Ellen Spencer Mussey 1850 - 1936

Ellen Spencer Mussey 1850 - 1936. Pathways To Reform In Law. , Early Life and Local Ties: 1850-1890s , Ellen Spencer Mussey was born and raised in Geneva, Ohio. Her father, Platt Rogers Spencer, was known for being a reformer and conceptualizing the Spencerian penmanship, a style of cursive handwriting. Spencerian penmanship was considered the American de facto standard for business correspondence prior to the adoption of the typewriter, and Mussey served as an assistant at his penmanship school, the Spencerian Business College, before his death when she was 14., Following her father's death, she moved to reside with her relatives and attended Rice's Young Ladies' Seminary in Poughkeepsie, New York. She returned to her Ohio roots to attend Lake Erie Female Seminary (now Lake Erie College) in 1865-66, and also attended Rockford College in Illinois., In 1869, Mussey moved to Washington, D.C., where she attended her first suffrage meeting and met her husband, Reuben Delavan Mussey, a former Union Army colonel and successful lawyer. Gaining an interest in law, Mussey applied to several law schools in the D.C. area, including National University and Columbian College. She was denied admission to all, as at that time most universities did not see women as fit to practice law., Mussey continued in her pursuit of a career in law by tutoring herself and studying under her husband at his law office, as well as conducting his law practice during his bout with Malaria. Reuben passed away in 1892, which likely ceased Mussey's ability to continue at his practice. Nonetheless, Mussey received special consideration in her request to be admitted to the bar exam, bypassing the written exam and passing the oral exam in 1893. She was admitted to the American Bar Association and was one of few women in her time to be admitted to practice before the Supreme Court bar in 1896., Reform Activist: 1890S - 1920s , In 1894, Mussey joined the campaign for the improvement of married women's property rights legislation with Emma Gillett and Belva Lockwood. The following year, she successfully called for a legislative committee by the District of Columbia Federation of Women's Clubs, in which she served as Chairman. She was instrumental in the passage of the Married Woman's Act of 1896, which equalized the status of women with respect to rights to property and guardianship of children. In 1895, Mussey recruited the help of Gillett to develop the Woman's Law Class to help educate women interested in law careers, which would later be incorporated into the Washington College of Law in 1898., Both Mussey and Gillett were actively involved in various reform movements, including the women's suffrage movement. They were members of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, Gillett serving on the Finance Committee for some time and as Recording Secretary of the District of Columbia Equal Suffrage Association., Mussey participated in numerous events for the suffrage cause, including a 1912 New York parade and the 1913 Women's March in D.C., where she led a division of female lawyers., She also had a passion and drive for the betterment of youth education and justice; in 1898, she was instrumental in securing the establishment of public kindergartens in the District of Columbia, and played a major role in the development of a juvenile court system. She served on the District's Board of Education from 1906 to 1912 along with Oberlin College alumna Mary Church Terrell, and through her legal practice served as counsel to the American Red Cross and legations of Sweden and Norway for 25 years. She also served as Vice President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution (1907-09), a patriotic society for direct lineal descendants of Revolutionary War soldiers, and served as editor of their American Monthly Magazine., The world belongs to those who go forth and work for it. , Mussey assumed a long tenure of actively participating in social justice and women's rights causes. She was elected the first president of the Woman's Bar Association organized at the WCL. Later in life following the onset of health issues, she retired as dean of the WCL, but continued her efforts as chairman of the committee on the legal status of women of the National Council of Women. Alongside suffragist Maud Wood Park, she drafted and helped secure the passage of the Cable Act of 1922, which ended the automatic loss of citizenship for wives of foreign nationals.