The Mary Eliza Project: Ward 17 Voter Records Now Available

In 1920, after the passage of the 19th Amendment, Boston's women registered to vote by the thousands. The 1920 Women's Voter Registers now live at the Boston City Archives and document women's names, addresses, places of birth and occupations. Sometimes women provided additional information about their naturalization process to become a US citizen, including where their husbands were born because in 1920, a woman's citizenship status was tied to her husband's nationality. 

The Mary Eliza Project, named after African American nurse, civil rights activist, and Boston voter Mary Eliza Mahoney, is transcribing these valuable handwritten records into an easily searchable and sortable dataset. We've recently finished transcribing the Ward 17 registers and have added them into our dataset!

In 1920, Ward 17 covered the eastern edge of Roxbury and part of North Dorchester, from Blue Hill Avenue to Fox Point on the harbor. Over 2,100 women living in Ward 17 registered to vote in the summer and fall of 1920.

Most women registering to vote in Ward 17 were born in the United States, especially Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and New York, but many came from other countries as well. A large number of women in Ward 17 were born in Ireland and Canada, especially in Canada’s Maritime provinces. Women also listed birthplaces in England, Russia, Norway, and the West Indies, among others. 

The register books reveal Ward 17’s diverse communities and residents of different national origins. For example, Dorchester’s Grove Hall neighborhood was home to a large Jewish community, and a number of these women registered to vote in 1920. 

Sisters Frances and Lena Spector, both in their 20s, listed “Russia” as their place of birth when they registered. A census record indicates their family was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, which was part of the Russian Empire in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Frances and Lena Spector lived with their parents and brother on Fayston Street in Grove Hall, sharing the neighborhood with many other Jewish families.

At least half of the women who registered to vote in Ward 17 worked outside the home, as clerks, dressmakers, bookbinders, telephone operators, department store saleswomen, and employees for Boston’s early Elevated Railway system.

Over 50 women who registered to vote from Ward 17 worked as school teachers, including at schools in Dorchester. For example, Josephine Smith, who was born in Wisconsin, taught at the John L. Motley School in Ward 17’s Savin Hill.

Mothers and daughters often registered together. Mary F. Hennessey, an Irish immigrant living at 103 Alexander Street, had four daughters, two of whom were old enough to vote. Mary registered with her daughter Margaret on October 13, 1920, and her daughter Marie registered two days prior.

The Spector sisters, schoolteacher Josephine Smith, and the Hennessey family are just a few of the women whose stories are waiting to be discovered in the Ward 17 transcriptions. Explore the Mary Eliza Project dataset yourself and let us know what you find!

Erin Wiebe is a graduate of the dual degree History and Archives Management master’s program at Simmons University, and is part of the Mary Eliza Project transcription team. Transcription of the Ward 17 Registers was funded by a Community Preservation Act Grant