Maude Hughett
Maude Agnes Riseden Hughett (1879-1968) was a Scott County native who was the first female law student in the South, and the first woman admitted to the bar in the State of Tennessee.
Early Life
Born in 1879, Hughett was the daughter of Laban Riseden and Louvernia Pile. Her father was Scott County’s third superintendent of schools and a practicing attorney here. Her mother was the great-granddaughter of Conrad W. “Coonrod” Pile, the noted first settler of Pall Mall, Tenn.
Hughett had an uncle, Bransford L. Riseden, who served as Scott County Judge from 1886 to 1894.
She was the oldest of at least four children. While online sources typically state that she was born on Christmas Day in 1890, she was listed in the 1880 census as one-year-old Maudie. Her siblings included brother William, born 1880; sister May, born about 1895; and brother Wiley, born about 1897.
The Riseden family was originally from the Rugby area. However, Hughett’s early years were spent at Black Creek near Robbins. It was there that the family lived in 1880. By the 1900 census, the family had moved to Wartburg, where her father was elected the first county judge of Morgan County.
School of Law
In 1907, Maude Riseden was admitted to the University of Tennessee College of Law in Knoxville, Tenn. She was the first female student admitted to the College of Law.
Earning her way through college by completing stenographic work, Riseden was the honor student of her class for the duration of her time at UT. In 1909, she became the first woman to graduate from the UT College of Law — and the first woman to graduate from a law school anywhere in the South.
Riseden became the first woman admitted to the bar in Tennessee by Judge J.W. Sneed. Later, she was the first woman south of the Mason-Dixon Line to be admitted to practice law in federal court.
Maude’s sister, May Stricklin, followed in her footsteps, also becoming an attorney.
Move to Kentucky
Riseden married Joseph Lynn Hughett (1883-1954). He was also originally from Scott County, and an attorney. He was the son of Calvin Hughett (1845-1924) and Rebecca Carson (1844-1923). His grandfather was John Linn Carson (1808-1899), one of the earliest members of the Carson family in Scott County.
Joseph Hughett was notable in his own right. He originally moved to Kentucky to take a position as superintendent of a coal mining company. He was elected Hopkins County judge in 1924, and later resigned to serve as pardon commissioner under Kentucky Gov. Flem D. Sampson. He would go on to serve as tax commissioner under Gov. Ruby Laffoon, and assistant attorney general under Gov. Simeon Willis. At the time of his death in 1954, he still had two siblings living in Scott County: James Hughett of Oneida, and Ellie Jeffers of Helenwood.
Although Kentucky was one of several states that still did not admit women to the bar at the time, Maude Hughett joined her husband into the law practice. Their Louisville firm was named Hughett & Hughett. Later, when their daughter, Josephine, joined them in the practice, it was renamed Hughett, Hughett & Hughett.
Legacy
Maude Hughett’s portrait hangs today in the hallway of the offices of the Louisville Bar Association, along with other notable Louisville attorneys.
In 2013, during a Law College Homecoming celebration at the University of Tennessee, the Class of 1999 dedicated their class gift to the college, which was a portrait of Maude Riseden Hughett painted by Steve Moppert.
In a 2016 issue of UT’s Tennessee Law Magazinee, graduating law student Casey Duhart wrote of Hughett: “Can you imagine the courage that it took for Ms. Hughett to do what seemed impossible during that time? Because of her sacrifice, today as a female, I can learn, be challenged, and compete with my male peers in the law school environment.”
In 1963, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren admitted Hughett, her sister May, and her daughter Josephine to practice before the Supreme Court — a first for women from the South.
Hughett also has the distinction of being Tennessee’s first woman to serve as a school superintendent. She held that post in Morgan County — the same post her father held in Scott County.
Death
Maude Riseden Hughett died on Aug. 18, 1968 in Louisville, Ky. She was buried at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville — where her husband, Joseph Hughett, had been buried in 1954.