The Life of Lavinia Goodell
Wisconsin’s First Woman Lawyer
by
Teresa M. Derichsweiler
History of Women and the Law
Professor Barbara Babcock
Stanford Law School
Spring 1997
Table of Contents
The law of nature destines and qualifies the female sex for the bearing and nurture of the children of our race and for the custody of the homes of the world and their maintenance in love and honor. And all life-long callings of women, inconsistent with these radical and sacred duties of their sex, as is the profession of law, are departures from the order of nature; and when voluntary, treason against it.1
With these words, Justice Edward George Ryan denied Lavinia Goodell's 1875 application for admittance to the bar of the Wisconsin State Supreme Court. Although such a decision may have discouraged a lesser person, it did nothing to dampen Lavinia's ambitions. Already a practicing attorney in Rock County, her home circuit, Lavinia was accustomed to such attitudes. The road to becoming the first woman attorney in the State of Wisconsin had been a rough one, and in Lavinia's opinion this was just one more obstacle to overcome. "If I don't come out and give old Ryan a skinning over this, it will be because I can't, and I think I can!"2
Using the intellectual and political skills she had honed as an editor, a law student, an attorney, and a temperance activist, Lavinia Goodell published her own seven column review of Justice Ryan's opinion, marshaled the forces of her supporters, and authored an amendment to the State statute governing admission to the bar. Introduced in 1877 by John Cassoday, the Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly and one of Lavinia's long-time supporters, the amendment garnered almost immediate support. It was passed, and became law on March 22 of the same year. Lavinia's second application for admittance to the bar of the state supreme court was granted, over the protests of Justice Ryan, on June 18, 1879. By then two other women were practicing law in the Rock County Circuit; Angie King and Kate Kane and it seemed that Lavinia's earlier forecast had been true, "They can't keep out the rising tide with their mops very long."3
An extraordinary "first woman", Lavinia Goodell set an example for generations of women to come through her dedication to the law and to the rights of women. Her acumen as an attorney proved to all those she came in contact with that women were just as capable of practicing law as men. This paper, written in conjunction with Stanford Professor Barbara Babcock's class in the History of Women and the Law, provides a brief sketch of Lavinia's life. I should admit up front that nothing in this paper constitutes original scholarship. Rather, I have told Lavinia's story by drawing mainly from the two comprehensive sources that were readily available to me.4 Maria Goodell Frost, recognizing her younger sister's place in history, kept many of the letters that Lavinia wrote to her over the years. Maria also wrote a biography of Lavinia, following the latter's death in 1880. Although this biography was never published, it, along with the aforementioned letters, can be found with the William Goodell Family Papers in the Hutchins Library at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky.
As a woman about to embark upon my own career in the law, Lavinia's story is especially poignant for me. Things may have gotten easier for women in some respects - certainly we are no longer barred from practicing law on account of our sex - but I fear that there are still far too many who share the opinion of Justice Ryan as to the "proper place" for a woman in our society. As female attorneys, we must not only fight for our rights to be treated equally with our male counterparts, but we must also continue to fight for the rights of all women. In Lavinia's time, the fight was over the right of women to practice law, rights of married women to be free from their husband's control, and the right of all women to vote. Today the fight is over whether women shoul d be allowed to attend an all-male military academy, the right of women to be free from domestic violence, and basic human rights for women the world-over. We have our work cut out for us, and by looking back on the life of an extraordinary woman like Lavinia Goodell, I hope to provide encouragement for the women of today.
