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Ida V. Wells

Ida V. Wells
Born
Ida Viola Wells

(1878-02-12)February 12, 1878
DiedJune 14, 1950(1950-06-14) (aged 72)
NationalityAmerican
EducationUSC Gould School of Law (LLB)
OccupationLawyer
Spouse
Lloyd Stowell Shapley
(m. 1943)
Parent(s)Harry Taylor Wells
Ella Morella Bennett

Ida Viola Wells (February 12, 1878 – June 14, 1950) was an American lawyer.[1]

Early life

Wells was born to Harry Taylor Wells (1853–1932), a dentist, and Ella Morella Wells (née Bennett; 1856–1939).[2]

Career

Wells, in 1916, earned a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Southern California.[3] She was an associate with Arthur Wilson Eckman (1885–1974) in the Walter P. Story Building in the Broadway Theater and Commercial Districts of Los Angeles. For a little over two years, beginning December 18, 1921, Wells was Assistant State Inheritance Tax Attorney for California.[4][2] She resigned January 31, 1924, to take charge of the Women's Bureau of the Johnson-for-President Club of Southern California. She then went on to serve as Deputy City Prosecutor for Los Angeles from about 1927 to about 1939.[5]

Affiliations

While studying law at USC, Wells was a member of Phi Delta Delta (USC's Alpha chapter), which, at the time, was the only women's professional law fraternity in the country.[6] Wells went on to become the director of the Women Lawyers' Association. She was president of the Professional Women's Club.[2] She was a member of the Women Lawyers' Club, Republican Study Club, Soroptimist Club, State and County Bar Association, Women's Political League.[2]

Personal life

Wells moved to California in 1908 and lived at 1744 West 24th St., Los Angeles, California.[2] Wells, in 1943 in Berkeley, California, married Lloyd Stowell Shapley (1875–1959) (his second of three marriages; her first), a naval captain who, among other things, served as the 23rd Naval Governor of Guam, from April 7, 1926, to June 11, 1929.[7]

References

News media

Books