Elizabeth Eaglesfield

American lawyer (1853–1940)

Elizabeth Eaglesfield

Eaglesfield's student portrait, taken at the University of Michigan School of Law

Born| 1853

Clay County, Indiana, US

Died| 1940
Education| University of Michigan

Elizabeth Eaglesfield (1853–1940) was the first woman admitted to the Indiana state bar and the first practicing female attorney in the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1875.[1] She was also a Great Lakes ship captain, the owner of a fruit shipping business, and real estate magnate in Benton Harbor, Michigan. She was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 2013 for her accomplishments in the fields of business and law.[2]

## Early life and education

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Elizabeth Eaglesfield was born June 29, 1853, in Clay County, Indiana, and attended high school in Terre Haute. She later attended the University of Michigan, receiving a degree in literature in 1876 and in law in 1878.[3]

## Career in law

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Elizabeth Eaglesfield began her notable legal career by being the first woman admitted to the Indiana State Bar in 1875, 3 years before earning a law degree. She was the first practicing female attorney in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Eaglesfield focused on providing legal assistance to minors and widows. Her specialties included litigating cases involving property disputes, divorce, and violence. Eaglesfield also used her legal expertise to become a successful businesswoman and real estate mogul in Benton Harbor and a maritime lawyer on the Great Lakes.[4]

## Captain of the Golden Girl

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In addition to her legal practice, Elizabeth Eaglesfield captained a steamship named the Golden Girl which was completed in 1909 for a cost of $10,000.[5][6] The Golden Girl could carry up to ten thousand cases of fruit from Benton Harbor to various ports around the Great Lakes.[5] Eaglesfield's legal expertise served her well on the Great Lakes, exemplified by winning a 1911 dispute with Milwaukee, Wisconsin, police who challenged her right to sell produce from the harbor.[5] Her career as a captain continued until her retirement in 1930, leaving behind a fleet of five fruit boats that her son continued to operate.[2]

## See also

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* List of first women lawyers and judges in Indiana

## References

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1. ^ Barteau, Betty (1977). "Thirty Years of the Journey of Indiana's Women Judges 1964-1994". Indiana Law Review. 30 (1): 55–56. Retrieved November 3, 2023.55-56&rft.date=1977&rft.aulast=Barteau&rft.aufirst=Betty&rft_id=https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/inlawrev/article/download/3218/3145/8610&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Elizabeth+Eaglesfield" class="Z3988">
2. ^ a b "Michigan Women's Hall of Fame: Elizabeth Eaglesfield" (PDF). Michigan Women's Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
3. ^ "University of Michigan Law School - Profile of Elizabeth Eaglesfield". www.law.umich.edu. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
4. ^ "Michigan Women's Hall of Fame for Elizabeth Eaglesfield" (PDF).
5. ^ a b c "Woman Mariner Baffles Police". Detroit Free Press. July 6, 1911. p. 12.
6. ^ The Northwestern Reporter. West Publishing Company. 1915-01-01.

* v
* t
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Michigan Women's Hall of Fame

1980s

| 1983|

* Harriette Simpson Arnow
* N. Lorraine Beebe
* Mamie Geraldine Neale Bledsoe
* Elizabeth Margaret Chandler
* Mary Stallings Coleman
* Wilma T. Donahue
* Grace Eldering
* Josephine Gomon
* Martha W. Griffiths
* Dorothy Haener
* Laura Smith Haviland
* Mildred Jeffrey
* Pearl Kendrick
* Helen W. Milliken
* Rosa Parks
* Anna Howard Shaw
* Lucinda Hinsdale Stone
* Sojourner Truth

|

1984|

* Virginia Allan
* Helen J. Claytor
* Caroline Bartlett Crane
* Marguerite de Angeli
* Emma Genevieve Gillette
* Icie Macy Hoobler
* Magdelaine Laframboise
* Martha Longstreet
* Elly M. Peterson
* Jessie Pharr Slaton
* Mary C. Spencer
* Bertha Van Hoosen

1986|

* Patricia Boyle
* Elizabeth C. Crosby
* Gwen Frostic
* Elmina R. Lucke
* Marjorie Swank Matthews
* Marjorie Peebles-Meyers
* Mary Chase Perry Stratton
* Helen Thomas

1987|

* Marion Isabel Barnhart
* Patricia Hill Burnett
* Ethel Calhoun
* Georgia Emery
* Betty Ford
* Rosa Slade Gragg
* Clara Raven

1988|

* Louise (Sally) Langdon Brown
* Ethelene Crockett
* Marcia J. Federbush
* Frances Alvord Harris
* M. Jane Kay Nugent
* Agnes Mary Mansour
* Helen M. Martin
* Sarah Goddard Power

