A Joint Project of the Sam Rayburn House Historic Site and the Fannin County Historical Commission
Celebrating America 250 with Spotlights of Fannin County Citizens Who Participated In or Witnessed Historical Events
Fannin County, Texas -- Myrtle Hancock was the first woman to register to vote in Fannin County.
Women first gained the right to vote in Texas for the primary election of November 1918. Voter registration began on June 26 and ended on July 12.
She was the first woman to register to vote in Fannin County and the first woman to vote in an election in Fannin County.
After graduation she became a deputy county clerk in 1909. She studied law by correspondence through the University of Texas at Austin and passed the Texas Bar in 1919, the first female attorney in Fannin County and North Texas. She maintained a law practice until past 80 years old. She also ran the Bonham Abstract Company with her sister, Phebe Hancock, for 25 years.
Myrtle Hancock died at her home in Bonham in 1975 and is buried at Willow Wild Cemetery.
