Woman of the Century/Cora Victoria Diehl

CORA VICTORIA DIEHL. DIEHL, Miss Cora Victoria, register of deeds, born in Laurelton, Union county, Pa., 19th January, 1869. When eleven years old she moved with her parents to Great Bend, Kas., where the family lived on a farm for five years. Her father, H. C. Diehl, having no son, shaped his daughter's education with the view of bringing her forward as a reformer. At the age of sixteen years she appeared at many public meetings of the Greenback party and delivered recitations. Her parents moved to Montrose, Col., where they lived a short time and then returned to Kansas. The daughter accompanied them and soon accepted a position in the office of the register of deeds in Great Bend. Later she was appointed deputy register, which position she filled for two years, when she resigned 1st January, 1890, to go to her parents in Oklahoma.

Miss Diehl joined the Fanners' Alliance and, though but twenty-one years old, became a leader and speaker. She was unanimously nominated by the convention of the People's Party in session in Guthrie for register of deeds for Logan county and was afterward endorsed by the Democrats. She conducted an aggressive campaign and, accompanied by her father, stumped the county. Her speeches showed ability and earnestness, and she got the largest majority of any one on the ticket. She has the distinction of being the first woman to hold office in Oklahoma, and also is the youngest woman in the country to conduct a political campaign in her own behalf.