NEW ASHFORD, Mass. — Phoebe Jordan awoke in the wee hours 104 years ago, lit a lantern and set out on the 2 1/2-mile walk down the dirt road from her farm to the schoolhouse to vote. 

 

Did she know she was walking into history? Possibly. She was politically astute and was participating in something of an electoral stunt to splash New Ashford across the national news for being first in the nation to record results in the 1920 presidential election. 

 

Jordan, then 56, would become the first person to vote for president that year. Oddly, her title as the first woman to cast a vote wouldn't be mentioned for another four. 

 

Three days before this latest presidential election, Jordan's place in history was etched in stone — literally. 

 

More than three dozen family and community members made their way to the steep New Ashford Cemetery on Saturday to see the new inscription on her marble gravestone: 

 

"Phoebe Sarah Jordan ... first woman to vote in the United States, November 2, 1920." 

 

Ernest Jordan, whose grandfather Arthur was Phoebe's brother, gave a hearty welcome to the gathering and the youngest in the group — six generations removed from Phoebe — helped to pull off an American flag unveiling the inscription. Then everyone headed to the 1792 schoolhouse where Phoebe cast her vote in the ballot box that's still in use and to Town Hall for cookies made from Phoebe's recipe book.