Josephine Moody Luthe (March 4, c. 1852 – ) was an American attorney who was one of Colorado's first two female lawyers.[1][2][3]
Luthe was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, around 1852. Her father, Alfred Moody, was a wagon maker from England.[4] In 1870, at around age 16, she married Don Harris.[5] They had a daughter, Maud, and son, Fred.[6]
Following the death of her first husband, Luthe initially oversaw the art department of Coe College in Cedar Rapids before relocating to Denver, Colorado. She was initially going to relocate again to El Paso, Texas in order to serve as a secretary for a judicial officer, but decided to remain in Denver upon the death of one of her prospective employers.[7]
She and Mary Sternberg Thomas became the first women admitted to practice law in Colorado on September 14, 1891. At the time of her admission, Luthe was already married to her second husband Judge Herman E. Luthe, whom she later divorced.[8]
She practiced as a lawyer in New York City and Los Angeles, California.[9][10]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Epstein, Vivian (November 1997). History of Colorado's Women for Young People. Vivian Sheldon Epstein. ISBN 9781891424007.
- ^ The Intercollegiate Law Journal. College Publ. 1891.
- ^ Mullarkey, Mary J. (October 2012). "A Brief History of Women of the Colorado Supreme Court" (PDF). The Colorado Lawyer.
- ^ 1860 United States Federal Census
- ^ Iowa, U.S., Select Marriages Index, 1758–1996
- ^ 1880 United States Federal Census
- ^ The Law Student's Helper. Collector Publishing Company. 1893.
- ^ The Law Student's Helper. Collector Publishing Company. 1893.
- ^ Porter, Florence Carter (May 31, 1903). "Can a Woman Lawyer Succeed in Los Angeles?". Los Angeles Herald. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
- ^ "The search for Mary Thomas | Carnegie Library for Local History". localhistory.boulderlibrary.org. Retrieved 2019-08-27.