Anna Christy Fall

Anna Christy Fall, "A woman of the century"

Anna Christy Fall (April 23, 1855 – January 13, 1930) was an American lawyer. She the "first woman lawyer in Massachusetts to plead a case before a jury and the first to argue before the Massachusetts Supreme Court".[1]

Early years and education

Anna Christy was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, April 23, 1855.[2] She was the daughter of William and Margaret Christy.[3]

She acquired her early education in the public schools of that city, graduating from the Chelsea High School in 1873. Six years later, she entered the College of Liberal Arts of Boston University. There, she was graduated in 1883 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. She at once commenced a post-graduate course of study, and in 1884 received the degree of Master of Arts.[2]

Career

In September 17, 1884,[lower-alpha 1] she married one of her class-mates, George Howard Fall, of Malden, Massachusetts, who was then teaching, but who immediately after marriage commenced the study of law, and later became Mayor.[4] Five years later, she began the study of law, having become deeply interested in it as a result of going into court and taking notes for her husband, who had meanwhile entered upon the practice of his profession in Boston, Massachusetts.[2]

In March, 1889, she entered the Boston University School of Law. In December, 1890, while still a student in the school, she took the examination for admission to the Boston bar, bring the only woman among forty applicants. Twenty-eight of these, including Fall, succeeded in passing and were sworn in before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court the following January. In June, 1891, Fall graduated from the law school,[3] taking the honor of magna cum laude.[2]

During the following autumn and winter, she lectured in various parts of the State on the "Position of Women under the Massachusetts Law," and kindred subjects. She was admitted to the Suffolk bar, January 30, 1891.[3] Though the mother of two children, she was engaged with her husband in the practice of law, and in November, 1891, won her first case before a jury, one of the ablest and most noted lawyers of Massachusetts being the principal counsel on the opposite side. That case was the first jury case in Massachusetts tried by a woman. [2] She served a three years term on the Malden School Board.[3]

Personal life

She died January 13, 1930.[1] Her daughter, Emma Latimer Fall, was also a lawyer.[5]

Notes

  1. ↑ According to Willard & Livermore (1893), she married George Howard Fall in September 1885.[2]

References

Attribution

  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Davis, William Thomas (1894). Professional and Industrial History of Suffolk County, Massachusetts (Public domain ed.). Boston History Company.
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Marquis, Albert Nelson (1915). Who's who in New England: A Biographical Dictionary of Leading Living Men and Women of the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut (Public domain ed.). A.N. Marquis & Company.
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Willard, Frances Elizabeth; Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice (1893). "Anna Christy Fall". A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life (Public domain ed.). Moulton.

Bibliography

  • Russell, Frank (11 June 2018). Early History of Malden, An. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4671-3941-0.
  • The Key (1930). "The Key". 47 (2). The Key.
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