1989|

* Clara Arthur
* Anna Sutherland Bissell
* Alexa Canady
* Anne R. Davidow
* Bernadine Newsom Denning
* Isabella Karle
* Jean Ledwith King
* Olga Madar
* Mary Anne Bryant

1990s

| 1990|

* Emily Helen Butterfield
* Erma Henderson
* Dorothy Leonard Judd
* Elba Lila Morse
* Fannie M. Richards
* Emelia Christine Schaub
* Mary P. Sinclair
* Merze Tate
* Delia Villegas Vorhauer

|

1991|

* Rachel Andresen
* Mary Beck
* Jan BenDor
* Janet K. Good
* Jo Jacobs
* Virginia Cecile Blomer Nordby
* Dorothy Comstock Riley
* Edith Mays Swanson

1992|

* Cora Brown
* Mary Lou Butcher
* Sarah Emma Edmonds
* Violet Temple Lewis
* Luise Ruth Leismer Mahon
* Gilda Radner
* Martha Romayne Seger
* Ann M. Shafer
* Sylvia M. Stoesser
* Lucy Thurman
* Charleszetta Waddles

1993|

* Edith Vosburgh Alvord
* Catherine Carter Blackwell
* Jean W. Campbell
* Katherine Hill Campbell
* Lenna Frances Cooper
* Roberta A. Griffith
* Bina West Miller
* Jeanne Omelenchuk
* Sippie Wallace
* Edna Noble White
* Irene Clark Woodman

1994|

* Marie-Therese Guyon Cadillac
* Ruth Carlton
* Flossie Cohen
* Bertha A. Daubendiek
* Genora Johnson Dollinger
* Flora Hommel
* Sarah Van Hoosen Jones
* Aleda E. Lutz
* Helen Walker McAndrew

1995|

* Yolanda Alvarado-Ortega
* Irene Auberlin
* Hilda R. Gage
* Lucia Voorhees Grimes
* R. Louise Grooms
* Odessa Komer
* Laura Freele Osborn
* Jacquelin E. Washington

1996|

* Carrie Frazier Rogers-Brown
* Anna Clemenc
* Waunetta McClellan Dominic
* Margaret Muth Laurence
* Claudia House Morcom
* Betsy Graves Reyneau
* Shirley E. Schwartz
* Joan Luedders Wolfe

1997|

* Ellen Burstyn
* Marion Corwell-Shertzer
* Four Sisters of Charity
* Della McGraw Goodwin
* Alice Hamilton
* Nancy Harkness Love
* Maryann Mahaffey
* Sharon E. Sutton
* Matilda Dodge Wilson

1998|

* Connie Binsfeld
* Hilda Patricia Curran
* Marie Dye
* Eleanor Josaitis
* Dorrie Ellen Rosenblatt
* Ella Merriman Sharp
* Martha Jean Steinberg
* Ruth Thompson
* Lily Tomlin

1999|

* Patricia Beeman
* Olympia Brown
* Doris DeDeckere
* Margaret Drake Elliott
* Elizabeth Homer
* Eleonore Hutzel
* Ella Eaton Kellogg
* Emily Burton Ketcham
* Ardeth Platte

2000s

| 2000|

* Loney Clinton Gordon
* Katherine G. Heideman
* Dauris Gwendolyn Jackson
* Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy
* Marjorie J. Lansing
* Chuan-Pu Lee
* Marilyn Fisher Lundy
* Katharine Dexter McCormick
* Kathleen N. Straus
* Clarissa M. Young

|

2001|

* Cora Reynolds Anderson
* Lucile E. Belen
* Theresa Maxis Duchemin
* Aretha Franklin
* Francie Kraker Goodridge
* Marian Bayoff Ilitch
* Mary Ellen Riordan
* Joesphine Stern Weiner

2002|

* Hortense Golden Canady
* Julia Wheelock Freeman
* Lillian Mellen Genser
* May Stocking Knaggs
* Naomi Long Madgett
* Lucille Hanna McCollough
* Lana Pollack
* Martha Louise Rayne
* Muriel Dorothy Ross

2003|

* Mary Agnes Blair
* Verne Burbridge
* Nellie Cuellar
* Alice Scanlan Kocel
* Joyce Lewis Kornbluh
* Eliza Seaman Leggett
* Ida Lippman
* Marion Weyant Ruth
* Bernice Steadman
* Pamela Withrow
* Ruth Zweifler

2004|

* Geraldine Bledsoe Ford
* Jennifer Mulhern Granholm
* Lystra Gretter
* Florine Mark
* Cathy McClelland
* Constance Mayfield Rourke

