Mary Elliott Flanery

Mary Elliott Flanery (April 27, 1867 – July 19, 1933) was an American Progressive Era social reformer, suffragist, politician, and journalist who is best remembered as the first woman elected to the Kentucky General Assembly and first woman elected to a state legislature south of the Mason–Dixon line. Flanery was an advocate for equal rights for women, and actively worked to pass legislation that would give women the right to vote.

Family and early life Mary Elliott, daughter of Benjamin Franklin Elliott and Nancy (Kegley) Elliott, was born April 27, 1867, in a part of Carter County, Kentucky, that would later become Elliott County, Kentucky. After completing her schooling at University of Charleston in West Virginia and the University of Kentucky, she was a public school teacher.

Harvey and Mary had five children together; Sue, Merle, Dawn, Dew, and John.

Women's rights advocate Flanery was a member of the Kentucky Equal Right Association, and actively worked for women to have the right to vote. She worked to improve the lives of women through reform of suffrage, marriage, and divorce laws.

Death Flanery died at her residence, Elliot Hall, in Cattlettsburg on July 19, 1933, and was buried at Ashland Cemetery in Ashland, Kentucky.