The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1917-08-03
A WOMAN PIONEER


fury, widow of twenty-four, with a
child to support, was teaching school
in her native town of Royalton, N. Y,
at a salary of SO a week. Compensa-
ton of instructors was low in those
days, but men filling positions like
that of this woman, in the same town
and in the same school, were receiv-
ing twice as much as she, and more.
Her salary was half, or less than half,
what they received for no other rea-
son in the world than that they were
men and she was a woman. This in
vidious distinction is not so prevalent
now as then, but it has not been alto
gether eradicated. The young widow
was Belva (Bennett) McNall. Rec
ognizing the injustice of the discrim-
nation against her, she entered a pro
test before the school trustees, but
they would not see it as she did. 81
went" says she in her memoirs, ito
the wife of the Methodist minister.
The answer l got opened my eyes and
raised my dander. She said, 4 can
not help you; you cannot help your
self, for it is the way of the world. "
This experience determined her fu-
ture career.
Fortifying herself with collegiate
education, as she puts it, she decided
to take up the cause of woman's rights,
the name by which the struggle for
suffrage equality was known then,
and for many years afterward. By the
time she was ready to take active
part in the struggle, she found that
many women of great ability and
= force of character had preceded her
In the next twenty years she found
herself, indeed, a member of a group
composed Of such women as Elizabeth
| Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony
Mary A. Livermore, Lucy Stone, and
Anna Dickinson, everyone of them q
brilliant talker, every one of them
courageous fighter.
Meanwhile she has contracted q
second marriage, becoming the wife
of the Rev. Ezekiel Lockwood, Bap'
fist minister of Washington, and il
was as Belva Lockwood that she be.
came known to the world. The advo
Gates of woman's rights just nance
devoted themselves, as rule, and al
most exclusively, to the task of OBJ
tanning for women equal political rec
ognition with men, before the law
Belva Lockwood, remembering her ex'
perience in Royalton, marked out
different course for herself. She
. would employ all of her talents anc
energies in breaking down the bar
riers erected against women in the
legal profession, her thought being
that through the courts, better thar
through the legislative bodies, or as
we'll, at all events, could woman OBJ
tain recognition of her rights. Hav-
ing secured standing in the legal
profession, she would be in a position
10 plead for her rights before the
courts, and she was bound to be, in
that event, an important factor in Sc
curing interpretations of the law IA
vorablc to her general rights as a
citizen, political and otherwise. In
the pursuit of knowledge, after grad
uation at Genesee College, she acted
as preceptress of seminaries at Lock
port, Gainesville and Oswego, in New
York After her second marriage
, she took up the study of law in the
National University, worked early and
late to acquire a degree, and, upon
graduation, was admitted to practice
before the Supreme Court of the Dis
trict of Columbia.
i Then her real fight began. The
courts of the country generally were
closed to women practitioners. She
went from state to state, and appeared
before their Legislatures, arguing
her right to admission to practice in
their courts, although woman, if
found to possess all the other quail
fications. Sometimes the Legisla-
lures, largely dominated by the in
fiucnce of lawyers, were obdurate,
sometimes they were disposed to
yield; but, in either case, Belva Lock-
wood brought her cause before them
again and again. 81 never stopped
fighting" she has written. "My cause
/. was the cause of thousands of women.
| drew up bill admitting women to
/, practice at the bar of the United
/, States Supreme Court, and / had it
| passed" This was a notable triumph.
The Supreme Court being open to
women, the opposition of the lesser
courts Of the country soon disappear
! ed. Since Belva Lockwood was adj
mitted to practice at the bar, thou
sands of women have followed her eX-
; ample. Some of them have attained
high places in the profession. Myra
! Bradwell Of Chicago assisted her hus-
band, Judge B. Bradwcll, for many
years as editor of the Legal News.
| She was accounted an authority.
Belva Lockwood was not only the
first woman to practice before the
United States Supreme Court, fact
| which alone would have given her a
sentimental celebrity, but she was a
| successful lawyer. One of the most
notable among her legal victories was
! settlement involving $5,000,000
which she secured for her clients in
the case of the Eastern Cherokees
, VS.. The United States.
! In 1884 she received the nomination
CT the Equal Rights party of the Pa
cifc Slope for the presidency, and
: tours later a similar compliment came
to her. She was not, however, in full
harmony with the equal rights cause
for the Equal Rights Party proper,
for she never had conformed to the