Florence E.S. Knapp

Florence Elizabeth Smith Knapp (March 25, 1875 – October 26, 1949) was an American politician who was the first woman elected to a state cabinet office in New York state. In June 1928, she was convicted of grand larceny in office. During the taking of New York's 1925 census, Knapp had put her stepdaughter's name on the payroll, took the stepdaughter's checks, forged the endorsements and spent the money on clothes.

Knapp died on October 26, 1949, at the Marcy State Hospital in Marcy, New York.

Legacy She was New York’s last elected secretary of state. The role became an appointed position after a reorganization of state administration under Governor Al Smith.

Knapp remained the only woman elected to a statewide office in New York for fifty years, until the election of Mary Anne Krupsak as lieutenant governor in 1974.