La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

Pioneering in Washington territory was no place for shrinking violets. Men and women labored side by side to take advantage of the opportunity that the new western land could offer. Self-sufficiency was the necessary characteristic for successful pioneers. Due to the prevalence of illnesses and accidents, there was a need for everyone in the family to pitch in to survive in the late 1800s Washington state.

Maybe in part because of the more equal distribution of the workload, the idea of women’s suffrage was not as shocking to the pioneers in the west as it was in the eastern states. Howev...