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A DISTINGUISHED WOMAN HONORED
MRS. BELVA ANN LOCKWOOD, BARRISTER AT Lay
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A more forceful examole of achievement could not be given
than the subject of this sketch. @ne such life is vorth more
as an incentive and inspiration than all the precepts ever pen-
ned though they.vwere numerous as the sands upon the sea-shore,
and though they filled the vorld with their eloquence. As one
who has borne the burden and toil of the pioneer in emancipat~-
ing woman from unjust and enervating conditions, and in recogni-
tion of her work during sixty years for the welfare of humanity
Mrs. Lockwood is to be honered by her numerous friends and admir~
ers, many ot whom met recently at the residence of Mrs. John A.
Logan, Washington, D. C., to complete arrangerents for the paint-
ing of a large portrait of this eminent voman, to be hung in
some gallery or museum of free access to the vublic. Many prom
inent men and women are taking active part in raising the nec-—
essary funds, of which Mr. Villiam ND. Hoover, President of the
National Savings and Trust Co., Washington, D. C., is Treasurer;
fiss Edith Mosher, "The Devey", is Secretary.
~~ Groo, 0%. Belva Ann Lockwood, daughter of Levis Johnson and Hanneh
/Ppbest Bennett, was born at Royalton, Niagara Co., N, Y., on
/\ Oct, 24, 1840. Married at 18 to a young farmer, Uriah H. MeNall,
she was a widow at 24, with one daughter, afterwards lirs, Lura
M, Ormes, an assistant in her mother's law office. Belva A.
McNall entered Genesee Collere, Lima, N. Y., in 185%, and grad-
uated with honors taking her degree of A. B. on June 27, 1857.
She was immediately elected preceptress of Lockyvort Union School,
an academy containing 600 students. Here she introduced declam-
tion anc gymnastics for the girls, conducting the classes her-
~~ gelf (and gata neir aspiatance upon the breaking ‘out of the civ-
i. Ter, she’ equipped the 2th New York regiment with all arti-
cles ‘hat woranly hands could supply). She was also professor
of higher mithountios, logic, rhetoric and botany. After four
years, she resigned to become precentress of the Gainsville Fe-
male Seminary, and, later, proprietor of the McNall Seminary at
@wezo, WN. Y.
At the close of the civil var she removed to Washington,
D. C., and for seven years had charge of Union League Hall, mean-
while taking uy the study of law. @n March 11, 1868, she mar-
ried Rev. Ezekiel Lockwood, a Baptist minister % who died in 1877,
Jessie 8B. Lockwood, their only child, having died before him.
Dr. Lockwood took her degree of A, M. in Syracuse Univer-
sity, N. Y., in which Genesee College had previously been ineor-
porated in 1870, and here, on June 10, 1909, in the presence of
™ 2 . «7
a great cuncourse of distinguished men and women, by unanimous
vote of thé Faculty, the degree of LL. D. was conferred upon
her, ghe oply-woman in the United States upon whom this proud
title ha@ been bestowed;“’she was informed by the Chancellor,
James xoscoe Day.
Her experience in the legal profession was gained by indom
itable wili and energy. Denied admission to both Georgetown
and Columbian Colleges because of her sex, she pursued her course
at the National University Lav School, char:ered for women in
1871, by Prof. W. B, Wedgewood of Waine, and in May, 1873, she
graduated, taking her degree of D. Cc. L. |
It is difficuit new to realize the opposition and persecu-
tion this heroic woman met and triumphed over. she was refus-~-
ed her diploma and admission to the Bar, but nothing daunted,
she wrote a letter to General Grant, then President of the Unit-—
ed States and Chancellor of the University, demanding her rights
as a citizen, stating that as she had fulfilled all the require~
ments of the University and passed her examination, she should be
given the right to practise her »vrofessicn. This appesl secured
her admission to the Supremes Court of the District of Columbia,
on Sept. 24, 1874, and she has sines continued in active and
successful practise as a leading lavyer.
