Name/Title
ScrapbookEntry/Object ID
1995.083.001Scope and Content
Fern Catherine Welch became the first female sheriff’s deputy in Hidalgo County in January of 1935 when she was named matron of the Hidalgo County jail. She kept a scrapbook of her time as matron, and it is an eye-opening window into the past.
The scrapbook contains photos of Ms. Welch and her colleagues as well as newspaper clippings pertaining to cases the sheriff’s department was working on at the time. The role of the jail matron was to protect and administer to incarcerated women, and there are a number of notes from prisoners thanking Ms. Welch for her kindness in caring for them during their incarceration.
Besides documenting Welch’s career, the scrapbook also reveals something of the lives of the women who were prisoners. Some of the notes have notations that Ms. Welch made about the individual prisoners. There is a heart-breaking statement from a teenage girl about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father and brothers. She bore a child at age 14. Another item seems to be a goodbye letter from a possibly suicidal woman who was accused of murder; a note later in the scrapbook indicates she was found not guilty.Collection
Formidable Females
