Ada Kepley

Lawyer, Deceased Person

1847 – 1925

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Who was Ada Kepley?

Ada Harriet Miser Kepley was the first American woman to graduate from law school.

Ada Harriet Miser was born in Somerset, Ohio, in 1847. Her parents were Henry and Ann M. Miser. She had a sister, Nora Miser Scott. Her family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1860, and in 1867, Ada married Henry B. Kepley, who had his own law practice in Effingham, Illinois. At his urging, Ada attended the Union College of Law in Chicago from 1869 to 1870. There she earned her Bachelor of Laws in 1870. She was the first woman to graduate from law school in the United States. However, as a woman, she was denied a license to practice law and therefore never officially became a lawyer until the Illinois law barring women from practicing the learned professions was overturned in 1881. Kepley also obtained a Ph.D. from Austin College in Effingham. She also was an ordained Unitarian Minister.

Kepley's true legacy was not in the legal field, but rather in her passion for temperance and women's suffrage. Her temperance crusade centered around her establishment of the Band of Hope, a youth-oriented temperance group, which focused on educating the youth of the Effingham, Illinois, area concerning the hazards of alcohol addiction. In conjunction with her organization, she also published a monthly temperance newspaper entitled, The Friend of Home which openly attacked the dram shops and their patrons. In 1897, an angered saloon-keeper's son broke into Kepley's home and attempted to shoot her with a gun, but missed and shot one of her dogs in the foot.

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Born
Feb 11, 1847
United States of America
Nationality
  • United States of America
Profession
Education
  • Northwestern University School of Law
Died
Jun 13, 1925
Effingham

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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