Question: Who was the first woman elected sheriff in Texas?
Answer: Edna Reed DeWees. She was appointed sheriff of sparsely populated Loving County in 1945 at the age of 24, and she was elected to the position the following year. She didn’t carry a firearm, and she only made two arrests.
While DeWees was the first woman to be elected sheriff in Texas, Emma Daugherty Banister was the first woman to serve in the post. She was appointed sheriff of Coleman County in 1918, finishing her husband’s term after he died in office.
