... 1966, Florence Ellinwood Allen, the 1st woman to become a federal judge with life tenure pursuant to Article III of the U.S. Constitution, died in Cleveland, Ohio, her home for most of her life, though she'd been born 82 years earlier in Salt Lake City, Utah. In Ohio in 1922, Allen (left) became the 1st woman to be elected a Justice of a state supreme court. When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit 12 years later, becoming the federal appellate courts' 1st female Chief Judge in 1958. According to her court biography,Judge Allen, who never married, had little interest in women's traditional pursuits. She commented frequently on the problems women faced in seeking acceptance by men. She stressed the necessity of working steadily and conscientiously. She also recommended a sense of humor, tact, and above all a lack of emotion. Judge Allen loved reading, especially poetry, and she retained her interest in music throughout her life, playing the piano with professional competence. She was a lover of nature and enjoyed early morning walks with her dogs in the woods and mountains.
The year before her death, Allen published her autobiography, To Do Justly. She left her house to her "long-time live-in companion Mary Pierce."
(Thanks to Legal History Blog for the head's up on Allen and on Barbara Babcock's Women's Legal History Website.)
