Charlotte Parkhurst she was born in 1812 in the state of New Hampshire . Being very young she was orphaned and was raised in an orphanage where she spent more time with the stable's horses than with her companions. When she left the orphanage, or ran away, she got a job at a stable in Worcester (Massachusetts) owned by Ebenezer Balch. Thanks to good horsemanship, she learned to drive carriages with up to six horses, but day-to-day life was very hard for a young girl on land owned by men... she had to put up with constant ridicule, contempt, and abuse. So, one fine day she decided to run away and seek her fortune in the city of Providence (Rhode Island) but with a slight change...she cut her hair, she dressed in men's clothes and adopted the name Charley Parkhurst . There she availed herself of the teachings of Worcester and began to work as a stagecoach driver.
Charlie Parkhurst
But Charley also succumbed to the gold rush and in 1851 she moved to California to seek her share of her pie. Due to the harshness of the terrain and the bandits on the roads, it was not difficult for her to get a job again, this time, at the California Stage Company . After suffering several assaults, from which she escaped well, and the occasional mishap – she lost the sight of one eye after being kicked by a horse and from that moment on she was known by the nickname of One Eyed Charley -, earned a well-deserved reputation on the West Coast. After 20 years in the diligence, and due to the constant pain in his hands, he decided to leave it and dedicate himself to other businesses with little fortune.
In 1868, after the American Civil War, presidential elections were held and in the city of Soquel (California), where he stayed, the name of Charley Parkhurst appeared on the electoral rolls... Charlotte became the first woman to vote, with the appearance of Charley, when the female vote was not approved in California until 1911. On December 18, 1879, she died due to cancer of the tongue… The doctor and the neighbors who were preparing the body for burial discovered that it was a woman.
On the building of the Soquel fire station there is a plaque that says:
On November 3, 1868, this place voted for the first time in the state of California, "Charley" Parkhurst, who had disguised herself as a man...
