Kate Hamilton Pier

Kate Hamilton Pier was born on December 11, 1868, in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, the daughter of Colwert Kendall Pier, a lawyer, and Kate Hamilton, both from Vermont. Pier Elementary School in Fond du Lac is named after Colwert and Kate Pier. Colwert was also the first white child born in Fond du Lac County, in 1841, and Kate, the oldest of his four daughters, was born on the same farm.^[2]

Her mother and both her sisters—Caroline and Harriet—all graduated from law school and were among the first eight women lawyers in Wisconsin. Her mother was a pioneer in many areas: in 1893, she was appointed as Milwaukee court commissioner as the first woman in the United States to be granted a judicial appointment and she was the first woman to vote in the county, even before the suffrage amendment was passed.^[3]

During childhood, Pier lived on the homestead farm just outside the limits of the city of Fond du Lac. She attended the German and English Academy, where she learned German, which enabled her to practice law in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Later she attended the public schools and was graduated from the Fond du Lac High School in 1886, 25 years after her mother had graduated from the same institution.

A university course was then much desired, but her mother's anxiety to be with her and to have her begin business life under her personal supervision led to their both entering the law department of the Wisconsin State University in September 1886. Both completed the two-year course in one year by taking the work of the junior and senior classes simultaneously. Pier received the LL.B. degree on June 22, 1887.^[4] She was elected vice-president of the senior class.^[2]