- Joined
- Aug 25, 2012
While looking at information about the 3rd Michigan Infantry I found this interesting.
Louisa V. Smith Bryant is buried at Arlington in the officer section. He headstone says "Louisa V. Smith Bryant LL.B, 1834-1902, Civil War Nurse" Her husband I believe died in the War and is buried somewhere else. A couple of her brothers died in the War. So far it is an interesting story. However, why does she have the LL.B after her name?
LL.B means Legum Baccalaureus (Bachelor of Laws). So unless I am mistaken she had an undergraduate degree in law. This was the type of degree Harvard and other colleges and universities were giving as first professional law degrees. So I have a couple of questions.
1. How many universities were giving Bachelor of Law degrees to women during the Civil War era? I would love to know when and where she got her law degree. So can I assume that women with law degrees were more common after the Civil War than before the Civil War? If so, how would one find what year and where she received her Legum Baccalaureus degree?
2. Did most lawyers in the Civil War era even have a Legum Baccalaureus from university?
3. Were female lawyers common in the Civil War era? Perhaps women lawyers were increasingly common in the 1880s-1890s?
Regardless it sounds like she was a remarkable woman.
Louisa V. Smith Bryant is buried at Arlington in the officer section. He headstone says "Louisa V. Smith Bryant LL.B, 1834-1902, Civil War Nurse" Her husband I believe died in the War and is buried somewhere else. A couple of her brothers died in the War. So far it is an interesting story. However, why does she have the LL.B after her name?
LL.B means Legum Baccalaureus (Bachelor of Laws). So unless I am mistaken she had an undergraduate degree in law. This was the type of degree Harvard and other colleges and universities were giving as first professional law degrees. So I have a couple of questions.
1. How many universities were giving Bachelor of Law degrees to women during the Civil War era? I would love to know when and where she got her law degree. So can I assume that women with law degrees were more common after the Civil War than before the Civil War? If so, how would one find what year and where she received her Legum Baccalaureus degree?
2. Did most lawyers in the Civil War era even have a Legum Baccalaureus from university?
3. Were female lawyers common in the Civil War era? Perhaps women lawyers were increasingly common in the 1880s-1890s?
Regardless it sounds like she was a remarkable woman.