Rhoda Lavinia Goodell was born in Utica, New York on May 2, 1839, the third daughter of William and Clarissa Goodell.5 William was a Reverend, abolitionist, editor and reformer, and was without a doubt the strongest influence in Lavinia's life. He had come to Utica from New York in 1836 at the behest of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society to edit The Friend of Man, a weekly antislavery newspaper. Abolitionist activity and concerns about slavery permeated the family's life. Fellow abolitionists, as well as fugitive slaves, were continual welcome guests in the Goodell home. If the spirited conversations around the dinner table were not enough to forge Lavinia's personal and political views, there was always her dinner plate. Inscribed in blue with words from the Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal...", the plate served as a constant reminder of the Goodell family's central value. "When I sat down to dinner every day," Lavinia would later reminisce, "I read my plate, till I had learned it all by heart - learned it so well that I never forgot it."6
One might think that a family with such strongly held beliefs about equality amongst the races would have equally strong beliefs regarding the equality of the sexes. But it seems that this was not the case, at least not initially. During her last year at the Brooklyn Heights Seminary7, eighteen year old Lavinia wrote to her sister about her thoughts as to what to do after graduation. This likely was the first time Lavinia had spoken aloud about the possibility of becoming an attorney, but she sounded far from optimistic. She also seemed to doubt whether she would receive the support of her parents:
I think the study of law would be pleasant, but the practice attended with many embarrassments. Indeed I fear it would be utterly impracticable. Our folks would not hear of my going to college; I should not dare mention it - Mamma is very much afraid I shall become identified with the "women's rights movement."8
Indeed, Lavinia's mother never did accept her daughter's decision to study law, although her father did believe she was "cut out for a lawyer".9
William Goodell certainly had ample reason for holding such a high opinion of his daughter's abilities. Prior to enrolling in the Brooklyn Seminary, Lavinia's delicate health allowed her to attend school only sporadically. To compensate, she took to studying on her own at home and developed a strong sense of self-discipline. When, in 1852, William took over as editor of The Principia, a New York antislavery newspaper, he set up a desk for Lavin ia alongside his own. Within a year Lavinia had mastered the job of editing and had even managed to get the paper out on her own when her father was out of town.10 When The Principia ceased publication in 1864, Lavinia took a position as a school teacher and then went back into publishing as the Assistant Editor of Harper's New Monthly Magazine.
When William and Clarissa followed their oldest daughter Maria to Wisconsin, Lavinia soon followed. The town of Janesville was thriving by the time Lavinia arrived in 1871. And her years in New York had provided her with the sophistication and experience she needed to easily find a place for herself in Janesville's social circle. But instead, Lavinia settled into studying the law.
It was the standard of the day for students to "read law", rather than attending a law school. This course of study usually took place under the supervision of a senior lawyer, with the student serving as an apprentice and assistant. This on-the-job training was extremely beneficial to the student. But because no local law firm was willing to take Lavinia under its wing, she was forced to study on her own. As she lamented in a letter to her sister, although local lawyers were "suffering for the want of students to help" they "would not let me in, because I was a woman. They would sooner hire shiftless, incompetent boys, that are continually bringing them grief, than take my services gratis, when they know how steady I am and anxious to learn." She knew that this put her at a disadvantage. Young men who were taken in as apprentices received, "an insight into practical law, through their cases learning more in a week than I could in a month of unaided study."11
One local law firm did allow Lavinia the use of its library and even gave her occasional instruction and advice. The firm also employed her as a copyist, although this did not compare to the more interactive experience received by male counterpart, whom the firm took on as a full-fledged apprentice soon after telling Lavinia that there was no such position available.
While Lavinia's legal studies were a lonely endeavor, she appears to have found solace in her ability to share her new-found legal knowledge with other women as they began organizing the Janesville temperance women's campaign. In July of 1873, the Janesville City Council voted unanimously to grant three tavern licenses. The temperance women of Janesville were up in arms. Two of these council members had been voted in on the temperance slate! How could they have broken their campaign promises? The temperance women's campaign, led in large part by Lavinia Goodell, swung into action. Lavinia and her co-organizers quickly called a Saturday "parlor consultation" at which the women planned a "Ladies' Mass Meeting". During the next three days the women secured petition signatures from the most "highly respectable ladies in different parts of the city", arranged for use of the local opera house for their meeting, and wrote notices to be signed by the petitioners and read from pulpits at Sunday services. These notices were then reprinted in the local press on Monday morning, along with an announcement of the mass meeting, to be held on Tuesday. Finally, the women fanned out across the city, distributing handbills announcing the meeting.
That Tuesday, more than 200 townswomen turned out for the meeting. There, resolutions were adopted and leaders were elected. The group called themselves the Ladies' Temperance Union and although Lavinia was asked to head up the organization, her ongoing legal studies led her to opt for a position as vice president. Still, her legal knowledge and experience placed her in a central role. Within four days after the initial organizing meeting, Lavinia led some thirty women in a procession through the streets of Janesville. The procession ended at City Hall, where the women presented their petition to a city council chambers filled with waiting women. The petition included some 1,250 signatures. Only 42 townswomen had refused to sign!
