An obituary caught my eye last month. In describing the career of a recently deceased D.C. Superior Court judge, it stated, “At the time, The Washington Post reported, no woman held a higher position in any of the country’s 94 U.S. attorney’s offices.”[1] The phrasing implies that it was not until 1969 that a woman rose to such prominence in a U.S. attorney’s office. But that’s not accurate.
Annette Abbott Adams was not only one of the first two women to receive a law degree from the University of California but was also the first woman to serve as a U.S. attorney. She held that position from 1918–1920, after first serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney from 1914–1918.[2] Her appointment to that first role was not without opposition.[3] But within four years, President Woodrow Wilson appointed her to be the United States Attorney for Northern California, and two years after that, she was elevated to Assistant Attorney General.[4] She was the first female appellate justice in California, and also sat on the California Supreme Court.[5]
Annette’s accomplishments before and immediately after women had the right to vote in California are remarkable.[6] I’ve long wondered about what shaped her to be such a trailblazer. Nearly every story mentions the men in her life: her father, her brother, the attorneys, judges, and president who promoted her. Few discuss her mother.
Annette Abbott (later Adams) was born in 1877 in Plumas County, California to Hiram Brown Abbott and Annette Frances Stubbs.[7] Hiram Abbott made his way to California from Ohio during the Gold Rush, where he mined for gold and later established himself as a merchant.[8] He was also a justice of the peace, and Annette’s interest in the law may have developed by reading his law books.[9] But by the time Annette reached twelve years old, he passed away.[10] And this is not his story—it is hers, and her mother’s.
Tracing women in history is a challenge. Before 1850, the census recorded only the names of the free and white heads of the households, “along with the number of slaves and ‘free persons of color.’”[11] And little is reported about Stubbs’ roots. Articles about her daughter’s rise through the legal and political world rarely mention her other than to note her belief in education.[12] Stubbs’ obituary contains no mention of her parents.[13]
Census data reveals that Stubbs was from Maine. She was born in 1838, to Maine natives Elmira Jordan and Ebenezer Stubbs, and she had at least four siblings.[14] In 1860, a twenty-two-year-old teacher “Frances A. Stubbs” lived in Bucksport, Maine, in the household of Ebenezer Stubbs.[15] By 1870, a thirty-year-old Annetta F. Stubbs, born in Maine, resided in Plumas County, where she worked as a teacher.[16] The age, birthplace, and occupation imply that this was the same young woman who was born to Ebenezer and Elmira in Maine. What grit and determination brought her across the Civil War-torn nation to Gold Country? Maybe she was drawn by a sense of adventure and (then) excellent pay; an educator of the same era wrote that in San Francisco, she earned $2,000 per year in gold.[17] She may also have been drawn by nearby presence of other Mainers, including possible relatives.[18] Without preserved family correspondence, we may never know the answer to those questions.
Stubbs and Hiram Abbott married in 1872, in California.[19] And there, five years later, Annette Abbott Adams’ story began. Stubbs’ mother emphasized the importance of education, and Annette was “an avid reader.”[20] They decamped for Chico each fall, where Stubbs ensured that her daughters received educations equal to that of her son.[21]
By 1900, Stubbs and her three children had relocated to Berkeley, California.[22] Annette pursued higher education, graduating from University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor of Law degree.[23] But as a woman, she was unable to obtain a legal job, and Annette and her mother moved to Modoc County, where Annette worked as an educator.[24] They returned to Berkeley, where Annette obtained her juris doctorate. Stubbs passed away in 1911, before seeing her daughter graduate.[25]
Annette Abbott Adams’ archived correspondence post-dates her mother’s death and does not mention her mother.[26] Her legal career is well documented.[27] But the life of her mother is generally not.[28] By tracing their movements and searching newspaper archives, we can see a hint of the powerful mother who supported her daughter’s rise.
