j-pinkham : accessed 02 August 2021), memorial page for Dora J Bradbury Pinkham (1891–1941), Find a Grave Memorial ID 143412826, citing Christ Congregational Church Cemetery, Fort Kent, Aroostook County, Maine, USA ; Maintained by Kurt Johnson (contributor 47367988) [7]

• "Maine Vital Records, 1670-1921," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2HKZ-DYQ : 2 March 2021), Dora J Bradbury, 27 Sep 1891; citing New Limerick, , Maine, United States, multiple sources, Maine; FHL microfilm. GS Film Number: 000009755, Digital Folder Number: 007031043, Image Number: 02055

[8]

• "Maine Vital Records, 1670-1921," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q24N-TH2M : 2 March 2021), Niles C Pinkham and Dora J Bradbury, 20 Sep 1917; citing Fort Kent, Aroostook, Maine, United States, multiple sources, Maine; FHL microfilm. Digital Folder Number: 005011854, Microfilm Number: 000010174, Image Number: 02793 [9]

• "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMLZ-KDD : accessed 5 August 2021), Dora Y Bradbury in household of E F Bradbury, Fort Kent town, Aroostook, Maine, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 20, sheet 24A, family 390, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,589. Line Number: 47, Sheet Number and Letter: 24A, Affiliate Publication Number: T623, Affiliate Name: The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Indexing Batch: N00822-3, Household ID: 390, GS Film Number: 1240589, Digital Folder Number: 004119816, Image Number: 00085

[10]

• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MRSY-GLY : accessed 5 August 2021), Dorrah J Bradberry in household of Lester F Bradberry, Fort Kent, Aroostook, Maine, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 26, sheet 14B, family 223, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 537; FHL microfilm 1,374,550. Household ID: 223, Sheet Number and Letter: 14B, Affiliate Film Number: 537, Affiliate Publication Number: T624, Affiliate Name: The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Digital Folder Number: 004971650,Microfilm Number: 1374550, Image Number: 00938, Indexing Batch: N03431-9, Sheet Letter: B, Sheet Number: 14

[11]

• "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MFZC-KT4 : 1 February 2021), Dora J Pinkham in entry for Niles Pinkham, 1920. Digital Folder Number: 004966016, Microfilm Number: 1820638, Image Number: 00981

Indexing Batch: N01950-1, Household ID: 139, Line Number: 89, Sheet Letter: B, Sheet Number: 9, Sheet Number and Letter: 9B, Affiliate Film Number: 638, Affiliate Publication Number: T625, Affiliate Name: The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) [12]

• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XM8J-W89 : accessed 5 August 2021), Dora B Pinkham in household of Niles C Pinkham, Fort Kent, Aroostook, Maine, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 27, sheet 10B, line 85, family 182, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 828; FHL microfilm 2,340,563. Household ID: 182, Line Number: 85, Sheet Number and Letter: 10B, Affiliate Film Number: 828, Affiliate Publication Number: T626, Affiliate Name: The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Digital Folder Number: 004950946, Microfilm Number: 2340563, Image Number: 00980, Indexing Batch: N03838-0

[13]

• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KMMS-X55 : 5 January 2021), Dora B Pinkham in household of Niles Pinkham, Fort Kent, Aroostook, Maine, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 2-37, sheet 3B, line 73, family 46, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 1471. Sheet Letter: B, Sheet Number: 3, Sheet Number and Letter: 3B, Household ID: 46, Line Number: 73, Affiliate Publication Number: T627, Affiliate Film Number: 1471, Digital Folder Number: 005462015, Image Number: 00920

[14]

• Maine Suffrage Campaign Committee and Maine Woman Suffrage Association, "Suffrage Petition Fort Kent Maine, 1917" (1917). Aroostook County Suffrage Petitions. 33.

[15]

• "Women's Liberty Loan Committee" Houlton Times, Houlton, Maine, 18 Sept 1918, page 1 [16]

• "Fourth Liberty Loan Pin" National Museum of American History Behring Center [17]

• "LEGISLATURE LINEUP / Some Interesting Facts Concerning Maine Lawmakers Now In Session." Rockland Courier-Gazette, Rockland, Maine, 10 Jan 1925, page 1 [18]

• "BREWSTER’S MARGIN IS BIG / Upward of 16,000 Majority In the Primary Contest—Carried All But Two of the Counties" Rockland Courier-Gazette, Rockland, Maine, 24 June 1926, page 2 [19]

• "NEXT LEGISLATURE / Will Have Seven Women Members — This Section Solidly Republican." The Courier-Gazette, Rockland, Maine, 15 Sept 1928, page 1 [20]

• "New Faces And Old / Legislative Lineup For Coming Season Shows Many

Changes." The Courier-Gazette, Rockland, Maine, 18 Sept 1928, page 1 [21]