More than two-thirds of notaries today are women, but this wasn't always the case. Emily Calkins Stebbens was on of the first - if not the first - female notaries when commissioned by Iowa governor William M. Stone in 1866. Clara Foltz and Marilla Ricker, renowned for their advocacy during the women's rights movement, served as the first female notaries in California and the District of Columbia, respectively. It prompted widespread access for women.
