Mary Stewart (Howarth) was the first woman in Florida to attend law school and graduate. She was born in DeLand, Florida in 1886. A grandfather was an early settler and land developer. Her father, Isaac Stewart, was an attorney and judge.
She earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1906. A charter member of the Eta Chapter of Chi Omega, she also served on the Michiganesian staff.
When she entered the John B. Stetson University College of Law, she was the only female in her class. A member of Phi Delta Delta legal fraternity, she graduated with a law degree in 1908. On June 20 of that year she was admitted to the Florida Bar after an oral examination with the Florida Supreme Court. She entered into practice with her father.
On June 1, 1912, she married Caspar Howarth of Chester, Pennsylvania. He was a friend of the family and 20 years her senior. The Howarths lived in Chester and had three daughters in quick succession.
Howarth was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1914 and the U.S. District Court a year later. While in Chester, she established a residence for working women and the first child care center.
When Caspar Howarth had a heart attack in 1925, the family headed to Florida and Mary rejoined the family law firm.
She argued before the U.S. Supreme Court and taught constitutional law part-time at Stetson. The Howarths established the Surety Bank of DeLand and she had a hand in the running of the family’s orange groves. Casper died in 1933. She remarried late in the 1940s, but her second husband died a short time after the marriage.
One of her daughters, Catherine, a Zeta Tau Alpha, was the 112th graduate of Stetson’s College of Law and yesterday’s blog post subject. Mother and daughter worked together in the family law firm. Mary’s other daughters, Sara and Mary, became surgeons.
Mary Stewart Howarth died on January 23, 1976 at the age of 90.
