Why could some women in Hopkinton vote before the Revolution?

Before the American Revolution, two Hopkinton women could do what most of their peers could not: vote in local elections.

Who were these women, and why were they so privileged?

Come and hear their stories on September 17 at 6 p.m., when the Hopkinton Historical Society, 300 Main St., Hopkinton, hosts Dr. Lynn Clark, who will discuss a little-known chapter of Hopkinton history and examine the surprising early history of women’s voting rights in America. Dr. Clark will reveal who these women were, how they took part in local elections, and why, once our nation was founded, their rights were taken away.

Those rights were not restored until 1920, with the passage of the 19^th Amendment, which prohibited denying the right to vote on the basis of sex.

“We often think of women gaining the right to vote in 1920, but Hopkinton’s story begins much earlier,” said Heather Mitchell, executive director of the Hopkinton Historical Society. “The fact that women were voting here before the American Revolution challenges what we think we know about our community’s past and raises intriguing questions about how and why that right was eventually taken away.”

The program is free and open to the public. It is part of the Hopkinton Historical Society’s 2026 exhibit, “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times: Hopkinton and the American Revolution,” which is on display through December 2026. Both the program and exhibit are sponsored by NH Humanities.

The more intimate story of one of these early women voters, Mistress Elizabeth Connor, will be told at this year’s Cemetery Walk at the Old Hopkinton Cemetery on October 17 and 18 at 2 p.m. The theatrical production brings Hopkinton’s history to life through the stories of the cemetery’s residents.

More information is available at www.hopkintonhistory.org.

Hopkinton Historical Society is open Thursdays and Fridays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The museum is free to the public, but donations are welcome. The Society offers exhibits, programs and special events throughout the year for members and the general public. The Society also offers genealogical and historical research to the public. With nearly 400 members, it is entirely supported by membership dues and donations.