The success of the women's efforts was mixed. Despite this strong showing of opposition, the city council went ahead with its plan to license the three taverns. "[I]f those 1250 names represented 1250 ballots," Lavinia wrote to Maria, "those licenses would not have been granted."12 But, in the days following the council meeting, the Ladies' Temperance Union was able to persuade one hotel owner to tear up his tavern license and the others to withdraw their requests.
Despite the initial strong support for their cause, the Ladies' Temperance Union, in a display of strategic acumen that appears to have stemmed from Lavinia's influence, withdrew from public view following their initial success. Understanding the uneasiness surrounding their political activities, even with women from amongst their ranks, Lavinia wrote to Maria, "there are so many timid ladies who are afraid they shall do something 'unwomanly' that I fear they will never do anything womanly...".13 Lavinia and a few others trained members of the Temperance Union in such things as public speaking, writing and organizational skills. Only when they were ready did the women begin again holding mass meetings. Lavinia, who had continued writing as a freelancer, published articles in the Wisconsin Chief and the Janesville Gazette, describing more meetings and incidents where liquor dealers surrendered their licenses after pressure from the women and offering organizational and strategic advice to other women's groups.
The efforts of the Ladies Temperance Union in Janesville bolstered the state-wide movement. In early 1874, the Wisconsin Chief reported that uprisings were under way in several Wisconsin towns, includin g Appleton, Ripon, Whitewater, and Fond du Lac.14 Lavinia would continue to play an active role in the movement, in Janesville and beyond, but first she needed to complete her legal studies.
While studying in the library of A. A. Jackson and Pliny Norcross, Lavinia had apparently won-over one the firm's partners, Pliny Norcross. For when she decided to apply for admission to the Rock County bar. Mr. Norcross, known to his friends as "Captain Norcross" came through with flying colors to assist her in her final preparations. "He came around lovely, and promised to aid and abet me all in his power." Admission to the bar of a circuit court in Wisconsin was by order of the judge of that court, after the applicant's legal knowledge and moral character had been examined. Although Circuit Judge Herman Conger reportedly had his doubts about admitting Lavinia, he could find no legal impediment to her admission. Determining her to be a resident of Wisconsin, of good moral character, and "possessed of sufficient legal knowledge and ability" he certified Lavinia's application. She was admitted to the Rock County bar on June 17, 1874.
The Rock County Register said of Lavinia's admission to the bar, "[S]he is a lady of acknowledged ability and will no doubt be a shining light among the legal profession."15 People around the courthouse confided to Lavinia that she had passed the bar examination with higher marks than the average applicant.
I have been receiving compliments and congratulations ever since, till I fear I am in danger of becoming intoxicated with success. Most of the prominent lawyers have extended the right hand of fellowship to me, and welcomed me to the profession.16
However, Lavinia's transition from law student to legal-eagle was not a completely smooth one. She reported to Maria that at a dinner she attended soon after being admitted to the bar, one of the men present could not look at her without bursting into laughter. "I fear I shall never induce him to regard it in any other light than that of a good joke."17
Although she began her practice by doing collection work, Lavinia was soon hired by a group of temperance women in Fort Atkinson to prosecute two alleged liquor dealers. The temperance crusaders claimed that the Fort Atkinson District Attorney was a "liquor man" and could not be counted on to carry out an earnest prosecution.18 Lavinia won the case and the first appeal, although the conviction was overturned on a technicality following a second appeal. Despite the eventual loss, her performance in Fort Atkinson was impressive, and she was soon hired by the women of Janesville to prosecute a liquor dealer there.
Her experience in Fort Atkinson also taught Lavinia a lesson that all new attorneys learn - that clients are seldom happy with their attorney's fees! Soon after returning to Janesville, Lavinia learned that the temperance committee in Fort Atkinson had commented in print about the size of her fee. She told Maria that she had been "quite disheartened" by the news until she shared her frustration with Captain Norcross. He was "quite amused" at her innocence, but Lavinia did feel better after he explained that complaints about fees were a normal part of the practice of law.19 She would continue to represent women's groups throughout Wisconsin in their efforts to shut down liquor dealers.
It was not until Lavinia found it necessary to appeal a case to the state supreme court that her sex became a real issue. Under the normal custom of the court, a lawyer who had previously been admitted to the circuit court bar would automatically be admitted to the State Supreme Court bar. But Lavinia's was no ordinary situation. Although the record is not clear as to how, exactly, her sex became an issue, a hearing was set for December 14, 1875 to consider the issue of her admittance.
