March 15, 2022
During #WomensHistoryMonth the Department of Commerce has partnered with Better Days 2020 to showcase women in Utah who have positively affected Utah’s commercial activities.
Week 1
Fanny Brooks
We are excited to highlight Isabella (Fanny) Brooks for our first week of #WomensHistoryMonth. Brooks was the first Jewish woman to settle in Utah and became a successful business woman in the new territory. She overcame the odds of running a store in Salt Lake City and not being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At that time there was a ban on buying from people who were not of the faith, Fanny met with Brigham Young and arranged for her store not to be in the ban even though she was Jewish.
Fanny was born in Germany. At age 15 she heard of the American west from a young man named Julius Gerson Brooks. Julius had recently returned and dazzled her with stories of the beautiful land and its riches. She married him and immediately they set sail from Hamburg to New York, entertaining the other passengers with her singing and jokes.
Fanny and Julius traveled to Utah via wagon train tragically losing their first born child on the plains. They stopped in Utah and opened a Millinery Store selling women’s hats. Her daughter later recalled: “Mother was always the business woman, while Father attended to the buying….They had beautiful goods, and Mother arranged them so nicely that they soon had the trade of the town.” Fanny became known for her personal attention to customers and her good business sense, realizing that “if a customer was pleased she would always come back.”
To read more about Fanny Brooks
https://www.betterdays2020.com/shop/illustrated-poster-download-fanny-brooks
illustration by Brooke Smart @brookesmartillustration on both Instagram and FB
Week 2
Ah-Yuen
For week 2 we had both #internationalwomensday on top of #WomensHistoryMonth, so we wanted to choose a woman in Utah’s history/commercial activities who overcame great odds.
We chose Ah-Yuen not only because she beat the odds of just being in the United States in the 1860’s, a period of time when immigrant laws restricted the number of women who could immigrate from China, but she also ran a successful China shop in Park City from 1880-1900, which sold silks, dishes, Chinese and Japanese tableware and foods.
There are no personal stories of Ah-Yen, but the hurdles that she must have had to take just to get here are laid out in her story at Better Days 2020 and it’s a fascinating read.
To read more about Ah-Yuen
https://www.utahwomenshistory.org/bios/ah-yuen/
illustration by Brooke Smart @brookesmartillustration on both Instagram and FB
Week 3
Ivy Baker Priest
Born in Kimberly Utah and raised in Bingham where her father was a copper miner, Ivy learned at a young age from her mother how to get people involved in making changes in the politics of the state. Through her ability to know how to get others involved and a lot of hard work, she eventually became the most prominent political organizer of women in the 1950’s. She helped create a minimum wage for women in Utah and was appointed as assistant chairman of the Republican National Committee in charge of the women’s division, which increased the turnout of women voters. Later she was appointed to be the Treasurer of the United States and after that she was twice elected as Treasurer of the State of California.
On one occasion, Ivy was at an event and her table mate observed, “the people I have known in this world who have achieved things have all overcome some great handicap to reach their goal. I hope you won’t mind my asking you…what was yours?” “Poverty,” Ivy replied without hesitating. “And now you are in charge of all that money!” he laughed.
Utah Department of Commerce and are huge propionates of financial literacy. We believe like Ivy, people can overcome poverty if they know how to manage their money and can learn how to make it work for them. Our Division of Securities has just produced its Utah Investor Guide as a tool to help people learn how to overcome their socioeconomic situations.
To read more about Ivy Baker Priest
https://www.utahwomenshistory.org/bios/ivybakerpriest/
illustration by Brooke Smart @brookesmartillustration on both Instagram and FB
Week 4
Ada Quinn
Over this last month we have focused on women in Utah’s history who have made a difference in our States commercial activities but there are many more stories of women in our state’s history who have done the extraordinary against great odds.
For our last post of Women’s History Month, we bring you Ada Quinn: teacher, wife, mother, and business owner who had multiple patents.
Born in Morgan County Utah in 1870, Ada attended the University of Utah where she got her degree to be a teacher and met/married her husband, who was also a teacher. In 1926, when she was 48 and her children were grown, she started her business with “five dollars, an idea, one family sewing machine, and her will to work.”
It was at a time when purchasing garments readymade, such as aprons, was gaining popularity. Within six months she sold $5,000 worth of product and her goods were so popular that she soon had two factories, an office in New York, almost 200 employees, and twelve patented designs. At the height of the great depression, while most businesses were turning people away, she was begging people to come work for her due to high demand for her goods.
In 1940 Ada ran for Governor of Utah, she said “Utah needs a governor who will make jobs and knows how to make them.” While she did not become the Governor of Utah, she was still a leader and valuable part of Utah’s commerce.
Big thank you to Better Days 2020, who we have partnered with to bring you these amazing women in Utah’s history. To read more about Ada and other amazing women who have made a difference please visit https://www.betterdays2020.com/
Over this last month we have focused on women in Utah’s history who have made a difference in our States commercial activities but there are many more stories of women in our state’s history who have done the extraordinary against great odds.
For our last post of Women’s History Month, we bring you Ada Quinn: teacher, wife, mother, and business owner who had multiple patents.
Born in Morgan County Utah in 1870, Ada attended the University of Utah where she got her degree to be a teacher and met/married her husband, who was also a teacher. In 1926, when she was 48 and her children were grown, she started her business with “five dollars, an idea, one family sewing machine, and her will to work.”
It was at a time when purchasing garments readymade, such as aprons, was gaining popularity. Within six months she sold $5,000 worth of product and her goods were so popular that she soon had two factories, an office in New York, almost 200 employees, and twelve patented designs. At the height of the great depression, while most businesses were turning people away, she was begging people to come work for her due to high demand for her goods.
In 1940 Ada ran for Governor of Utah, she said “Utah needs a governor who will make jobs and knows how to make them.” While she did not become the Governor of Utah, she was still a leader and valuable part of Utah’s commerce. Big thank you to Better Days 2020, who we have partnered with to bring you these amazing women in Utah’s history. To read more about Ada and other amazing women who have made a difference please visit https://www.betterdays2020.com/