Bessie Bradwell Helmer

Bessie Bradwell Helmer (October 20, 1858 – January 10, 1927) was an American lawyer, editor and publisher.

[2] Her father, James B. Bradwell, also an advocate of women’s advancement, was “the first judge to hold that a marriage made during slavery was valid after emancipation.”[1] Her mother, Myra Colby Bradwell, was the first woman in the United States to formally apply for admission to the Illinois bar in 1869, which was refused “on the basis of her sex.”[3] However, in 1890, acting on its own motion, the Supreme Court of Illinois approved her original application.

On December 23, 1885, she married Frank Ambrose Helmer, also a lawyer, and joined him in his legal practice.

[5] After her father’s death, in 1907, she became the editor-in-chief of the Chicago Legal News and the president of the company that owned the journal.

[1] She also edited at least ten volumes of Reports of Cases Determined in the Appellate Court of Illinois.