{{short description|American politician}} {{Infobox person | name = Mary Lilly | image = Mary Lilly.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1859|7|18|mf=y}} | birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts | death_date = {{death date and age|1930|10|11|1859|7|18|mf=y}} | death_place = Brooklyn, New York | alma_mater = Hunter College, New York University School of Law | other_names = | occupation = Politician, Social activist | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | spouse = John F. Lilly }}
'''Mary Madden Lilly''' (July 18, 1859, in Roxbury, Massachusetts<ref>{{cite web |title=Massachusetts Births, 1841-1915 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FX4N-NLZ |website=FamilySearch |accessdate=12 November 2018}}</ref> – October 11, 1930, in Brooklyn, New York<ref>{{cite web |title=New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WVR-YMT |website=FamilySearch |accessdate=12 November 2018}}</ref>) was a Progressive Era activist who had a prominent role in New York City's social reform movements during the last decades of the 19th century and early decades of the 20th century. In particular, Lilly supported prison reform in the form of separate facilities for females who were first time offenders.<ref name="Foursome of Ticket Firsts">{{cite book|last=McCarthy|first=Thomas C.|publisher=New York Correction History Society|title=Foursome of Ticket Firsts: Sarah Palin, Geraldine Ferraro . . . . Katharine Bement Davis? Mary M. Lilly?|year=2008 |chapter=V|url=http://www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/4ticketfirsts/4ticketfirstschapterfive.html|accessdate=5 March 2010}}</ref><ref name="BROOKLYN HOME FOR GIRLS.">{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1913/06/07/100398320.pdf|title=BROOKLYN HOME FOR GIRLS.; Club Women to Found a Refuge for First Offenders.|date=7 June 1913|work=The New York Times|pages=13|accessdate=5 March 2010|location=New York, New York }}</ref> Lilly was an advocate for women's suffrage and other legislation to better the lives of women and children. After women gained the right to vote in New York in 1917, Lilly ran for elected office in the November 1918 election, and was one of two females elected to serve in the 1919 session of the New York State Assembly.<ref name="Four New Women Join Essex County Board">{{cite web|url=http://www.wnbz.com/January%202010/010610/FourNewWomen.htm|title=Four New Women Join Essex County Board, Gender Barriers Falling|last=Alexander|first=Jon|date=January 6, 2010|work=WNBZ: Local News|publisher=Mountain Communications|accessdate=22 February 2010|location=Saranac Lake, NY|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718073751/http://www.wnbz.com/January%202010/010610/FourNewWomen.htm|archivedate=18 July 2011}}</ref><ref name="Women in Politics: Early Women Elected to the NYS Legislature">{{cite web|url=http://www.northnet.org/stlawrenceaauw/nysleg.htm|title=Women in Politics: Early Women Elected to the NYS Legislature|year=1989|work=Women of Courage|publisher=St. Lawrence County, NY Branch of the American Association of University Women|accessdate=21 February 2010|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100128075833/http://www.northnet.org/stlawrenceaauw/nysleg.htm|archivedate=28 January 2010}}</ref>
==Family and early life== Mary married John F. Lilly. Mary and John Lilly were the parents of J. Joseph Lilly, an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY.<ref name="Foursome of Ticket Firsts"/>
Lilly graduated from Hunter College teachers' school in 1876 and took a job teaching in the New York City public school system. While still teaching school, she attended New York University School of Law on a full scholarship, reported to be the first grant earned by a woman by taking a competitive exam.<ref name="Foursome of Ticket Firsts"/> In 1895, Lilly was one of ten women in a class of seventy law students to receive her Bachelor of Laws degree.<ref name="Foursome of Ticket Firsts" /><ref name="BACHELORS OF THE LAWS; Degrees from the City University for Young Women and Men.">{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1895/06/11/102461245.pdf|title=BACHELORS OF THE LAWS; Degrees from the City University for Young Women and Men.|date=11 June 1895|work=The New York Times|pages=5|accessdate=5 March 2010|location=New York, New York }}</ref>
==Early career==
===Public school teacher=== Lilly graduated from Hunter College teachers school in 1876 when still a teen, and took a job teaching at P.S. 37 in Manhattan. In total, Lilly worked as a public school teacher for thirty-six years until she retired.<ref name="Intellect">{{cite journal|date=30 November 1918|title=Educational Notes and News|journal=Intellect|publisher=Society for the Advancement of Education|volume=8|pages=647}}</ref> Lilly joined The Association of Retired Teachers of the City of New York and held the position of secretary.<ref name="Foursome of Ticket Firsts" />
==Suffragist== Attended the Seneca Fall Conference sponsored by the Women's Party to commemorate the Women's Rights Convention of 1848.
