Emma Guy Cromwell

Emma Guy Cromwell (September 28, 1865 – July 19, 1952) was a suffragist, women's rights activist, and early female Democratic Party politician from Kentucky in the United States. Cromwell became the first woman to hold a statewide office in Kentucky when she was elected state librarian in 1896 by a vote of the Kentucky Senate. Later she won elections for the position of Secretary of State and Kentucky State Treasurer, and was appointed state park director, state bond commissioner, and State Librarian and Director of Archives.

Early life and education Emma Guy, the daughter of Ashley and Alice (Quisenberry) Guy, was born on September 28, 1865, in Simpson County, Kentucky, and when her father died she spent most of her childhood in neighboring Allen County, Kentucky. She had one sister and two brothers. They had one son, William Foree Cromwell. Her husband died in 1909.

In 1922 she was parliamentarian for the Kentucky House and Senate. which was republished in 1996 by The Kentucky Commission on Women. In this book, she praises the suffragist Laura Clay as "my main tutor and adviser (65)" though there is not much detail in her memoir about any work she did for the Kentucky suffrage movement.

Later life and death Cromwell continued to be active in Democratic Party politics until she fell and broke a hip in 1949. Cromwell died on July 19, 1952, of medical complications following a stroke. She is buried in the Frankfort Cemetery, in Frankfort Kentucky.

"Emma's List", a new Political Action Committee created in 1993 to raise funds for female's campaigning for a Kentucky State office, was named in honor of Emma Cromwell.