Annie White Baxter

Annie White Baxter (March 2, 1864 – June 28, 1944) was a Missouri politician. At her election as county clerk of Jasper County, Missouri in 1890, she became the first elected female office-holder in the state, as well as the first female county clerk in the United States.

Annie White was born the second of three children of cabinetmaker John B. and Jennie Black White in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was of English and German extraction. When she was two, she moved with her family to Newark, Ohio; she moved with them again to Carthage, Missouri in 1876 when her father began operation of a furniture factory in the town. She also lived in Joplin for a time. She graduated from Carthage High School, where she was said to be the most outspoken pupil in her class, in 1882, and took a job assisting Jasper County Clerk George Blakeney; she was subsequently appointed deputy clerk to John N. Wilson. Her nomination to the position attracted a good deal of attention, and it was required of the Missouri Attorney General to approve the appointment before she could begin her duties. Baxter worked for Wilson's successor, Jesse Rhoads, as well. In 1888 she married Charles W. Baxter, a dry goods clerk at the R. H. Rose Department Store. She initially retired from the county to focus on domestic affairs, but when the clerk became incapacitated and unable to perform his duties she was recalled to her former position.

Due largely to her reputation as a supporter of well-run county government, the county Democratic Party nominated Baxter as its candidate for county clerk in 1890, but there was some uncertainty as to whether or not she was eligible to run, as women at the time could not vote. Nevertheless, she remained on the ballot, defeating Republican Julius Fischer by more than four hundred votes, 53% of the final tally in total; he appears not to have seriously contested the election, expecting an easy victory. But Baxter had support among the miners of the county, who went door-to-door singing "", the name being their nickname for her, while canvassing on her behalf. Fischer challenged the result, but was denied by the circuit court judge of Greene County; he was also ordered to pay her legal fees. News of Baxter's victory appeared in The New York Times, where it was described as a "peculiarity".

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