BOWLING GREEN, Mo. — A Bowling Green man helped advance women’s rights more than a century ago this month.

In March 1913, Missouri Governor Elliott Major signed a measure giving women equal rights with their husbands in the care of minor children and in the management of their estates.

The Marsh Joint Guardianship Law ended the practice of men having the sole legal right to make decisions for their underage children.

It was named for activist Susan Louise Marsh, who worked with the Daughters of the American Revolution to get the law passed. She went on to write several books, including the popular “Young Abe Lincoln.”

Major worked in the law office of Pike County politician Champ Clark before serving as a state senator and Missouri Attorney General. He was elected governor in 1912 and was seen as a progressive during one four-year term.

Major died at age 84 in 1949 and is buried at Bowling Green City Cemetery.