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| The Morning Union 20 April 1935 |
Mrs. J. E. Burrows, second woman to pass the state bar examinations and the second woman attorney in California, a member of the vanguard of succeeding generations of women barristers, who have achieved fame and distinction for themselves and their sex in the matter of the legal profession, died at Oakland yesterday morning at the age of 81 years.
Mrs. Burrows was the mother of Mrs. Vere Hansen of Grass Valley and grandmother of the Hansen boys, a former resident of Grass Valley and mother of an original family of 12 children, all of whom were born in this city.
Her passing yesterday morning was not entirely unexpected by family members as her health had been declining in recent months and Mrs. Hansen and sons made frequent trips to Oakland to visit her in recent months. With capabilities and vision engendered by a family of pioneer forebearers, Mrs. Burrows, herself a pioneer in the light of the present day period, completed a most remarkable life.
.....Brought Here in '56
Mrs. Burrows was a native of Pennsylvania, but was scarcely two years of age when she made the trip over the Isthmus with her parents, and came to Nevada City in 1856. Her residence in Nevada City and the state of Nevada, where the family became one of the most prominent in the state, was overshadowed by her Grass Valley residence. She passed the state bar examinations in 1887 when women attorneys were few, but she reflected credit on her profession. The late A. Burrows, husband of Mrs. Burrows, was also an attorney, serving as attorney for Grass Valley at one period. ........
From The Morning Union 4 March 1926
Jane's son Don Burrows passed the California Bar Examination. This article states that Jane was the third woman to pass the California Bar.
The theme for this week is achievement. Elizabeth Jane (Hurd) Burrows was my great great grandmother, and I have written extensively about her life in the past. You can find her stories in the Labels section on the right side bar. She "completed a most remarkable life" as her glowing obituary states.
On the surface, becoming the second (or was it third?) woman in California to pass the state bar and become an attorney seems like quite an achievement. When you put it into historical context it becomes something quite amazing! Did Jane Burrows really have the distinction of being the second woman lawyer and attorney in California? I think she came close!
Clara Foltz (1849-1934) was California's first woman lawyer, passing the bar in 1878. In 1876 Clara's husband abandoned her and her 5 children so Clara began to give public lectures on suffrage to make ends meet. Her main aspiration to help support her family was to become a lawyer. She wanted to take the bar examination, but at that time the state of California allowed only white males to become members of the bar. She successfully secured passage of the Woman's Lawyer Bill in the California state legislature, changing the wording from "white male" to "any citizen or person" who was eligible to become a member of the bar.
Clara worked along side her suffragette friend Laura Gordon, the first woman to run a daily newspaper in the United States (the Stockton Weekly Leader) to get the wording of the law changed. In September of 1878 Clara passed the bar examination as the first woman to do so in California. In December of 1879, Gordon was admitted to the State Bar of California as the second woman to do so. She went on to become the second woman to be admitted to the bar of the United States Supreme Court in 1883.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Shortridge_Foltz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_de_Force_Gordon.
Both Clara and Laura sought more formal law training but were denied access to Hastings College of the Law (because they were women and the rustling of their skirts might distract the male students). Both women filed a case against the school and successfully argued the case before the California Supreme Court. Neither woman graduated due to work, activism and family obligations. Even though Laura Gordon was the second woman to become a lawyer in California, I believe that Jane Burrows was right up there with these women trailblazers. She would have been one of a small group of women to be admitted to the Bar between 1879 and 1887. Her obituary states she was the second, but it would have been more accurate to say she was the third (as stated in her son Don's article). Either way, both Clara and Laura would have been exemplary role models for Jane Burrows!
The Morning Union 1 Oct 1887 Grass Valley, California
A little snippet of information found in The Morning Union on 1 October, 1887 reads: "Mrs. E.J. Burrows of Grass Valley has been admitted to practice in the Superior Court". Clara Foltz' experience involved a 3 hour oral exam overseen by a committee of 3 judges in San Jose. I wonder if it compared to Jane's experience? This was such a small announcement for such an amazing achievement!
8 of Jane's 12 children had been born in Grass Valley, California by 1887. Her husband Alexander Burrows had been a successful lawyer, mining law expert, and writer for at least 10 years by the time Jane was admitted to practice. Where she found the time to study we will never know! She probably apprenticed under Alexander through his practice until she was ready to seek admission. I do know that I have not found any evidence that she practiced her profession publicly, but she was probably a great help to her husband with his many cases, or she provided help with smaller legal matters. This was seen at the time as a more accepted way for a woman in a small town to practice law. Jane even described herself as the "consulting council of the concern" (from A. Burrows biography published in Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California, 1891). She went on to have 4 more children.