In 1875 she applied for and vas refused admission to the
Court of Claims on the grounds, first, that sue was a yoman,
and second, that she was a married woman! In 1876 her admission
tc the Bar of the United States Supreme Court was moved, but re-
fused on the ground that "there were no English precedents for
the admission of women to the Bui". In vain did she cite the
fact inat @ueens Eleanor and Elizabeth had been Supreme Chancel~
lors of the Realm, and that Ann, Countess of Pembroke, sat with ©
the Judges on the Bench at the assi es of Applevy. But with
courage unabated and tireless energy anc effort, she drafted a
bill admitting women to the Bar of the Supreme Cour’ of the Unite
ed States, secured its introduction into both houses or Congress,
and succeeded, after three years of unremitting labor, in arous-
ing influence and public sentiment cnough tc secure tis passage
in January, 1879. In February folloving, she was admitted to
that avgust tribunal, having surmounted stupendous obstacles in
the sttainment of her object. Af.er this triumph she was form
ally netified that she would now be admitted to the Court of
Claims, and was adritted on March 6, 1879. She has since had a
large and important practise in both courts, the most notable
of her cases being that of the Hastern and Hmegrent Cherokee Pre
Indians vs. the United States, in which judgment was given hee
clients for ¢ 5,000,000.
Tn 1870, she sccured the passage of a bill giving to the
women employees of the government equal pay with .aen for the
same work, In 1584 and 1868 she was the presidential candidate
a
of the Equal Rights party. Always working for Justice and Right,
she has borne the burden of the pioneer's struggle that others
might ifind the conditions of life easier and simpler. Her in-
fluenes has been potent, not only in securing equal rights for
nen and women, but aleung all lines for the betcerment and ele~
vation of humanity, the amelioration of nardships in factories
and workshops, in the State, the Church, the School and the
Home . Ainerica is proud to claim her as a citizen, and the
world is better because of her presence,
cited nai eee eee BiTivean. to secre temperance anGg labor reforms,
the control by the government of railroads and telegraphs and
in the settlement of 411 national and international Lifficultieg
by arbitration instead of war, In 1los9 she represenied the
Universal Peace Union (of which she has been a me: der for thirty
years) at the Perris Exposition, and wag its delegate te the In
ternational Congress of Peace, which held its sessions in the
Salle of the Trocadero, where she made one of the opening sypench-
6s and presented an able paper in French on international arbi-
tration. Again, in 189@, she represcaited the Universal Peace
Union in the International Congress in hondon, and presented a
paper on Dis3rmament, Ins:ed, from the ineipiency of ~har igs
now known as .he Peace movement, Dr. Lockwood has been an earnest
anc energetic worker in this, the greazisst contribution of all
ages io the cause of civilization, and will be forever iden‘i-
fled wiih this epoch-making vork, She has served ihe Universal
Peace Union faithfully and 6fficiently as its Vice-President anj
Corresponding Secretary, and has been its de ega°e to the Inter—
national congress of Peace, seven times abroad and three tines
38 this cotniry. she wag elec:ed a member of rhe In ernation-—
a1 Peace Bureau ac Berne, 1892, annually re-elected ever since,
ana for (ite, yoars has bsen in charge of the 4ranch APureau
at Washington, D. C, She compiled the veace treaties of *he
Unil.ed Sta'ss in 189%.
While on her fi:
‘st trip to Londen Dr Lockwood took a course
Of University extens sture
1 stures in ‘he famous university of Ox-
ford; hex inirst for knovledge is only exceeded by her desire
(hers what she has found so desirable ror herself.
She is connected with many oodies of progressive, public spirited
men and women, is Uhaizman of tne Committee on Peace for the ya~
tional Council of Women, and Senator for the District of Cojum-
bla in The American Woman’s Republic, She has repestealy,
through the years, presiced over thse Womar's National Press Ag—
sociation, where, though in her eighty— 64 year, she presents
the appearance of a well--pre;: arved woman of Titty. hong may
she live, an honor to her sex and to her country!
Belva Lockwood biographical sketch
Titled "A Distinguished Woman Honored, Mrs. Belva Ann Lockwood, Barrister at Law, the First Female LL. D. in America." Handwritten note at the top says, "Paper prepared by the committee and given to the press at the time of the unveiling," probably referring to the portrait unveiling of Belva Lockwood. Gives a biographical sketch of Belva Lockwood and lists her major accomplishments.
1913
3 pages
reformatted digital
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, SCPC-DG-098
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, SCPC-DG-098 --http://archives.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/resources/scpc-dg-098
Lockwood-0098