Minnie Johnson Grinstead

Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Taggart

Used by permission

 
 
 
 
 
 
Judge Grinstead 

Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Taggart

A headline taken from 
Mrs. Grinstead's scrapbook. 
Courtesy of the Kansas State Historical Society.  Used by permission. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Another image from Grinstead's  
Scrap Book 
Kansas State Historical Society

The election of 1919 brought a woman into the House of Representatives for the first time in the history of Kansas politics.  Minnie J. Grinstead, the Lady from Seward, as she was often called by her male peers, was quite a remarkable woman.  In the course of her life time she had served as a Baptist preacher, a teacher, a principal, a Chautauqua speaker, a lecturer for the Women's Christian Temperance Union, a "Club Woman," a board member for the Florence Crittenton homes, a probate judge, a seconded of a presidential nomination, a wife, and a mother.  Had her life not been cut short by a stroke at the age of 56, it is quite probable she would have continued working in the public sphere, likely receiving a federal appointment.  The Lady from Seward, known as Minnie Johnson Grinstead in her public life and Mrs. V.H. Grinstead in her private life, was a complex woman who can not be fully appreciated if the entire puzzle of her life is not in place. 

Born Mineola Tamar Johnson in 1869, near Walnut, Kansas, the woman who would become the first woman elected to the legislature started out as a farm girl, a role she was quite glad to escape.  While it is evident that Grinstead was quite fond of her family--especially her father--and always willing to pitch in as needed in and around her home it was not until she was able to escape the hard scrabble life style that she truly flourished.  Grinstead was a bright woman who was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to be educated.  During the course of her education Grinstead would return from what is now Pittsburg State University to help out on her parents farm. Once she finished the courses required she began her teaching career.  It was an apparently successful one, because after several years she was made principal of one of the grade schools in Pittsburg, suggesting that Grinstead was both a talented teacher and capable administrator. 

During this period Grinstead first ran for public office.  She attempted to win the School Superintendent Seat in 1896, but was unsuccessful.  Yet this race put the love of politics in her blood.  She shortly thereafter resigned her position as principal and began to work diligently for the WCTU and suffrage movement as a lecturer.  It was during this time that Grinstead first met the man she would marry,  Virgil Hooker Grinstead, a recently-widowed lawyer.  The Grinstead  marriage was an apparently formal one (Darline said she never heard her parents refer to one another by their first names), but not one that lacked affection or happiness.  The Grinstead's had four children, with only two of them,  (Grace) Darline and (Milton) Wayde, living to adulthood. While her children were young Grinstead continued to work diligently for the WCTU as well as other clubs that were closely linked to social causes. 

In 1914 Grinstead considered rekindling her political career by announcing her candidacy for the U.S. Senate, but in the end she reconsidered and backed out of the race.  Yet the interest in holding public office never left her.  Grinstead was not used to the hard and often mindless work associated with keeping up a household.  Luckily, the family was able to afford hired help, and always there was someone to help with the daily tasks required of Grinstead.  In 1919 Grinstead announced her intention to run for office again, this time for that of the legislative seat held by A.A.Farmer, a Democrat.  The race was won easily by Grinstead, who then packed up her family and moved to Topeka. 

As a political figure the interests Grinstead served as wife, mother, and "club woman" remained high on her agenda.  She was staunchly opposed to the use of liquor for many of the same reasons other women.  She was equally opposed to smoking, and introduced legislation that managed to pass, making the purchase of tobacco  illegal in the state of Kansas.  In addition, Grinstead was very much interested in the issue of education. 

After her first term Grinstead was elected to serve a second term.  This time when she took the Rock Island to Topeka with her family she was joined in the legislature by three more women, two of  whom where republicans and the third being a democrat.  These women, along with Grinstead were quite well known in Kansas and around the country, thanks to an article that originally appeared in the  Dearborn Independent and was then picked up by other newspapers across the nation.  It was during this term that her husband died after a fall.  There is speculation that his death was the deciding factor in her decision.  By this time her two children were beginning college, and income had become an important factor.  Darline was studying at Washburn University, with plans to attend law school and join her father in legal practice.  Wayde was attending KU.  At the end of her third term Grinstead returned to her Liberal home where she served as a probate judge, the position once held by her husband.  In 1924 Grinstead was given the great honor of seconding the nomination of Calvin Coolidge at the Republican national convention held in Cleveland. 

December 24, 1925 found Grinstead home with her son, Wayde.  Darline was unable to make the trip home from Manhattan where she had transferred after the death of her father.  As Grinstead and her son prepared dinner for the next day  Grinstead suddenly took ill.  She was taken to her bed and the doctor was called.  The illness was a stroke, and she would was never to recover.  Minnie Johnson Grinstead died in her Liberal home, less than a year after the death of her husband and just months before receiving a federal appointment as reward for her years of hard work for the republican party.  There was also speculation that Grinstead would return to the public eye, this time as a senator. 

Grinstead was a prime example of what women could do in the later part of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th.  She used education to make a place for herself in a world that really was a man's world.  Grinstead was always at least one step ahead of the times.  Her severe distaste for the use of tobacco is a prime example of this.  It is only within the last ten years that its public use has been limited to the extent for which Grinstead originally campaigned.  Additionally, Grinstead was making her mark in the early quarter of the 20th Century, when opportunities for women outside of the traditional arena where, to say the least, limited.  While by no means a radical or even a feminist by today's standards Grinstead was able to live up to her full potential, something women often did not have the opportunity to do in her life time.