Ella Knowles Haskell (July 31, 1860 – January 27, 1911)
was an American
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
,
suffragist
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
, and
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
. Born in
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
, she moved to
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
to improve her health following a bout of
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
and there became the first woman to be licensed as a lawyer, the first female
notary public, the first woman to run for
Montana State Attorney General, and the 26th woman to be admitted to practice before the US Supreme Court. She served as the President of the Montana Equal Suffrage Association and was widely known in Montana for her advancement of the
suffrage movement
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
,
political feminism and
social equity
Social equity is concerned with justice and Social justice, fairness of social policy. Since the 1960s, the concept of social equity has been used in a variety of institutional contexts, including education and public administration.
Overview
D ...
.
Early years
Ella Lousie Knowles was born on July 31, 1860 in
Northwood, New Hampshire
Northwood is a New England town, town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,641 at the 2020 census.
History
First settled in 1763, Northwood was incorporated on February 6, ...
.
She graduated from
Northwood Academy
Coe-Brown Northwood Academy is a comprehensive secondary institution in Northwood, New Hampshire, United States. It serves all students from the towns of Strafford, Nottingham and Northwood.
History
Coe-Brown Northwood Academy was founded i ...
at the age of 15 and then attended
Plymouth Normal School
Plymouth State University (PSU), formerly Plymouth State College, is a public university in the towns of Plymouth and Holderness, New Hampshire. As of fall 2020, Plymouth State University enrolls 4,491 students (3,739 undergraduate students an ...
for one year. She then taught in country schools for a few years to earn tuition for college.
She attended
Bates College
Bates College () is a private liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian Houses as some of the dormitories. It maintains of nature p ...
, in
Lewiston, Maine
Lewiston (; ; officially the City of Lewiston, Maine) is List of cities in Maine, the second largest city in Maine and the most central city in Androscoggin County, Maine, Androscoggin County. The city lies halfway between Augusta, Maine, August ...
where she was the first female editor of the college's student magazine, the ''
Bates Student
''The Bates Student'', established in 1873, is the newspaper of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, run entirely by students. It is one of the oldest continuously-published college weeklies in the United States and claims to be the oldest co-ed coll ...
'' and was active in the Debate Society.
Bates was one of the few co-educational colleges in the Northeast at that time, and she graduated with honors in 1884.
[Seacoast Women, Ella Louise Knowles Haskell](_blank)
, Seacoast New Hampshire site
In her school-days she was noted for her elocutionary powers, and she often gave dramatic entertainments and acted in amateur theatrical organizations. She received her degree of A. M. in June, 1888, from Bates College, and after hesitating between school-teaching and law as a profession, she decided to study law. Upon graduating from the college, she moved to
Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the most populous city in New Hampshire. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 115,644.
Manchester is, along with Nashua, one of two seats of New Hamp ...
, where she studied law with
Henry E. Burnham
Henry Eben Burnham (November 8, 1844February 8, 1917) was a United States senator from New Hampshire. Born in Dunbarton, New Hampshire, he attended the public schools and Kimball Union Academy and married Hannah Elizabeth Patterson. Burnham gra ...
, who was to later become a
U.S. senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
.
Career
In 1887, she fell ill with
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
and was advised to move to the drier climate of the
Montana Territory
The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana.
Original boundaries
T ...
to improve her health.
She went to
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
, where she taught classes in French and German in a seminary for a short time, and rhetoric and elocution at Western Normal College. She next went to
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
,
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
, where she took a position as teacher. While there, she received an offer of a larger salary to return to the
Iowa University
The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 coll ...
, in which she had taught. She had seen enough of the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
and of the people of that region to make her willing to remain in the West.
In 1888, she moved to
Helena, Montana
Helena (; ) is the capital city of Montana, United States, and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County.
Helena was founded as a gold camp during the Montana gold rush, and established on October 30, 1864. Due to the gold rush, Helena would ...
and was offered the job of principal at the West Side School.
Not long after reaching Helena, she decided to finish her law course, and she entered a law office,
reading law
Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...
in the Helena office of Joseph Kinsley.