The three man state supreme court was dominated by Justice Edward Ryan, who is reported to have been a staunch opponent of women's rights throughout his career. The relevant Wisconsin statute governing admission to the state bar provided in pertinent part:
s. 31. No person shall hereafter be admitted or licensed to practice as an attorney of any court of record in this state, except in the manner hereinafter provided.
s. 32. To entitle any such person to practice as such an attorney in the circuit courts of this state, he shall be first licensed by order of one of the judges thereof . . . and no such order shall be made until the person applying for such license shall have first been examined . . as to his learning in the law and ability to practice as such attorney, nor until such judge shall be satisfied that such person possesses sufficient legal knowledge and ability to entitle him to practice as such attorney, nor unless such person be a resident of this state, more than twenty-one years of age, and of good moral character . . . (emphasis added).
Interpreting the masculine pronouns in the statute as an indication that the statutory provisions applied strictly to men, the Court denied Ms. Goodell's application. In defending their holding that women were not to be admitted to the bar, the Court argued that "[r]everence for all womanhood would suffer in the public spectacle of women . . . so engaged."
In a most back-handed manner, the Court did see fit to congratulate Lavinia on meeting all of the character requirements for admission:
And it is a matter for congratulation that [the application] is made in favor of a lady whose character raises no personal objection: something perhaps not always looked for in women who forsake the ways of their sex for the ways of ours.20
Goodell argued in favor of her admission, reasoning that there was nothing in the statute that could be construed to exclude a woman. Although the statute referred to the masculine gender, Lavinia argued that the law on statutory construction provided that words importing the masculine gender only may extend and be applied to women. Seeking to distinguish her case from the earlier Illinois decision denying Myra Bradwell admission to the bar on the basis of legislative intent, she contended that the Wisconsin statute had been enacted in 1861, when progressive ideas concerning the role of women were much more widely known.
All of these arguments were to no avail. In February, 1876, the State Supreme Court denied Lavinia's petition for admission to its bar. One of Lavinia's staunchest supporters , John Cassoday, a prominent state politician, was elected Speaker of the State Assembly soon after her application was denied. On Lavinia's behalf, Speaker Cassoday introduced a bill explicitly allowing women to be admitted to the bar. After receiving support from numerous fronts, that bill was passed and became law on March 22, 1877. In 1879 Lavinia renewed her application to the supreme court and was admitted, over the protests of Justice Ryan, who continued to argue that the court had absolute power over the bar and was not bound by statute.21
Lavinia Goodell died on March 31, 1880, just a few weeks after receiving word that she had won her first case before the Wisconsin State Supreme Court. Her funeral was held on April 1st at the First Congregational Church in Janesville. Although the pastor, Reverend T. P. Sawin, did emphasize Lavinia's work as a temperance reformer, he failed to mention her career as a lawyer.
SOME THOUGHTS FOR THE FUTURE RESEARCHER
There are many aspects of Lavinia Goodell's life that remain to be explored. Catherine Cleary touched on several of these, including Lavinia's interest in prisoners following her representation of two indigent clients.22 Cleary also notes that Maria saw her sister's interest in these prisoners as an outlet for her maternal instincts. Exploration of this aspect of Lavinia's personality could prove interesting. As was the case with many of the staunchest activists of the time, Lavinia remained single throughout her life. On at least one occasion she indicated to Maria that being single, in her opinion, might be the only way for a woman to wholeheartedly take up the work at hand. "[T]here are many who would join in the work gladly but their husbands hold them back. It is the women who are untrammeled by husbands who must do this thing."23
Cleary also discusses several of Lavinia's cases in detail and mentions that her diaries are on file at Berea College. For a researcher with access, these diaries would surely provide fascinating insight into Lavinia's thoughts and feelings about her role as a "first woman".
1839-1879
1832 Rev. Wm. Goodell starts the Female Advocate in New York City with his wife Clarissa Cady Goodell, who was also a founding member of the Female Moral Reform Society and the local Ladies’ Temperance Society. The Female Advocate is one of the earliest papers to welcome women’s news and was deeply involved in the moral reform and temperance movements.
