From collection Candidates
In 1894 Ohio enacted a statute for the first time permitting women to vote in local school board elections. In the April 1895 election Mrs. Eliza Carruthers of Xenia was one of two candidates nominated by religious women with the goal of electing board members who would begin the process of social reform in Xenia through the education of the young. Mrs. Robert Williams, a member of Xenia's African-American community was also nominated as a candidate. She declined the nomination, stating that women of the African-American community would support the white candidates and hoped that those women's support could be counted upon in the next election. Carruthers' supporters drew upon their experience organizing on behalf of temperance to bring out the vote. She won her race along with Mrs. George Moore. Carruthers received 1162 votes and Moore received 1123. The three, losing, male candidates polled 1017, 823, and 627 votes. Mrs. Carruthers was active in the First United Presbyterian Church and president of its missionary society. Her husband was a member of the city council
