ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) —
EDITOR’S NOTE: Everyone has a story — some more well-known than others. Across Western North Carolina, so much history is buried below the surface. Six feet under. With this series, we introduce you to some of the people who have left marks big and small on this special place we call home.
State lawmaker and trailblazer Lillian Exum Clement Stafford, ~1886/1894-1925, is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Asheville.
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Before Women’s Suffrage was ratified by the Nineteenth Amendment, Lillian Clement was nominated by the Democratic Party as their candidate for Buncombe County Representative to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1920. In a landslide vote, the first woman to own a law practice in North Carolina became the first woman in the South elected to public office.
In a life filled with firsts, Clement is a shining example of what women in Asheville can achieve. Clement’s legacy is due to her tenacity toward education, dedication to public service and love for her family.
Lillian Exum Clement was born to George Washington Clement and Sara Elizabeth Burnett Clement in the late 1800’s. Her father was a foreman on the construction of the Biltmore Estate.
Clement’s date of birth is up for debate. Later in life, she claimed to be born on March 12, 1894, yet researchers at Pack Library have uncovered evidence in recent years that she was likely born 8 years prior on March 12, 1886.
Clement attended the private school at All Soul’s Parish in her younger years after the family moved from Black Mountain to Downtown Asheville.
Edith Vanderbilt noticed the intellect of Clement and enrolled her at the Asheville Business College when she was 14.
After her education, Clement worked for the Buncombe County Sherrif’s Department as a deputy while studying law in her spare time, being mentored by local lawyers.
In 1916, Clement became the first female from Buncombe County to pass the North Carolina Bar examination. She opened her own law practice the following year, becoming the first female attorney in the state to do so.
During World War I, Clement worked for the Buncombe County draft board as its chief clerk.
Clement was nominated by the Democratic Party to be Buncombe County state House Representative in 1920. She ran as a self-proclaimed conservative. Clement faced little competition because the Republicans did not desire to stand in a race against the first female nominee.
While running, the Nineteenth Amendment became ratified, allowing women to rush the polls on election day in Buncombe County. Due to those women standing in the cold rain and the lack of a legitimate challenger, Clement won in a landslide vote of 10,368 to 41.
Clement was sworn in on Jan. 5, 1921. She served as representative for one term from 1921-1923. During her tenure, Clement introduced 17 bills to the House, of which at least 13 passed into law.
Only two months into her term in elected office, Clement married Elias Eller Stafford at St. James Episcopal Church in Hendersonville. Stafford was a staff writer for the Asheville Citizen.
Lillian Exum Clement Stafford chose not to run for a second term as representative, partly due to health complications.
Clement was an active member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, an organization which honors and preserves the history of the Confederate States of America.
Clement was also a founding member of the Asheville Business and Professional Women’s Club.
Clement and her husband had one daughter, Nancie, who was premature, becoming Asheville’s first infant to survive in an incubator.
Complications with the birth left Clement weak for the rest of her life, eventually succumbing to pneumonia on Feb. 21, 1925. Nancie survived, living until 2006, when she was laid to rest with her mother in Riverside Cemetery.
Clement’s final home remains standing at 34 Hollywood Street in Asheville. Nancie’s late husband, Wingate Anders, successfully obtained a Preservation Easement for the property due to its historical significance in 2014. The home was built by Lillian’s father in 1914.
A marker commemorating Stafford stands at the corner of College Street and South Charlotte Street. It reads: “Lillian Exum Clement Stafford. 1894-1925. First female legislator in the South. Elected to N.C. House, 1920. Her law office was 400 yds. west; home ½ mi. NE.”
Clement is remembered as a trailblazer for women in North Carolina in law, business and public service. Her short life had an outsized impact on the society she served.
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