Margaret Q. Adams
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Margaret Q. Adams was born Margaret Queen Phillips in Kentucky, USA on July 26, 1874. Died January 4, 1974.
Became first woman deputy sheriff in United States in 1912. Served the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) from 1912-1947
[edit] Biography
Margaret Q Adams moved from Kentucky to California with her family at age 9 and settled in downtown Los Angeles at Second and San Pedro Streets. Margaret was the second of five children and her older sister Lillian would go on to marry William A. Hammel who was sheriff of Los Angeles County twice (1899-1902, 1907-14) and chief of the Los Angeles Police Department once (1904-05). One of Adams' brothers, Oliver Phillips, was also in law enforcement, being a police officer for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).
Margaret Q. Phillips married Elmer Adams on January 1, 1899 at the Mission Inn in Riverside, California. They had two children, Wilbur and Anna Margretta Adams.
In 1912, Margaret Adams and her husband Elmer separated. Needing to support her two children, brother-in-law Sheriff William A. Hammel asked her work at the Los Angeles Sheriff's Office. She took the job but only on the condition that she would be deputized. Accordingly, she became the first female deputy sheriff in the United States in 1912.
She served the LASD for 35 years until her retirement in 1947. By that time, she coordinated all of the evidence being processed through the Los Angeles Courthouse. Because of the importance of her work, she became close to several of the sheriffs succeeding Bill Hammel. She was even godmother to Warren Biscailuz, son of Sheriff Eugene W. Biscailuz (served from 1932-1958). Adams often began work before sunrise and did not leave until after sunset. She was also known to run an extremely tight ship and when she retired the LASD needed three deputies to replace her.
After retirement, Margaret Adams helped to raise her granddaughter Margaret Irene McDonald after Adams' daughter died of breast cancer. Margaret I. McDonald carried on the family's pioneering ways, being to first woman to work on the floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange in November 1963.
Margaret Queen Adams died in Costa Mesa, California on January 4, 1974, six months shy of her 100th birthday. She was buried next to her daughter at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California wearing her Los Angeles County Sheriff's badge.
Of note, the first female police officer was also from Los Angeles. Alice Stebbins Wells was hired by the Los Angeles Police Department on September 12, 1910. The first African-American female officer in the United States, Georgia Ann Robinson, was also hired by the LAPD in 1916.
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