Dade County History Book

14 WOMEN ON JURY LISTS

Revision of the Dade County Jury Boxes was completed this week, le Jury Commission, Composed of D. T. Brown, K. D. Teet, J. C. Pace, H. Kenimer, C. M. Bodenhamer and W. H. Pullen met for four nights reviewing the names on the Tax Digest and assembling the names of lose to be put into the Traverse and Grand Jury boxes.

For the first time in history, women’s names were entered. Out of the over one hundred women in the county who are eligible to serve on the jury, about 25 had written in they did not wish to serve. From the over 70 women left, the names of 14 were put into the Traverse Jury Box and they will be called for jury service. No women’s names were put into the Grand Jury Box.

All women in Georgia, who are on their county’s tax digest, by an act of a previous state on their county’s and also the legislature, are eligible to serve Federal Jury. However the act reads that if they do not wish to serve, they can so notify the Clerk of Court before the jury box is revised. This is done every two years in each county.

Dade’s new Traverse jury box now holds the names of over 570 white men, 14 white women and two colored men. The Grand Jury Box has the names of approximately 228 white men. This seems like a comparatively small number of freeholders’ names in the jury.

The September term of Superior Court is only a little over four weeks away and these will be the names to be drawn for that court.

(DADE COUNTY TIMES, August 18, 1955. “Miss Ersaline” Carroll was the first woman in the county to qualify. For more information refer to Mrs. Ersaline Carroll article in family section.)

Sumitted by Sue Forrester Cloudland, GA 30731