1836 Wm. & Clarissa Goodell move to Utica, NY. Wm. edits The Friend of Man, an anti-slavery weekly. May 2, 1839 Lavinia Goodell born in Utica, New York 1852 Wm. Goodell moves his family to New York City. There he edits The Principia, an anti-slavery newspaper. He teaches Lavinia to run the office. ? Lavinia graduates from the Ladies Seminary in Brooklyn Heights, NY. 1864-68 Lavinia teaches school in New York, then becomes assistant editor at Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. 1871 Lavinia follows her family to Janesville, Wisconsin. There she begins studying law. July, 1873 Lavinia assists in the founding of the Janesville Women’s Temperance Union. June 17, 1874 Lavinia admitted to the Rock County bar. Dec, 1875 Lavinia applies for admission before the state supreme court and is rebuffed. Feb. 1876 The Wisconsin State Supreme Court denies Lavinia’s application for admission to that court’s bar. 1877 John Cassoday, one of Goodell’s strongest supporters, is elected speaker of the Assembly. He introduces a bill permitting the admission of women to the bar and uses his influence to assure it’s passage. The bill is enacted on March 22, 1877. 1879 Lavinia renews her application to the supreme court and is admitted in spite of Justice Ryan’s continuing objections. March 31, 1880 Lavinia dies at age 40.
Endnotes
1 In Matter of Motion to Admit Goodell, 39 Wis. 232, 245 (1875).
2 Maria Goodell Frost, Life of Lavinia Goodell, 137-138 (unpublished manuscript) (Box 16, File 6, of the William Goodell Family Papers, Hutchins Library, Berea College, Berea, Kentucky) (hereinafter cited as Frost, "Life").
3 Frost, "Life," 137-138.
4 These two sources, GENEVIEVE G. MCBRIDE, ON WISCONSIN WOMEN: WORKING FOR THEIR RIGHTS FROM SETTLEMENT TO SUFFRAGE (1993), and Catherine B. Cleary, Lavinia Goodell, First Woman Lawyer in Wisconsin, 74 WIS. MAG. HIST. 243, can both be found at the Stanford Law Library. McBride's book is a part of the library's own collection. I have placed a copy of Cleary's piece with the materials for Professor Babcock's History of Women and the Law class.
5 Lavinia's oldest sister died in infancy. Her remaining sister, Maria was twelve years older than Lavinia. Cleary, supra note 4 at 244.
6 Frost, "Life," 7, 28.
7 William Goodell moved his family to New York in 1852 so that he could take over as editor of The Principia, an antislavery newspaper.
8 Frost, "Life", 40-41.
9 Frost, "Life", 96. It may be the case that William Goodell was more liberal than his wife, Lavinia's mother, Clarissa Cady Goodell. Mrs. Goodell was involved in the moral reform movement, and seemed to share her husband's opinions concerning the abolitionist movement, but remained reluctant to embrace a role for women beyond the home. However, some researchers suggest that William Goodell was more supportive of women in their efforts for equality. They cite as an example the fact that his early temperance publication, the Female Advocate, was among the first to solicit material from female writers and welcomed "women's" news. GENEVIEVE G. MCBRIDE, ON WISCONSIN WOMEN 38 (1993).
10 Cleary, supra note 4 at 245.
11 Lavinia Goodell to Maria Goodell Frost, Feb. 24, June 27, July 2[?] and Nov. 18, 1873, William Goodell Family Papers, Berea College, Berea, Kentucky.
12 Goodell to Frost, July [?], 1873.
13 Id.
14 MCBRIDE, supra note 4 at 58.
15 ROCK COUNTY REGISTER, June 19, 1874.
16 Goodell to Frost, undated letter. Can be found with the William Goodell Family Papers, Berea College, Berea, Kentucky.
17 Goodell to Frost, June 30, 1874.
18 MCBRIDE, supra note 4 at 65-66.
19 Goodell to Frost, Aug. 6, 1874.
20 In Re Goodell, 39 Wis. 232, 240-41 (1875).
21 As Cleary notes, "the justices who heard Goodell's first (and second) case were members of a profession which had always been an exclusively male preserve." The Wisconsin bar was" just emerging from the frontier period when lawyers and judges traveled the circuit together. At day's end they relaxed together at the tavern where they all stayed, and what discipline there was for the legal profession took place in the give-and-take of that setting." Cleary, supra note 4 at 258. It may be that this was a greater influence on Justice Ryan's opinion than he would ever have admitted.
22 Cleary, supra note 4 at 263.
23 Goodell to Frost, July [?], 1873.
Return
to the List of Student Papers
Return to
the Main Page