From collection Candidates
Gertrude Biede was elected City Recorder in Ashland, Jackson County, Oregon in 1918. She was the first woman in the history of Oregon state to hold elected office in the city of Ashland and served in the position as late as 1933. She died in 1998 at the age of 108. Biede's married name was, according to the office of the Ashland City Recorder's Office, Easterling. However, in official records of Biede from the period in which she campaigned for and served as City Recorder, she is listed under her maiden name of Biede.