Remember the story of Sheriff Maude Collins? I told you last week about how she was the first female sheriff in Ohio and we were having a mural painted in her honor.
Well, it’s done! We dedicated it on Thursday night. Here she is!
This mural is located on the side of the Vinton County, Ohio Courthouse.
That brick building next door is the former sheriff’s office. That’s where Sheriff Maude lived and worked.
Want to read the first story about Sheriff Maude? Click here.
Next month marks the 100th anniversary of when Maude Collins became Ohio’s first female sheriff. She was appointed to the office when her husband Sheriff Fletcher Collins was shot and killed in the line of duty in 1925.
When the Vinton County Commissioners appointed the sheriff’s widow to the position, I suspect they thought it was an act of charity, something that would buy the young widow some time to plan for a fresh start. Back in the day, the sheriff’s family lived at the Sheriff’s Office. His wife was the jail matron. His five young children lived under the same roof as prisoners kept in cells. This was still customary in 1925.
So when Maude lost her husband, she lost her home too.
Maude was around thirty when she first put on the badge and I’m proud to say she proved to everyone that she was capable of doing the job. She was no one’s charity case. She investigated crimes including several murders, served warrants, patrolled the roads and arrested people just like a man would.
Women had only been voting for a few years when she was appointed Sheriff. She finished her husband’s unexpired term and then her name appeared on a primary election ballot across from some local men. She beat them pretty handily and went on to beat a male opponent in the general election. And a few years later, she went on to be elected county recorder.
Sheriff Maude busted up moonshine stills with a child at her hip. That’s because there were no social safety nets back then. There were no food stamps or welfare, no housing vouchers or even kindergarten to send her youngest to.
And when she finished her day, there wasn’t an electric washer and dryer at home to make sure the family had clean clothes or microwave meals for the nights she didn’t have time to cook.
I can’t fathom how she managed.
A double murder investigation she led gained her national attention. I have a copy of a mid- century “Startling Detective Magazine” that tells the story of a sensational murder.
Sheriff Maude is also in the state’s history books for being the first woman to deliver a prisoner (a man, no less) to the Ohio State Penitentiary in 1929. Incidentally, she was a descendent of the McCoy family that gained so much notoriety as part of the Hatfield and McCoy feud.
She must have been a character. I mean, to be a single working mom would be hard enough. To do it back then would have been a Herculean task. To do something so dangerous as be a sheriff would take true nerve. She did have a male deputy who seemed to be a decent guy and supportive of his boss but it would still have been such a hard life.
Her story was mostly lost to time until about 25 years ago. In fact, Belmont County, Ohio had been telling everyone that their lady sheriff, elected in 1976, was the first to do so in the country. No offense to her legacy but that woman wasn’t even born yet when Sheriff Maude was out breaking up moonshine operations. Plus, there were a few women sheriffs before our Sheriff Maude.
This story may ring a bell for you longtime readers. I helped the local historical society get an Ohio Historical marker a few years ago and wrote that story here.
I sit on the local tourism board and we raised money to have a mural painted in Sheriff Maude’s honor. It will be dedicated on October 9, the 100th anniversary of her becoming sheriff. We’ll have an open house at the visitors center along with some vendors that evening.
When we announced the mural project, we had a local woman suggest that celebrating Sheriff Maude wasn’t the best use of a mural. After all, she just got the job because her husband died and she didn’t have to work that hard.
I would love to time travel that woman back to 1925 and let her see how hard Maude had to work to balance home and job and to keep it together. Let her do better. Why are there always naysayers?
Sheriff Maude did everything a man would do only she had to do it better, with a family to care for and undoubtedly with a lot of naysayers waiting for her to fail. Remember, this was still a time when women were expected to stay home and raise a family rather than have jobs, homes and incomes of their own.
This is why we talk about our past and study our history. It’s up to us to keep alive these remarkable stories and to appreciate how pioneers like Sheriff Maude helped shape our community and open doors for others like her.