==Community civic groups== Lilly belonged to and founded civic groups that advocated for social and political reforms. She was a member of The Society for the Aid to Mental Defectives and was the editor of its Journal.<ref name="Foursome of Ticket Firsts" /> She was a Founder of The Knickerbocker Civic League and served as its president.<ref name="Foursome of Ticket Firsts" />
Additionally, Lilly was member of the political organization, The Women's Democratic Club.<ref name="Foursome of Ticket Firsts" />
===New York City Federation of Women's Clubs=== Lilly was the recording secretary and the Chair of the Probation Committee of the New York City Federation of Woman's Clubs. Through her affiliation with the Federation, in 1913, she worked to establish the Kingsboro House, a detention home for young women first offenders in Brooklyn.<ref name="Foursome of Ticket Firsts"/><ref name="BROOKLYN HOME FOR GIRLS."/>
==Later careers==
===Law practice=== Lilly was editor of the ''Women Lawyers' Journal'' from 1915 to 1916.<ref name="Fighting faiths: the Abrams case, the Supreme Court, and free speech">{{cite book|last= Polenberg|first=Richard|title=Fighting faiths: the Abrams case, the Supreme Court, and free speech|publisher=Cornell University Press|location=Ithaca, New York|year=1999|pages=291|isbn=0-8014-8618-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UCvOpLFFVSgC&q=mary-m-lilly&pg=PA291|accessdate=5 March 2010}}</ref><ref name="75 year history of National Association of Women Lawyers, 1899-1974">{{cite book|last=Zimmerman|first=Mary H. |title=75 year history of National Association of Women Lawyers, 1899-1974|publisher=National Association of Women Lawyers|year=1975|pages=46|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pgCQAAAAMAAJ&q=mary-m-lilly|accessdate=5 March 2010}}</ref>
For a brief time Lilly had a joint law practice with Eve P. Radtke who was admitted to bar in 1906.<ref name="Foursome of Ticket Firsts" />
===Political career=== After women gained the right to vote in New York in 1917, she ran at the New York state election, 1918 for the New York State Assembly (New York Co., 7th D.). Along with Ida B. Sammis, Lilly was one of the first two New York assemblywomen, sitting in the 142nd New York State Legislature in 1919.<ref name="Women in Politics: Early Women Elected to the NYS Legislature">{{cite web|url=http://www.northnet.org/stlawrenceaauw/nysleg.htm|title=Women in Politics: Early Women Elected to the NYS Legislature|year=1989|work=Women of Courage|publisher=St. Lawrence County, NY Branch of the American Association of University Women|accessdate=21 February 2010|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100128075833/http://www.northnet.org/stlawrenceaauw/nysleg.htm|archivedate=28 January 2010}}</ref><ref name="Four New Women Join Essex County Board"/>
===New York State Assemblywoman=== Lily sponsored a number of bills regarding children. She introduced legislation to establish paternity of children born out of wedlock, to protect the rights for children, and worked to abolish the death penalty.
Late in Lilly's re-election campaign for her seat in the New York State Assembly, The Citizens Union charged that Lilly as an assemblywomen and superintendent of the women prisoners on Blackwell's Island drew two salaries contrary to state law. Lilly answered the charge by asserting that she was assured by her counsel that she had the right to accept a job with the City of New York while employed in a public office with the state.<ref name="MRS. LILLY UPHOLDS HER TWO SALARIES">{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1919/11/04/118177216.pdf|title=MRS. LILLY UPHOLDS HER TWO SALARIES|date=4 November 1919|work=The New York Times|pages=5|accessdate=5 March 2010|location=New York, New York }}</ref>
===Superintendent of inmates=== In 1919 Lilly was appointed as the superintendent of female inmates at the Workhouse on Blackwell's Island. By the time that Lilly retired in 1928, she had worked under three Commissioners: James A. Hamilton, Frederick A. Wallis and Richard C. Patterson.<ref name="Foursome of Ticket Firsts" />
==Later life and death== Lilly's residence for many years was Hotel St. Andrew.<ref name="Foursome of Ticket Firsts" /> Lilly died on October 11, 1930, at the home of her son in Brooklyn after a brief illness.<ref name="Foursome of Ticket Firsts" /><ref name="MRS. MARY F. LILLY, NOTED LAWYER, DIES">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/10/12/archives/mrs-mary-f-lilly-noted-lawyer-dies-first-woman-elected-from-city-to.html|title=MRS. MARY F. LILLY, NOTED LAWYER, DIES; First Woman Elected From City to State Assembly--First Woman Graduate of N.Y.U. Law School.|date=12 October 1930|work=The New York Times|pages=N6|accessdate=5 March 2010|location=New York, New York}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-ny-hs}} {{succession box | title = New York State Assembly <br>New York County, 7th District | before =Abram Ellenbogen | years = 1919 | after = Noel B. Fox}} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lilly, Mary}} Category:1859 births Category:1930 deaths Category:Suffragists from New York (state) Category:Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly Category:Politicians from Manhattan Category:Women state legislators in New York (state) Category:20th-century members of the New York State Legislature Category:Hunter College alumni Category:New York University School of Law alumni Category:20th-century American women politicians