Cora Victoria Diehl

Early life Cora Victoria Diehl was born in Laurelton, Pennsylvania, on January 19, 1869. Her father was H. C. Diehl. At age 11, the family moved to Great Bend, Kansas. Diehl became active in the Greenback Party. After briefly moving to Montrose, Colorado, she returned to Great Bend and was appointed deputy register for the office of the register of deeds. She served in that position from 1888 to January 1, 1890. Diehl had one sibling, a sister named Hilda.

In 1891, at the age of 21, Diehl campaigned with the fusion ticket slogan of "Equal rights to all, special privileges to none" and won the nomination for the People's Party of Oklahoma for the Logan County register of deeds. She also campaigned with Mary Elizabeth Lease, who was also of the Populist Party. Afterward violence broke out, causing U.S. Marshall William C. Grimes and Sheriff John W. Hixon to intervene.

Later advocacy After losing her re-election, she campaigned for women's suffrage in Oklahoma. By 1909 she was acting as secretary of the International Brotherhood Welfare Association (IBWA). At the IBWA's 1911 convention, she was again the secretary of the organization. She spoke at the national convention in 1911, and was elected treasurer in 1912. In reports of the 1912 Cincinnati convention, she was termed the "Queen of the Hoboes".

In September 1914, it was reported that the IBWA was presenting a play written by Diehl with the proceeds going towards establishing an employment bureau in Philadelphia. The play was entitled "On the Road" and was intended to highlight the unfairness of vagrancy laws.

By the 1910s Diehl's rhetoric took a more socialist and revolutionary turn, putting her at odds with the moderate faction of the organization. Diehl left the IBWA in 1924.

Personal life Diehl married John Nolan Harvey in Kansas City on July 17, 1893. The couple had two children, Helen and Bessie, before divorcing around 1906. According to How, the couple called off their engagement after they found they were incompatible with one another. He said he felt it would be wrong to be engaged to her and possibly spoil her career. According to How, the IBWA recommended that How pay Diehl a settlement of over $5000, which he obliged. Diehl claimed to have received $2250.

By February 1925, Harvey had returned to Hinton, Oklahoma, where she purchased considerable property. By April 1926 she had also bought a holiday cottage in Bella Vista, Arkansas.

Cora Diehl Harvey died on November 19, 1961.

Electoral history