Jennie Douglas

Jeanette L. Douglass, also referred to as Jennie Douglas or Jane Douglas, was the first woman officially hired to work for at the U.S. Treasury. She was the first in a cohort of 70 women hired by U.S. Treasurer Francis E. Spinner in 1862, sometimes known as the First Treasury Girls. Douglas is sometimes attributed to having been the first woman to hold an appointed position in the Federal government.

Biography

Douglas was born in Peterboro, New York. She later moved to the village of Ilion with her brother, John.

In 1862, an unemployed Douglas was pursued by Spinner to work in his treasury office. At the time, Spinner was attempting to persuade Governor Salmon P. Chase to employ women in federal service as he believed they would work harder than men for less money. Spinner knew Douglas as a strong woman, stating she was a "great tall double-fisted girl, that was more than a match for any of the men in the room." On her first day, Douglas proved that women would be more than capable of handling the large shears needed to trim money. Spinner later recollected that, "her first day's work settled the matter forever in her and in the women's favor. The men left and women took their place." Seven more women were subsequently employed. Douglas was paid a salary of around $300. noted that it's unknown what happened to Douglas in her later years. In the 1888 obituary of her brother John, it was stated that he had, "spent many years, and all the means he could afford in the endeavour to find some clue to his sister, who suddenly disappeared from the knowing of the family after her return from Europe."