[1] Emily Langer, “Sylvia Bacon, longtime D.C. Superior Court judge, dies at 91,” 6 May 2023, The Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/05/06/sylvia-bacon-dc-superior-court-judge-dead/ : viewed 10 May 2023). The author explained that in 1969, the Washington Post reported that the future Judge Bacon was the sole woman to hold such a high position in a U.S. attorney’s office, but the implication that no other woman had preceded her remains. Emily Langer, Washington, D.C. [e-address for private use], to Melanie Proctor, e-mail, 11 May 2023, “Sylvia Bacon obituary,” Personal Correspondence Folder, Passiflora Research Files; privately held by Proctor [e-address for private use], El Cerrito, California, 2023. [2] “Annette Abbott Adams (March 12, 1877–October 26, 1956),” The Judicial Branch of California (https://www.courts.ca.gov/2673.htm : viewed 15 May 2023). She was also one of the first female school principals, and one of the first women to be admitted to the California Bar. [3] “Appointment of Woman Prosecutor Doubtful,” The Oakland (California) Tribune, 5 March 1914; digital image, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : viewed 10 May 2023), page 9, column 2. “Woman Named Assistant United States Attorney,” The Oakland (California) Tribune, 28 September 1914; digital image, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : viewed 14 May 2023), page 1, columns 1 and 2. [4] “Woman Is Named Assistant Attorney-General for First Time in U.S. History,” The Oakland (California) Tribune, 29 May 2020; digital image, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : viewed 10 May 2023), page 1, column 4. [5] Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/ : viewed 15 May 2023), “Annette Abbott Adams,” rev. 28 February 2023, 15:45. [6] Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/ : viewed 10 May 2023), “Women’s Suffrage in the United States,” rev. 3 April 2023, 21:58. [7] “Biographical Card Index,” California State Library; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2412/images/31806_212066-01073?pId=2203 : viewed 10 May 2023), Annette Abbott Adams. For clarity, Annette’s mother is referred to by her premarital last name. [8] 1860 U.S. census, Plumas County, California, population schedule, Mineral, p. 3 (handwritten), dwelling 51, family 51, Hiram Abbott; NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 62. 1880 U.S. census, Plumas County, California, population schedule, Big Meadows, enumeration district (ED) 79, page 382 (stamped), dwelling 8, family 8, Hiram Abbott; NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 70. [9] Victoria Metcalf, “Plumas County native honored on the 100th Anniversary of important milestone,” Plumas News, 28 July 2018 (https://www.plumasnews.com/plumas-county-native-honored-on-the-100th-anniversary-of-important-milestone/ : viewed 14 May 2023). [10] Find A Grave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9384896/hiram-brown-abbott : viewed 10 May 2023), memorial 9384896, Hiram Brown Abbott (8 September 1821–16 February 1889), Prattville Cemetery (Prattville, Plumas Co., California). [11] FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/African_American_Census : viewed 5 June 2023), “African American Census,” rev. 15 December 2022, 00:23. [12] Mayme Ober Peak, “’Thundering Good Layer’ is Woman U.S. Attorney,” The Washington (D.C.) Herald, 11 July 1920; digital image, Library of Congress (https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045433/1920-07-11/ed-1/seq-26/ : viewed 4 June 2023). [13] “Abbott,” Oakland (California) Tribune, 13 April 1911; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/76458705/?article=e123bf92-9f97-430c-8828-88e7014043f8&focus=0.18168725,0.7478054,0.31114826,0.76856&xid=3355 : viewed 13 May 2023), page 19, column 2. It describes her as the “dearly beloved mother of Mrs. T.B. Esty, Mrs. A.A. Adams, and Edward H. Abbott. [14] Ibid. “Maine Births and Christenings,” database, Family Search (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F44X-QHL : viewed 14 May 2023), Annett F. Stubbs, 1838. 