From collection Candidates
In 1892 Ella L. Knowles was nominated by the Populist and Alliance Party as their candidate for the office state Attorney General of Montana. She lost the race, but the winner appointed her as an assistant Attorney General. Knowles was a lawyer and was appointed a Justice of the Peace by the Governor of Montana. She was the first woman to hold this office. Knowles became the president of the Montana Woman Suffrage Association in 1896.