Belva Ann Bennett
Born 24 Oct. 1830 at Royalton, Niagara Co., New York.[1] Daughter of Lewis Johnson Bennett and Hannah Green.[2] Married first Uriah H. McNall, 1848; one child.[3] Husband died, 8 Apr. 1853.[4] Attended Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in Lima, Livingston Co., New York; graduated with honors, 27 June 1857.[5] Moved to Washington DC, Feb. 1866.[6] Married second Ezekiel Lockwood, 11 Mar. 1868, in Washington DC; one child.[7] Applied for admission to Columbian Law School, 1869, but was refused.[8] Received a master’s degree at Syracuse University, 1870.[9] Attended National University Law School in Washington DC; graduated with a bachelor of laws degree, 1873.[10] Admitted to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, 3 Mar. 1873.[11] Became the first woman admitted to the bar of the United States Supreme Court, 3 Mar. 1879.[12] Interacted with Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, EBW, and other leaders in suffrage activities.[13] Ran as a U.S. presidential candidate, 1884, 1888.[14] Lectured in Salt Lake City, 6 July 1885.[15] Commissioner for the Universal Peace Union at the Universal Exposition in Paris, 1889; presenter at the International Congress of Peace in London, 1890; elected a member of the International Peace Bureau at Berne, Switzerland, 1892.[16] Met EBW at the Columbian Exposition, 7 June 1893.[17] EBW visited her in Washington DC, 7 Mar. 1895.[18] Died 19 May 1917 in Washington DC; buried in the Congressional Cemetery.[19]
[1] “U.S. Passport Applications, 1795–1925,” database and images, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com, accessed 13 Mar. 2018), Belva A Lockwood; from Passport Applications, 1795–1904, NARA. 1830 U.S. Census, Royalton, Niagara Co., NY, p. 372, Lewis J. Bennett. Sylvia G. L. Dannett, “Belva Ann Lockwood, Feminist Lawyer,” Courier 8, no. 4 (July 1971): 41.
[2] Edward T. James, Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 2:414. Sylvia G. L. Dannett, “Belva Ann Lockwood, Feminist Lawyer,” Courier 8, no. 4 (July 1971): 41. “Funeral of Mrs. Bennett,” Evening Star (Washington DC), 20 July 1900, 13.
[3] Anne Bozeman, “The Presidential Campaigns of Belva Lockwood” (research paper, Georgia State University, 2009), 5 (http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/univ_lib_ura/4, accessed 6 Mar. 2018). Sylvia G. L. Dannett, “Belva Ann Lockwood, Feminist Lawyer,” Courier 8, no. 4 (July 1971): 41.
[4] Anne Bozeman, “The Presidential Campaigns of Belva Lockwood” (research paper, Georgia State University, 2009), 5 (http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/univ_lib_ura/4, accessed 6 Mar. 2018). Sylvia G. L. Dannett, “Belva Ann Lockwood, Feminist Lawyer,” Courier 8, no. 4 (July 1971): 41. “Uriah Harrison McNall,” Chestnut Ridge Cemetery, Gasport, Niagara Co., NY; Find a Grave, 19 Oct. 2015, memorial no. 153977114 (http://findagrave.com, accessed 31 Dec. 2019).
[5] Belva A. Lockwood, “My Efforts to Become a Lawyer,” Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, Feb. 1888, 217–218. Anne Bozeman, “The Presidential Campaigns of Belva Lockwood” (research paper, Georgia State University, 2009), 5 (http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/univ_lib_ura/4, accessed 6 Mar. 2018). Sylvia G. L. Dannett, “Belva Ann Lockwood, Feminist Lawyer,” Courier 8, no. 4 (July 1971): 42.
[6] Belva A. Lockwood, “My Efforts to Become a Lawyer,” Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, Feb. 1888, 221.
[7] District of Columbia, Clerk of the Superior Court, Marriage Records, 1811–1950; Indexes, 1811–1986, Dr. E. Lockwood and Mrs. Belva A. McNall, microfilm 20792252, DGS 4539707, image 802/1982, FHL. Sylvia G. L. Dannett, “Belva Ann Lockwood, Feminist Lawyer,” Courier 8, no. 4 (July 1971): 42. Belva A. Lockwood, “My Efforts to Become a Lawyer,” Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, Feb. 1888, 217–218.
[8] Belva A. Lockwood, “My Efforts to Become a Lawyer,” Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, Feb. 1888, 222.
[9] Sylvia G. L. Dannett, “Belva Ann Lockwood, Feminist Lawyer,” Courier 8, no. 4 (July 1971): 43.
[10] Edward T. James, Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 2:414. Belva A. Lockwood, “My Efforts to Become a Lawyer,” Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, Feb. 1888, 222–224. Sylvia G. L. Dannett, “Belva Ann Lockwood, Feminist Lawyer,” Courier 8, no. 4 (July 1971): 44. Anne Bozeman, “The Presidential Campaigns of Belva Lockwood” (research paper, Georgia State University, 2009), 8 (http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/univ_lib_ura/4, accessed 6 Mar. 2018).
[11] Sylvia G. L. Dannett, “Belva Ann Lockwood, Feminist Lawyer,” Courier 8, no. 4 (July 1971): 44. Anne Bozeman, “The Presidential Campaigns of Belva Lockwood” (research paper, Georgia State University, 2009), 8 (http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/univ_lib_ura/4, accessed 6 Mar. 2018). Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage, History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 3 (Rochester, NY: Susan B. Anthony, 1886), 72.
[12] Belva A. Lockwood, “My Efforts to Become a Lawyer,” Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, Feb. 1888, 229.
[13] Ida Husted Harper, “Brief History of Woman Suffrage,” Relief Society Magazine, May 1920, 265. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage, History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 3 (Rochester, NY: Susan B. Anthony, 1886), 5, 57, 65, 72. EBW, Diary, 4 Dec. 1891; 4 Mar. 1894; 13 Feb. 1898.
[14] Anne Bozeman, “The Presidential Campaigns of Belva Lockwood” (research paper, Georgia State University, 2009), 10–17 (http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/univ_lib_ura/4, accessed 6 Mar. 2018).
[15] “Belva A. Lockwood,” Salt Lake Herald, 5 July 1885, 1, 4.
[16] Sylvia G. L. Dannett, “Belva Ann Lockwood, Feminist Lawyer,” Courier 8, no. 4 (July 1971): 49.
[17] EBW, Diary, 7 June 1893.
[18] EBW, Diary, 7 Mar. 1895.
[19] District of Columbia, Health Department, Internments, 1855–1874, Death Certificates, 1874–1961, certificate nos. 234001-237000, 1917, Mrs. Belva Lockwood, microfilm 2115879, DGS 4548834, image 2845/3217, FHL.