News Editor Lexington Tourism is planning an event aimed at honoring one of the most remarkable women in the history of Lexington — or anywhere, for that matter.

“Minnie Mae Day, Celebrating America’s First Elected Female Sheriff,” is planned for June 13.

Minnie’s story first gained widespread attention in June 2019 during a celebration of the 100th anniversary of Minnie Mae being sworn in as sheriff.

A ceremony was held on the steps of the county courthouse, and a number of Talbott’s descendants were in Lexington for the ceremony.

Talbott became sheriff of Lafayette County when her husband Joseph and other lawmen were killed by escaping prisoners in 1919.

A year before women gained the right to vote in this country, Talbott was breaking her own barriers.

Joseph C. Talbott became sheriff of Lafayette County in 1917. He and his two deputies — Michael McDonald and James Stapleton — were her husband by managing the administrative tasks of the sheriff’s office — was elected and sworn in as sheriff on June 10, 1919 and served until Dec 31, 1920.

“Minnie ran for his unexpired term and was elected by a wide margin, by an all-male electorate. She couldn’t even vote for herself, since women’s suffrage had not yet been passed,” explained her granddaughter Cheryl Felix McClellan.

In a 1980’s interview, Minnie’s daughter, Dorothy Talbott Glach, recalled that her mother took the oath while standing on the courthouse steps, wearing a long dark skirt and white high-collared blouse pinned with a brooch.

Minnie was quite busy during her brief stint as sheriff, commented Cheryl.

“People were arrested and jailed frequently, as would be expected in a busy river, railroad and mining town like Lexington at the time. She had a heavy case load,” said Mc-Clellan. “Who did what is not always clear. She had a lot of help from her deputies, as do all sheriffs. She filed all the weekly reports. She had to go to Kansas City to interview a suspect in her husband’s murder and was mentioned several other times as going out of town on business.”

LAW LADY

“Law Lady” is a bookin- progress by McClellan, who has spent much of her life exploring “beneath the surface,” finding the hows and whys of her grandmother’s life in old records and family history.

“Minnie’s history has not been chronicled until now, unique as it is. Neither was it recorded in a journal or in family letters neatly tied up in ribbon,” remarked Mc-Clellan. “Like an old riverboat sunk in the currents of the Missouri River, her story is there, but not easy to find. In conversations she had with her grandchildren, bits and pieces floated to the surface. She

sometimes rolled down her stocking to display a knee-to-ankle scar, or casually mentioned her time as sheriff. But the hows and the whys stayed beneath the surface.”

Minnie grew up in Lexington — a daughter, a sister and a wife of Lafayette County miners.

The horse-drawn street car passed by her home on South Street; she attended the Third Ward School with her older brothers; and she served as an officer in a charitable woman’s lodge.