1878: Born: Maude Edith Comstock on August 11, 1878, in Middlebury, VT to Orvis Foster Comstock and Mary Severence (neé Hickey). She was the last of seven children and only three of which survived to adulthood.
1892 – 1896: Attended Middlebury High School. (approximate years)
1896: Normal School department of the Vermont College at Saxton’s River, Windham County. (approximate year)
1900: Became a teacher in Middlebury and then at St. Johnsbury, Caledonia County, and then in Rockland, Massachusetts. (approximate year)
1902: Principal of a grammar school in Rockland, Massachusetts. (approximate year)
1903: Married Walter Gustavus Waitt (aged 25), on June 25th, in Melrose, MA.
1909: Gave birth to Doris Ida Waitt (aged 31), on March 7th, in Fremont, OH.
1912: Ohio Constitution gave cities right to frame their own suffrage charters and create municipal offices.
1912:Women’s suffrage on Ohio ballots but defeated.
1914: Maude and Walter and Doris move to Lakewood, Ohio. She was a school teacher (age 36).
1914: Women’s suffrage on Ohio ballots but defeated again.
1917: Lakewood passes municipal suffrage in part due to Maude, C.E. Kendall, and Bernice Pyke. Women in this district were allowed to vote on municipal issues.
1918: Chair of Lakewood’s Women’s Suffrage party (aged 40).
1918: Sold $800,000 worth of Liberty bonds in the fourth drive as per article Lakewood Press, 10/18/1918.
1921: Elected to City Council of Lakewood (aged 43), resigned a year later as she was elected to the State Senate.
1922: Lakewood League of Women’s Voters is formed by the Women’s Civic League (organized in 1920) after gaining the right to vote. Now the oldest league.
1922: One of the first of six women elected in the Ohio General Assembly as a State Senate. She was a Republican and served three terms (aged 44), which is four years each.
1923: Introduced Senate Bill 130, Senate Bill 138, and Senate Bill 252 – all of which were signed into law.
1926: Re-elected State Senate (aged 48).
1930: Re-elected State Senate (aged 52).
During the three terms sat on these Senate committees –
- Benevolent Institutions (chair)
- Prison and Prison Reforms (chair)
- Library (chair)
- Public Health
- Commercial Corporations
- Soldiers and Sailors Orphans’ Home
1935: Dies in Lakewood, Ohio (aged 57) after a long illness.
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As per The Ohio Channel: Ohio SB 130
Senate Bill 130 dealt with the sale and conveyance of portions of Cleveland State Hospital. The bill was initially passed by the Ohio General Assembly on April 6, 1923, but the Governor at the time did not sign the bill. On April 28, 1923, both the Ohio House and Senate declared the bill “passed – notwithstanding the objections of the Governor.”
And SB 138
Senate Bill 138, sponsored by Sen. Maude Waitt, allows the State Medical Board to appoint visiting teachers for recognized schools of nursing. The bill was passed April 6, 1923.
SB 252 via The Ohio Legislature website which only shows current information.
This is to require schools to prevent sudden cardiac arrest (aka Lindsay’s law).
Special Note: This birthday is based on the Hulbert Family Tree on Ancestry.com. There is a sister before her born on August 11, 1874, known as Ester Maud (w/o and e) and so many biographies incorrectly use a different year. The actual birth certificate of Maude Edith could not be found, only her sister.
Jeannine Vegh 