Mary Jane Spurlin (January 16, 1883 – June 4, 1970) became
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
's first woman judge in 1926 after Governor
Walter M. Pierce appointed her as a
Multnomah County
Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland metropolitan area. The state's smallest and most populous county, it ...
district judge. In 1927, Spurlin was elected president of the Portland
Federation of Women's Clubs.
Early life
Mary Jane Spurlin was a native of Virginia, the daughter of D. A. and Daisy Marie Spurlin.
Career
Spurlin graduated from
Lewis & Clark Law School
The Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College (also known as Lewis & Clark Law School), is an American Bar Association#Accreditation of U.S. law schools since 1923, American Bar Association-approved private law school in the United ...
in 1924. In 1926, Governor Walter M. Pierce appointed her district judge for Multnomah County. She became Oregon's first women judge on April 1, 1926 when she was sworn into that position. Governor Pierce had previously appointed her to Oregon's Child Welfare Commission. She was defeated in May 1928 in the following election.
In 1935, Spurlin became Oregon's director of women's programs for the
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...
.
Spurlin wrote in 1935 about the negative reactions the public had to uniformed police officers, adding that policewomen in street dress had an advantage over uniformed patrolmen in gaining the confidence of both troublesome children and their parents.
Spurlin was a member of the
Women Lawyers Association of Oregon. She was also a member of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. Spurlin was elected president of the Portland Federation of Women's Clubs on April 9, 1927. In addition, she was a member of the
Business and Professional Women's Club (which was organized in Oregon by
Abigail Keasey Frankel
Abigail Keasey Frankel (died August 15, 1931) was a prominent club and civic worker of Portland. When the Oregon Federation of Business and Professional Women was formed, she was its first President.
Early life
Abigail Keasey was born in Fayette ...
), the
Soroptimist Club, the Women's Convalescent Home Board, the
League of Women Voters
The League of Women Voters (LWV) is a nonpartisan American nonprofit political organization. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include Voter registration, registering voters, providing voter information, boosting voter turnout and adv ...
, the
Phi Delta Delta
Phi Delta Delta () was a women's professional law fraternity founded in November 1911 at the University of Southern California. It merged with Phi Alpha Delta in 1972.
History
Phi Delta Delta Legal Sorority was founded at the USC Gould School of ...
, and the
Professional Woman's League.
''Statesman Journal'', Salem, Oregon, 30 November 1926, p. 7.
Personal life
She moved to Oregon in 1913 and lived at 315 Piatt Building, Portland, Oregon.
See also
* List of first women lawyers and judges in Oregon
References
External links
Mary Jane Spurlin (1883 - 1970)
ancestry.com
Mary Jane Spurlin
findagrave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spurlin, Mary Jane
1883 births
1970 deaths
Lawyers from Salem, Oregon
Oregon state court judges
Lewis & Clark Law School alumni
Lawyers from Portland, Oregon
20th-century American women judges
20th-century American judges
20th-century American lawyers
Members of the League of Women Voters