Jane Burrows' personal Rules For the Government of Practice in the Superior Court of the County of Nevada, State of California, adopted October 16, 1893. Her name is imprinted in gold leaf on the cover.
5"x 7"
In our family collection.
Last page
Roll of Attorneys
Mr. A. Burrows and Mrs. E.J. Burrows are listed. No "Mrs. A. Burrows" for Jane!
Jane Burrows' calling card.
Photograph taken around 1893 in Virginia City Nevada, probably when her mother Harriet Hurd passed away.
Shared by the William Nankervis Archive on Ancestry.com
Jane Burrows was a woman of remarkable intelligence, strength, and courage. She was probably a little strong-willed as well! She eventually divorced Alexander Burrows in 1894 (on charges of cruelty and the inability of the couple to live happily together); another life event that might be considered outside societal norms for the time. In 1907 her daughter Gwendolyn was killed in the Eagle Rock railway wreck, and a lawsuit was filed for damages. We don't know if Jane personally filed the lawsuit, but she certainly had the skills and force to threaten the rail company. She ended up with $3,000 in the settlement. She was obviously a strong role model for her son Don, who also became a California lawyer.
I wish I knew more about Jane's desire to become a lawyer. What was her intrinsic motivation? She must have known of Clara Foltz and Laura Gordon and watched their work on behalf of women. Were they her inspiration? Or maybe it was a little competition between husband and wife.... I would also love to know her thoughts on suffrage for women and how much that cause played a part in her life.
Was she proud of her accomplishments? Her family certainly was. I know that she came from a pioneer family that was quite resilient and strong. They highly valued education and learning; one sister became a nurse and several of her sisters became teachers in Virginia City and Reno, Nevada. Her youngest sister became principal of McKinley Park Elementary school in Reno in 1925; Edith Hurd was part of an exemplary group of women teachers and principals that had a tremendous influence on education in the Reno area for many years. I'm sure Jane, as the oldest sister, was a major influence in her younger sisters' lives also.
Author Barbara Allen Babcock details how Clara Foltz felt the conflict between career and motherhood. At one point during an 1885 case she was emotionally torn as she left her children to travel out of town on a client's behalf. Later on, she wrote about "time's treachery" as her children grew into men and women and what she had missed. She said "I have lost more for myself that I have gained for all women. All the pleasure of my young motherhood I sacrificed for woman's." I wonder if Jane experienced the same emotions. Perhaps that is why she did not publicly practice, but rather remained in the background of her husband's career. Clara had her mother's help with childcare and housekeeping; maybe Jane did not have the support system to have a career and motherhood at the same time. Her sisters and mother lived in Reno and Virginia City, Nevada and not in Grass Valley. Maybe her husband wasn't as supportive of her efforts as we thought. We just don't know.
Valparaiso University Law Review (Vol. 28, No. 4 (1994) art. 4)
Jane Burrows' story continues to amaze me. She struggled with many of the same issues that women still struggle with today; balancing motherhood and home life with a career, women's rights and finding an identity and a voice outside of social norms and expectations of the day. Barbara Allen Babcock laments in her article about the lack of a complete, consistent chronology of the first American women lawyers. Most women joined the bar with a "small flurry of publicity and then fell from public view as they practiced in the local, largely unchronicled, fashion of most lawyers." Even though Jane's obituary may have gotten some facts a little mixed up, we get the idea that her pioneering achievement was of particular importance. I think Jane, Clara and Laura would have been good friends!
Clara Shortridge Foltz
Wikipedia
Wikipedia
*I highly recommend this article on Clara Shortridge Foltz. It is a fascinating journey into California history and women's rights.
Barbara Allen Babcock, Clara Shortridge Foltz: "First Woman", 28 Val. U. L. Rev. 1231 (1994). Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/vulr/vol28/iss4/4
web address: https://scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1917&context=vulr
*Also recommended reading:
Lady Lawyer, Clara Shortridge Foltz by MS Sharon C Avey CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (November 3, 2015) (available on Amazon)
Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz by Barbara Babcock Stanford University Press; 1st edition (December 12, 2012) (available on Amazon)
Relationship Reference:
Me->Margaret Hansen Boothby->Harold Hansen->Vere Burrows Hansen->Elizabeth Jane Hurd Burrows
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