Good morning.
It’s a warm, wet day for Whitewater, with a high temperature of thirty-nine. In Atlanta, it’s a day of scattered thunderstorms and a high of sixty-four.
In 1869, it wasn’t easy — it was impossible, actually — for a woman to run the post office in Janesville, Wisconsin:
1845 – Angela Josephine King Born
On this date Angela Josephine King was born in Trumbull County, Ohio. She moved to Janesville in 1848 and graduated from the Janesville Ladies’ Seminary in 1867. King obtained a job as a clerk at the Janesville Post Office. In 1868 President U.S. Grant announced he would appoint a new postmaster in Janesville. A special election was held in February of 1869, with the understanding that the candidate who won the election would be endorsed by Congressman Benjamin Hopkins. King won the race by 42 votes and traveled to Washington to receive her appointment.
Hopkins balked at the idea of appointing a woman and innstead he gave the runner up, and his political rival James Burgess, his endorsement. As a result, King requested an interview with President Grant, but Grant refused to make the appointment without Hopkins’ endorsement. In the fall of 1871, Angela King attended Chicago Law School and returned home to Janesville to continue her study of the law.
In January of 1879, she was admitted to practice law in Rock County Circuit Court. Shortly thereafter, she and Rhoda Lavinia Goodell formed the partnership of Goodell and King, located next to the Janesville Post Office. Angela Josephine King continued to practice law in Janesville and served as an advocate for the women’s suffrage movement until her death in 1913. [Source: State Bar of Wisconsin]