Lawyer, Suffragist. Born Belle Aurelia Babb at Sperry Station in Des Moines County, Iowa, she became the first female lawyer in the United States. She graduated from Iowa Wesleyan College in 1866 and taught at Simpson College for a year before returning to her home in Mount Pleasant to study law with her brother, Washington Babb. She married natural history professor John Mansfield in 1868, and both she and her husband passed the bar exam in June of 1869. They both accepted teaching positions at Iowa Wesleyan, than moved to Greencastle, Indiana in 1876, to teach at DePauw University. Arabella served as Dean of the School of Art in 1893, and Dean of the School of Music in 1894. She also chaired the Iowa Woman's Suffrage Convention in 1870. She was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 1980.
Lawyer, Suffragist. Born Belle Aurelia Babb at Sperry Station in Des Moines County, Iowa, she became the first female lawyer in the United States. She graduated from Iowa Wesleyan College in 1866 and taught at Simpson College for a year before returning to her home in Mount Pleasant to study law with her brother, Washington Babb. She married natural history professor John Mansfield in 1868, and both she and her husband passed the bar exam in June of 1869. They both accepted teaching positions at Iowa Wesleyan, than moved to Greencastle, Indiana in 1876, to teach at DePauw University. Arabella served as Dean of the School of Art in 1893, and Dean of the School of Music in 1894. She also chaired the Iowa Woman's Suffrage Convention in 1870. She was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 1980.
Bio by: Dustin Oliver
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