Judith Ellen Foster

Judith Ellen Foster

Judith Ellen (Horton) Foster (1840–1910) was an American lecturer, born in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Biography

She moved to Clinton, Iowa in 1869 with her small son and second husband, studied law, and was admitted to the State bar in 1872.

Career

Foster was the first woman to practice law in Iowa, and was one of the first women to be admitted to practice in the Iowa Supreme Court.

She became superintendent of the Legislative Department of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and when that organization was affiliated with the Prohibition Party, identified herself with the Non-Partisan Woman's Christian Temperance Union, of which she became president. She was a popular lecturer on various topics and published a Constitutional Amendment Manual (1882). In 1907 she was appointed a special agent of the Federal Department of Justice.

References

• History of Clinton County Iowa 1976, Clinton County Historical Society, c1978
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)