Name Sarah Wertman | Died May 21, 1935 | |
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Education University of Michigan Law School, University of Michigan | ||
Sarah Killgore Wertman, née Sarah Killgore (1 March 1843, Clinton County, Missouri - 21 May 1935, Seattle) was an American lawyer. She was the first woman law student at the University of Michigan, and admitted to the State Bar of Michigan, making her the first woman to be admitted to the Bar of any state in the United States of America.
Life
Killgore graduated from the seminary in Ladoga, Indiana in 1862, and worked for a number of years as a school teacher.
She then attended the law school in Chicago, Illinois in 1869. She went on to study law at the University of Michigan, and graduated from the university with an LL.B. in 1871. Later that year was admitted to the Michigan Supreme Court. In 1875 she married Jackson S. Wertman, an attorney, and the pair moved to Indiana and opened a joint practice there. However. Indiana statutes required "Male citizens of good moral character" for admission to the Bar, and so she was forced to restrict herself to office tasks. In 1878 the couple moved to Ashland, Ohio, and in September 1893 Wertman passed the State examination and was admitted to the Supreme Court of Ohio.
Wertman became a member of the Equity Club, the first national organization of women lawyers.