page_title: Nellie Tayloe Ross
section_title: Director of U.S. Mint
hierarchical_section_title: Nellie Tayloe Ross / Director of U.S. Mint
caption_attribution_description: English: Medal honoring Director of the United States Mint Nellie Tayloe Ross
context_page_description: Nellie Davis Tayloe Ross was an American politician, the 14th governor of Wyoming from 1925 to 1927 and director of the United States Mint from 1933 to 1953. She was the first woman to be sworn in as governor of a U.S. state, and remains the only woman to have served as governor of Wyoming.
  Ross was born in St. Joseph, Missouri to James Wynns Tayloe, a native of Tennessee, and Elizabeth Blair Green, who owned a plantation on the Missouri River. Her family moved to Miltonvale, Kansas in 1884, and she graduated from Miltonvale High School in 1892. She attended a teacher-training college for two years and taught kindergarten for four years.
  On September 11, 1902, Ross married William B. Ross, whom she had met when visiting relatives in Tennessee in 1900. William B. Ross was governor of Wyoming from 1923 to his death on October 2, 1924. Ross succeeded her late husband's successor Frank Lucas as governor when she won the special election, becoming the first female American governor on January 5, 1925. She was a staunch supporter of Prohibition during the 1920s. She lost re-election in 1926 but remained an active member of the Democrat Party.
caption: Ross, as seen on her Mint medal designed by Chief Engraver John R. Sinnock
exif: {}