1850 U.S. census, Hancock County, Maine, population schedule, Bucksport, p. 54 (handwritten), dwelling 406, family 460, Francis in the household of Ebenezer Stubbs; NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 254. Although “Francis” was recorded as male, the age and name match the census taken ten years later, which recorded “Frances A.” as a 22-year-old female. [15] 1860 U.S. census, Hancock County, Maine, population schedule, Bucksport, page 1 (handwritten), dwelling 4, family 4, Frances F. Stubbs in the household of Ebenezer Stubbs; NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 438. [16] 1870 U.S. census, Plumas County, California, population schedule, Seneca Township, p. 9-10 (handwritten), dwelling 916, family 930, Annetta F. Stubbs in the household of Nathaniel Van Norman; NARA microfilm publication M593, roll 77. [17] “Letter from a California Teacher,” The Portland (Maine) Daily Press, 18 June 1870, p. 2, column 2; Library of Congress (https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016025/1870-06-18/ed-1/seq-2/ : viewed 4 June 2023). [18] 1860 U.S. census, Butte County, California, population schedule, Kimshew Township, p. 86 (handwritten), dwelling 854, family 819, Jos Stubbs in the household of H. M. Hollister; NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 56. [19] “Western States Marriage Record Index,” database, BYU Idaho (https://abish.byui.edu/specialCollections/westernStates/westernStatesRecordDetail.cfm?recordID=589530 : accessed 13 May 2023), entry for H.B. Abbott and Nettie F. Stubbs, Del Norte County, California. [20] Metcalf, “Plumas County native honored on the 100th Anniversary of important milestone, Plumas News. 1880 U.S. census, Plumas Co., CA, pop. sch., Big Meadows, ED 79, p. 382 (stamped), dwell. 8, fam. 8, Annette Abbott in household of Hiram Abbott. [21] Metcalf, “Plumas County native honored on the 100th Anniversary of important milestone, Plumas News. [22] 1900 U.S. census, Alameda County, California, population schedule, ED 396, sheet 122-A, Nettie F. Abbott; NARA microfilm publication T623, roll 83. The record states Nettie Abbott was born April 1839, in Maine. [23] “Annette Abbott Adams (March 12, 1877–October 26, 1956),” The Judicial Branch of California (https://www.courts.ca.gov/2673.htm : viewed 15 May 2023). [24] 1910 U.S. census, Modoc County, California, population schedule, ED 38, sheets 3-B and 4-A (handwritten), dwelling 69, family 70, Annette G. Adams in the household of Nettie Abbott; NARA microfilm publication T624, roll 87. Although most stories report that Annette Abbott Adams’s marriage was not terminated by divorce and news stories described her as a widow, the record indicates that she was divorced. [25] “Abbott,” Oakland (California) Tribune, 13 April 1911. [26] Correspondence from Annette Abbott Adams, Box 1, Jesse Washington Carter Papers, BANC MSS C-B 842, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Correspondence to and from Annette Abbott Adams, Box 1, Folder 4, Edward Oscar Heinrich papers, BANC MSS 68/34 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. [27] In addition to numerous articles, a master’s student focused on her career for her thesis about the “position of women in the United States legal profession [in 1972].” Steiner, Louise Eleanor, “Annette Abbott Adams: California’s First Lady of the Law,” (Master’s thesis, California State University, Sacramento, 1972); image, Sacramento State (https://scholars.csus.edu/esploro/outputs/graduate/Annette-Abbott-Adams--Californias-first/99257830906401671 : viewed 15 May 2023). People interviewed by the author revealed that Annette worked with a vocal coach to lower her voice to a startling baritone. Ibid, p. 9. [28] Ibid., p. 4 and endnote 3. Robert Blanchard, “Justice Adams Attributes Success to Determination,” The Sacramento (California) Bee, 19 January 1952, p. 18, cols. 1-2; image copy, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/624132897/ : viewed 6 June 2023). The author notes that Adams’ determination “to show the world women are every bit as good as men” in part to “the fact her mother, who was the schoolteacher in Prattville and the most educated person in the community, was not allowed to serve on the school board while the saloon keeper who lived nearby was a respected member of the board.” Blanchard, “Justice Adams Attributes Success to Determination.”
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