2005|

* Margaret Chiara
* Eva Lois Evans
* Georgia A. Lewis Johnson
* Lida Holmes Mattman
* Olivia Maynard
* Deborah Stabenow
* Caroline Thrun
* Margaret Sellers Walker
* Elizabeth Weaver

2006|

* Cynthia Yao
* Mary Esther Daddazio
* Margery Feliksa
* Nancy Hammond
* Viola Liuzzo
* Marge Piercy
* Dora Hall Stockman
* Martha Strickland Clark
* Helen Hornbeck Tanner

2007|

* Mary Brown
* Gertrude Buck
* Emma Cole
* Haifa Fakhouri
* Carolyn Geisel
* Jane Briggs Hart
* Abigail Rogers
* Kathleen Wilbur
* Woman's Hospital Association (charter members)

2008|

* Carol Atkins
* Patricia Cuza
* Carol King
* Vicki Neiberg
* Jane Johnston Schoolcraft
* Leta Snow
* Sister Mary Francilene Van de Vyver

2009|

* Carol Atkins
* Grace Lee Boggs
* Margaret Chandler
* Ruth Ellis
* Edna Ferber
* Glenda Lappan
* Kay Givens McGowan
* Elizabeth Phillips
* Jessica Rickert
* Betty Tableman
* Marlo Thomas

2010s

| 2010|

* Mary Aikey
* Laura Carter Callow
* Augusta Jane Chapin
* Sandra Laser Draggoo
* Annie Etheridge
* Sherrill Freeborough
* Dorean Marguerite Hurley Koenig
* Terry McMillan
* Edith Munger
* Cynthia J. Pasky

|

2011|

* Lois A. Bader
* Jumana Judeh
* Marilyn Kelly
* Valeria Lipczynski
* Edelmira Lopez
* Kary Moss
* Rose Mary Robinson
* Tricia Saunders

2012|

* Gladys Beckwith
* Patricia Caruso
* Mary Jane Dockeray
* Judith Karandjeff
* Les Meres et Debutantes Club of Greater Lansing
* Serena Williams
* L. Anna Ballard
* Eva McCall Hamilton
* Mary E. McCoy

2013|

* Elizabeth W. Bauer
* Judith Levin Cantor
* Paula Cunningham
* Joan Jackson Johnson
* Gladys McKenney
* Marina von Neumann Whitman
* Con-Con Eleven
* Elizabeth Eaglesfield
* Harriet Quimby

2014|

* Elizabeth Lehman Belen
* MaryLee Davis
* Jeanne Findlater
* Dorothy A. Johnson
* Julie Krone
* Mary Carmelita Manning
* Barbara Roberts Mason
* Marylou Olivarez Mason
* Andra M. Rush
* Mary Ellen Sheets
* Lucille Farrier Stickel

2015|

* Jocelyn Benson
* Maxine Berman
* Sue Carter
* Janet C. Cooper
* Mabel White Holmes
* Candice Miller
* Esther K. Shapiro
* Maggie Walz
* Myra Wolfgang
* Linda M. Woods

2016|

* Elizabeth Sparks Adams
* Anan Ameri
* Daisy Elliott
* Faith Fowler
* Evelyn Golden
* Olivia Letts
* Mary Free Bed Guild
* Diana Ross
* Lou Anna Kimsey Simon
* Charlotte Wilson

2017|

* American Legion NUWARINE Post 535
* Ella Mae Backus
* Clara Bryant Ford
* Lisette Denison Forth
* Mary Kay Henry
* Verna Grahek Mize
* Bernice Morton
* Rosie the Riveter
* Rosemary C. Sarri
* Elizabeth Wetzel

2018|

* Agatha Biddle
* Mona Hanna-Attisha
* Clara Stanton Jones
* Angela K. Wilson
* Kym L. Worthy

2019|

* Margaret Kirchner Stevenson
* Lucile A. Watts
* Martha Baldwin
* Gilda Z. Jacobs
* Vernice Davis Anthony
* Terry Blackhawk

2020s

| 2020|

* Najah Bazzy
* Elizabeth Jackson (Michigan)
* Glenda Price
* Martha Teichner
* Atlas Ruth Westbrook
* Dorothy Zehnder

|

2021|

* Rosalind Brewer
* Debra White-Hunt
* Lila Neuenfelt
* Fannie B. Peck
* Sarah Elizabeth Ray
* Diana Sieger

2022|

* Esther Gordy Edwards
* Carol Hutchins
* Mary Kramer (Michigan)
* Mary Locke Petermann
* Danielle Camille Woods

2023|

* Gretchen Whitmer
* Denise Langford Morris
* Kelly Rossman McKinney
* Traverse City Ladies Association

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