Women today need to remember that our rights to vote, drive, be educated work, and do as we please with our lives are not a given and can be taken away much more easily than they were won by those who came before us.
I am proud of the legacy that Sheriff Maude left behind. Representation is important and I hope that little girls across the county will go by this mural and know that any dream is possible and that women like Sheriff Maude worked to make it that way.
PS: The mural is being painted by an artist who is just as excited about Sheriff Maude’s story as I am. She’s incredibly talented so I hope you’ll look up Pam Kellough Murals on Facebook. I am a big fan of her work and hope you’ll be too! She’s pictured here on one of the early days of the mural work.
Maude Collins prior to becoming Ohio’s first female sheriff.
The first woman to be sheriff in Ohio held that office in my community. She did it back in the 1920s and her story is spectacular.
Her name was Maude Collins but everyone in the community called her Sheriff Maude.
This story begins when Maude was just a young wife and mother, married to Sheriff Fletcher Collins. At the time, the sheriff’s department served as county jail and home to the sheriff and his family. Maude served as jail matron while her husband was in office which was customary at the time.
But Fletcher was killed in the line of duty – shot by a suspect while attempting to serve a warrant. And with one gunshot on an October morning in 1925, the 32-year old Maude became a widow and single mother of five.
Because the next sheriff would soon need his new office and living quarters, she also lost her home. And so, it was not long after burying her husband, Maude was packing to leave when the county commissioners came knocking. She had been appointed to finish her husband’s unexpired term.
The job that made her a widow and single mother was now her own, at least for a little while.
But Maude had no experience, no training and her only knowledge of the office came from watching her husband.
Yet she turned out to be a great sheriff. She patrolled roads, investigated crimes, arrested suspects, testified against them in court and even earned the distinction of being the first woman to ever deliver a prisoner to the Ohio State Penitentiary.
Anything a male sheriff did, Maude did too.
Her first month in office, Sheriff Maude actually had to testify against the man who killed her husband. Not long after, her investigative skills proved to be innovative and impressive. That tale is enough for another story. Another day, perhaps.
Sheriff Maude went on to run for a term of her own, beating a man in a landslide that Primary Election and handily beating a man again in the General Election.
She was smart, she was tough and she was one of the most remarkable people I’ve ever studied.
While her achievements would be impressive today, they were monumental in her lifetime.
After all, women had only won the right to vote in 1919. There was no daycare to keep her kids, no fast food to put dinner on the table, or government safety nets like we have today. Not to mention the scrutiny she must have faced from the community that, although they liked her, probably wondered if a woman really could be sheriff.
There’s a photo that shows Sheriff Maude, immersed in a man’s world, and preparing to bust a moonshine still. She’s standing next to the still, flanked by men on either side, and there’s a little girl clutching her skirt. That was Margaret- a toddler at the time – and Sheriff Maude’s youngest.
She clearly was the ultimate working mother in an age when women didn’t work, balancing it all with whatever means necessary.
Sheriff Maude finished her husband’s term and one of her own. She then went on to serve as Clerk of Courts before leaving elected office to work as a matron at the Columbus State School.
Yesterday I was honored to speak at a dedication ceremony for a new historic marker dedicated to Sheriff Maude. I had helped a friend with the research and application for this marker on behalf of our local historical and genealogical society and received far more credit than was deserved for the success of this project.
Sheriff Maude was inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame several years ago but that has not prevented another county in Ohio from mistakenly claiming their 1970s era sheriff was the first. That woman wasn’t even alive when Sheriff Maude was out busting up moonshine stills.
I can’t tell you how happy many of us are that Sheriff Maude’s achievements are engraved in bronze and on the courthouse lawn for generations of people to see. A nice crowd came to the dedication on this hot July day and it was heartwarming to see this level of community support.
It feels good to know this remarkable woman will be remembered and that credit for her achievements can no longer be given to another.
I’ll tell you another day about the detective work Sheriff Maude did to make national headlines. It’s an incredible sorry!