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Phoebe Wilson Couzins

8 September 1842—6 December 1913

Born 8 Sept. 1842 at St. Louis.1 Daughter of John Edward Decker Couzins and Adaline Weston.2 With her mother, helped organize the Western Sanitary Commission, an organization that provided care for wounded soldiers of the Civil War.3 Delegate to the American Equal Rights Association Convention, 1869.4 Admitted to the Washington University Law School, in St. Louis, 1869; became its first female law graduate, 1871.5 Member of the St. Louis Woman Suffrage Association until joining the National Woman Suffrage Association, 1871.6 Admitted to the bar associations of Arkansas, Utah Territory, Kansas, and Dakota Territory.7 Nominated to petition the commissioner of Utah Territory to preserve women’s right to vote, 1882.8 Served as deputy marshal to her father, who was U.S. marshal for the Eastern District of Missouri, 1884; appointed by President Grover Cleveland as interim U.S. marshal to fill her deceased father’s term, 1887.9 Ran for governor of Missouri, 1888.10 Appointed as a delegate to the board of Lady Managers of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1890; briefly served as secretary to the board.11 Moved to Chicago, by 1891.12 Met with EBW, 1894; gave several lectures in Utah Territory, 1895.13 Renounced women’s suffrage, 1897.14 Worked as a lobbyist and lecturer for the United Brewers’ Association, beginning 1897.15 Died 6 Dec. 1913 in St. Louis.16

 

Footnotes

  1. 1 Lawrence O. Christensen, William E. Foley, Gary R. Kremer, and Kenneth H. Winn, eds., Dictionary of Missouri Biography (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999), 211. Missouri Secretary of State, “Death Certificates 1910–1961,” Missouri State Archives (http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/death certificates, accessed 28 Feb. 2018), Phoebe Couzins, 6 Dec. 1913, file 40845/10822. “Family Tree,” database and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 16 Aug. 2018), Phoebe Wilson Couzins (LQR5-YQC). 

  2. 2 Lawrence O. Christensen, William E. Foley, Gary R. Kremer, and Kenneth H. Winn, eds., Dictionary of Missouri Biography (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999), 211. Missouri Secretary of State, “Death Certificates 1910–1961,” Missouri State Archives (http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/death certificates, accessed 28 Feb. 2018), Phoebe Couzins, 6 Dec. 1913, file 40845/10822.

  3. 3 Karen Tokarz, “Lemma Barkeloo and Phoebe Couzins: Among the Nation’s First Women Lawyer and Law School Graduates,” Washington University Journal of Law & Policy 6 (2001): 184.

  4. 4 “Phoebe Couzins (1842–1913),” Historic Missourians, State Historical Society of Missouri (https://shsmo.org/historicmissourians/name/c/couzins, accessed 27 May 2018). Lawrence O. Christensen, William E. Foley, Gary R. Kremer, and Kenneth H. Winn, eds., Dictionary of Missouri Biography (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999), 211. “Woman Suffrage,” Leavenworth (KS) Times, 25 Apr. 1869, 1.

  5. 5 Lawrence O. Christensen, William E. Foley, Gary R. Kremer, and Kenneth H. Winn, eds., Dictionary of Missouri Biography (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999), 211. “Miss Couzins,” Lawrence (KS) Daily Journal, 1 May 1871, 2.

  6. 6 “Phoebe Couzins (1842–1913),” Historic Missourians, State Historical Society of Missouri (https://shsmo.org/historicmissourians/name/c/couzins, accessed 27 May 2018). Lawrence O. Christensen, William E. Foley, Gary R. Kremer, and Kenneth H. Winn, eds., Dictionary of Missouri Biography (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999), 211. “Woman Suffrage,” Leavenworth (KS) Times, 25 Apr. 1869, 1.

  7. 7 Lawrence O. Christensen, William E. Foley, Gary R. Kremer, and Kenneth H. Winn, eds., Dictionary of Missouri Biography (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999), 211. “A Lady Marshal,” Aberdeen Daily News (Aberdeen, Dakota Territory), 17 Feb. 1888, 2. Steven L. Staker and Colleen Y. Staker, “Utah’s First Women Lawyers: Phoebe Wilson Couzins and Cora Georgiana Snow,” Utah Bar Journal 6, no. 10 (Dec. 1993): 10.

  8. 8 “Local Matters,” Salt Lake Weekly Herald, 13 Apr. 1882, 1. “Local Matters,” Salt Lake Weekly Herald, 6 Apr. 1882, 5. “Telegraphic,” Salt Lake Weekly Herald, 25 Apr. 1882, 7. “Local News,” Salt Lake Weekly Herald, 12 Apr. 1882, 4.

  9. 9 “Phoebe W. Couzins,” San Francisco Bulletin, 4 Oct. 1887, 1. “A Lady Marshal,” Aberdeen Daily News (Aberdeen, Dakota Territory), 17 Feb. 1888, 2. Edward T. James, ed., Notable American Women 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 1:390.

  10. 10 “Notes and News,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Jan. 1888, 120.

  11. 11 Lawrence O. Christensen, William E. Foley, Gary R. Kremer, and Kenneth H. Winn, eds., Dictionary of Missouri Biography (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999), 211. Edward T. James, ed., Notable American Women 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 1:390, 391.

  12. 12 The Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1891 (Chicago: Chicago Directory, 1891), 558.

  13. 13 EBW, Diary, 31 Dec. 1894; 2 and 13 Jan. 1895. “Miss Phebe Couzins,” Inter-Mountain Advocate (Salt Lake City), 28 Dec. 1894, 2. Edward T. James, ed., Notable American Women 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 1:390.

  14. 14 “Her Race Almost Run,” Chicago Daily Tribune, 3 Apr. 1897, 16.

  15. 15 Lawrence O. Christensen, William E. Foley, Gary R. Kremer, and Kenneth H. Winn, eds., Dictionary of Missouri Biography (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999), 211. “Phoebe Couzins, for Canteen, Says Wine Helps to Uplift,” Washington Post, 7 Jan. 1906, 8.

  16. 16 “First of Women Lawyers Dead: Miss Couzins Dies in St. Louis Home,” Washington Times, 7 Dec. 1913, 16.  Missouri Secretary of State, “Death Certificates 1910–1961,” Missouri State Archives (http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/death certificates, accessed 28 Feb. 2018), Phoebe Couzins, 6 Dec. 1913, file 40845/10822.