In that same year, she was appointed a
notary public by Governor Leslie, and she was the first woman to hold such an office in Montana.
During her first year in Helena, she served as secretary of a lumber company. While studying law, she acted as collector, and then look up attachment and criminal cases, and she received several divorce cases, which she handed over to Kinsley. She
lobbied
In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...
against Montana statutes that governed admission to the bar and prohibited women from practicing. She successfully lobbied the legislature to permit women to be allowed to practice law, which subsequently resulted in the state bill permitting qualified people to practice law "without regard to sex".
In 1889, she was admitted to the
bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (u ...
to practice before the Supreme Court of Montana, becoming the first woman allowed to practice law in Montana. She at once formed a law partnership with Kinsley. On April 18, 1890, she was admitted to practice before the District Court of the United States, and on April 28, 1890, she received credentials that enabled her to practice before the Circuit Court of the United States In 1892, she was nominated for Attorney-General of Montana by the Alliance party.
In 1902, she
divorce
Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
d her husband, and moved to
Butte, Montana
Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the ...
where she became a very successful attorney for various
mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
interests. She went on to argue and win cases before the
United States Circuit Court
The United States circuit courts were the original intermediate level courts of the United States federal court system. They were established by the Judiciary Act of 1789. They had trial court jurisdiction over civil suits of diversity jurisdict ...
and the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
,
the first woman to do so.
[''Ella L. Knowles : a dangerous woman'' By: Robert Branham, Fawn Johnson, and Julie Morrison Location: Ladd Library at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Template: Audio & Video Call #: KF368.H38 E55 1992 Description: 1 videocassette (25 min., 30 sec.) : sound, color and black and white ; 1/2 in]
Political activities
In 1892, 22 years before Montana women received the
right to vote
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
, Knowles ran for state
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
after being nominated by the
Populist Party, becoming the first woman in the United States to run for that office. She narrowly lost the election, but was nominated to be the Montana Assistant Attorney General by
Henri J. Haskell, a
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
who had won the election. Haskell and Knowles later married.
In 1896, Haskell became the first Montana woman to be elected to a national political convention, that of the Populist party. She went on to convince the U.S. Secretary of the Interior,
Hoke Smith
Michael Hoke Smith (September 2, 1855November 27, 1931) was an American attorney, politician, and newspaper owner who served as United States secretary of the interior (1893–1896), 58th governor of Georgia (1907–1909, 1911), and a United S ...
, to grant Montana $200,000 worth of land for schools near
Great Falls
Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements
* Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size
* Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent
People
* List of people known as "the Great"
*Artel Great (born ...
.
Throughout her time in Montana, Haskell remained active in the women's
suffrage movement
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
. She was a part of the Helena Business Women's Suffrage Club from its inception and was chosen to serve as the President of the Montana Equal Suffrage Association. As the populist movement grew in Montana she remained active and campaigned in support of
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator and politician. Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, running ...
, for he was chosen as the Democratic nominee for the presidency in 1896.
Legacy
Haskell died in Butte in 1911.
The Magistrate Courtroom on the Fourth Floor of the
James F. Battin Federal Courthouse in
Billings, Montana
Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metrop ...
is named in her honor.
See also
*
List of Bates College people
This list of notable people associated with Bates College includes Matriculation, matriculating students, Alumnus, alumni, attendees, faculty, trustees, and honorary degree recipients of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Members of the Bates co ...
*
List of first women lawyers and judges in Montana
This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Montana. It includes the year in which the women were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are women who achieved other distinctions such becoming the first in their st ...
Notes
References
Attribution
*
Further reading
*Shirley, Gayle C. (1995) ''More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Montana Women.'' Helena, Montana: Falcon Publishing Inc.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haskell, Ella J. Knowles
1860 births
1911 deaths
19th-century American women lawyers
American women's rights activists
Bates College alumni
Montana lawyers
Montana Populists
New Hampshire lawyers
People from Butte, Montana
People from Northwood, New Hampshire
Politicians from Butte, Montana
Women in Montana politics
Activists from New Hampshire
American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law
19th-century American lawyers
Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century