Small Missouri town’s nearly forgotten historical figure finally has her day
When Minnie Mae Talbott was a 36-year-old mother raising five children in Lexington, Missouri, more than 100 years ago, she never expected to make history.
But then, she never expected her husband — Joseph Talbott, the sheriff of Lafayette County — to be brutally murdered along with two of his deputies. Until that point, the idea of taking over her dead husband’s job must never have entered her mind.
Minnie Mae Talbott did just that, however, becoming the nation’s first elected female sheriff in 1919. Her story was largely forgotten until recently.
Filmmaker and screenwriter Jamie Hoyt, who lives in Mission but once called Lexington home, revisits Minnie Mae with the 10-page screenplay “Widow’s Badge” that she calls “a proof of concept script.” It has won awards at several film festivals, and she will present it at the inaugural Minnie Mae Day on Saturday, June 13, in Lexington. The event is designed to honor Minnie Mae Talbott’s legacy as well as to celebrate women’s courage and leadership.
Hoyt, a disabled veteran who grew up in Oregon, will portray Minnie Mae throughout the day. She looks forward to spreading the word about one of Lexington’s overlooked historical figures.
“There’s so much more that can be told with it, even with the little amount of information that I have,” Hoyt said. “So even though it’s 10 pages … I have an outline of how I can turn it into a miniseries, a six-episode miniseries. Or even a feature.”
A small display in the Lexington Historical Museum triggered Hoyt’s interest in Minnie Mae’s story.
“I thought, ‘That’s really amazing,’” she said. “I was really drawn to this picture. She had this energy around the picture that really drew me in. I was, ‘I really want to know what this woman’s story is.’”
Minnie May’s story
The murder of the three law enforcement officers, including her husband, took place on May 4, 1919, while they were transporting three suspected car thieves from Higginsville to Lexington. Joseph Talbott had been elected in 1916, becoming the county’s first Republican sheriff in more than 40 years.
The Republican Party recruited Minnie Mae, who had helped around the Lafayette County Jail in Lexington by cooking for prisoners and treating their wounds, to run in a special election to complete her husband’s term.
Not everybody thought it was a good idea. The Lexington Daily News opined: “This county has entirely too much at stake to permit the election of a woman at this time.”
Minnie Mae couldn’t vote for herself — women had yet to gain the right to vote — but she was nonetheless elected by a wide margin on May 29. After being sworn in two weeks later, she served less than a year while raising her kids in the jailhouse.
‘More to be done’
Hoyt’s screenplay incorporates fictional elements, including how the new sheriff dealt with a woman whose husband was a drunk, beat her and left for another woman. She based that scene on a tidbit she discovered during her research that indicated Minnie Mae helped restore the sanity of a woman who had been arrested.
Hoyt hopes to mine descendants who are expected to attend Minnie Mae Day for more details beyond the basics: She was born Jan. 29, 1883, in Marshall, Missouri; married Joseph Talbott in 1904; moved to Pueblo, Colorado, in 1921; remarried there; and died in 1962 at the age of 79.
In any case, Hoyt plans to expand her tale and continue researching the story.
“There’s more to be done,” she said. “I haven’t called quits on it yet.”
Minnie Mae Day
When: 9 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Saturday, June 13
Where: Downtown Lexington, Missouri (about 52 miles northeast of Kansas City)
What: Inaugural event honoring the first female elected sheriff in the United States. Activities will include vendors, music, guest speakers and a reader’s theater-style performance of “Widow’s Badge” by Jamie Hoyt.
Information: visitlexingtonmo.org
