Woman of the Century/Catherine Van V. Waite

WAITE, Mrs. Catherine Van Valkenburg, lawyer and author, born in Dumfries, Canada West, in 1829. Her maiden name was Van Valkenburg, and she is descended from a conspicuous family, who lived for many generations in southern Holland on the Van Valkenburg estates. She was educated in Oberlin College and was graduated in 1853. In 1854 she became the wife of Judge C. B. Waite. In 1859 she established in Chicago, Ill., the Hyde Park Seminary for young women. CATHERINE VAN VALKENBURG WAITE. She became interested in law and took the course in the Union College of Law, graduating in 1886. She then started the Chicago "Law Times," which she has made a recognized authority in this country, Canada, England^ Scotland and France. In 1888 she was elected president of the Woman's International Bar Association. While living in Utah with her husband, who held a commission in that Territory under President Lincoln, she wrote her famous book, " The Mormon Prophet and His Harem," an authority on the Mormon question from the social standpoint She suggested the statue to Isabella for the Columbian Exposition. She was one of the original woman suffragists in Illinois, and for many years she served as State lecturer. She has, in addition to her legal, literary and reformatory work, been a successful financier, and has carried on extensive real-estate and building operations. Her home is in Hyde Park, a suburb of Chicago.