Woman of the Century/Clara Holmes Hapgood Nash

NASH, Mrs. Clara Holmes Hapgood, lawyer, born in Fitchburg, Mass., 15th January, 1839. She is the daughter of John and Mary Ann Hosmer Hapgood, the former dying in 1867, the latter in 1890. Her mother was of the same race of Hosmers as Harriet Hosmer, the noted sculptor, and Abner Hosmer. who fell with Capt. Isaac Davis in defense of the old North Bridge in Concord, Mass. On her father's side she is related to Prof. Henry Durant, the founder of Oakland College, California, of which he was first president, elected in 1870. Clara was the fifth child in a family of eight children. CLARA HOLMES HAPGOOD. NASH. She early showed an aptitude for study and was always fond of school and books, but, on account of ill health in early life, was unable to attend school continuously. During her protracted illness she frequently wrote in verse as a pastime. After recovery, by most persevering effort, she succeeded in obtaining a liberal education, acquainting herself with several languages and the higher mathematics. She was a student in Pierce Academy, Middleboro, Mass., and in the Appleton Academy, New Ipswich, N. H., and graduated from the advanced class in the State Normal School, Framingham, Mass., after which she was a teacher in the nigh schools of the State in Marlborough and Danvers. On 1st January, 1869, she became the wife of Frederick dishing Nash, a rising young lawyer of Maine. Soon after her marriage she commenced the study of law, and in October, 1872, she was admitted to the bar of the supreme judicial court of Maine, being the first woman admitted to the bar in New England, A partnership was formed with her husband, and they practiced in Washington county and afterwards in Portland, Me. They have one son, Frederick Hapgood Nash, who was graduated in the Concord high school, Concord, Mass., in 1891, and is now in Harvard College. Mrs. Nash's home is now in West Acton, Mass.