19 Aug | Herstorical.Reflections

Mary Ellen Pleasant (19 Aug 1817 – 04 Jan 1904 | Philadelphia PA – San Francisco CA) abolitionist, social activist, entrepreneur, philanthropist, aka Mammy Pleasant, Mother of Human Rights in California.


Antoinette B. Hollister (19 Aug 1863 – 13 Jun 1943 | Chicago IL – Tarpon Springs FL) painter, professor, writer / lecturer about art for children.


Elsie Ferguson (19 Aug 1883 – 15 Nov 1961 | New York NY – New London CT) author, actress, aka The Aristocrat of the Silent Screen.


Grace Hutchins (19 Aug 1885 – 15 Jul 1969 | Boston MA – New York NY) author, activist, communist, pamphleteer, radical labor economist.


Maija Grotell (19 Aug 1899 – 06 Dec 1973 | Helsinki FI – Pontiac MI) author, ceramicist, ceramics teacher, aka The Mother of American Ceramics.

18 Aug | Herstorical.Reflections

Phoebe Yates Levy Pember (18 Aug 1823 – 04 Mar 1913 | Charleston SC – Pittsburgh PA) memoirist, medical pioneer, Civil War nurse, Confederate hospital administrator.


Hannah E. Barker Taylor (18 Aug 1835 – unknown | Fredericton NB – Pasadena CA) poet, singer, hymnist, English-Native American-Canadian, Woman’s Christian Temperance Union member.


Selma Kronold (18 Aug 1861 – 09 Oct 1920 | Krakow PL – New York NY) pianist, operatic soprano, music advocate, founded Catholic Oratorio Society of New York.


Jemima [Mina] MacKenzie (18 Aug 1872 – 27 Jan 1957 | Waterside NS – Pictou NS) humanitarian, medical missionary to India, founded Broadwell Christian Hospital and orphanage for children in India, adopted 44 children [21 reached adulthood].


Katherine Emilie Bashford (18 Aug 1885 – 03 Jun 1953 | Prescott AZ – Los Angeles CA) author, public and private gardens landscape architect, co-founder / first female president of southern California chapter of American Society of Landscape Architects [ASLA].

17 Aug | Herstorical.Reflections


Charlotte Louise Bridges Forten Grimké (17 Aug 1837 – 23 Jul 1914 | Philadelphia PA – Washington DC) African-American poet, educator, journal writer, anti-slavery activist, volunteer Civil War Union nurse, first black teacher hired in two different US schools.


Laura de Force Gordon (17 Aug 1838 – 05 Apr 1907 | North East PA – Lodi CA) editor, lawyer, Spiritualist, women’s rights activist, second female attorney in California, first woman to run daily US newspaper [Stockton Daily Leader].


Caroline Bartlett Crane (17 Aug 1858 – 24 Mar 1935 | Hudson WI – Kalamazoo MI) educator, suffragist, journalist, civic reformer, Unitarian minister, aka America’s Housekeeper.


Geneva [Gene] Stratton-Porter (17 Aug 1863 – 06 Dec 1924 | Lagro IN – Los Angeles CA) author, naturalist, wildlife photographer, early female movie studio / production company founder.

16 Aug | Herstorical.Reflections

Sarah Porter (16 Aug 1813 – 18 Feb 1900 | Farmington CT – Farmington CT) educator, women’s suffrage opponent, promoter of legal reforms for women, founder of elite private Miss Porter’s School for girls.


Helen Mary Knowlton (16 Aug 1832 – 05 May 1918 | Littleton MA – Needham MA) artist, author, spiritual writer, art instructor.


Mary Hall (16 Aug 1843 – 15 Nov 1927 | Marlborough CT – Marlborough CT) poet, suffragist, philanthropist, mathematics teacher, first CT Notary, first female lawyer admitted to Connecticut Bar, founded boys’ charity Good Will Club [became Boys’ Club USA].


Helen Hartley Jenkins (16 Aug 1860 – 24 Apr 1934 | New York NY – Morristown NJ) heiress, philanthropist, funded Barnard College and Columbia University, president of Hartley House board, tenement reform activist, settlement house builder.


Jeannette Augustus Marks (16 Aug 1875 – 15 Mar 1964 | Chattanooga TN – Westport NY) author, lecturer, educator, feminist.

15 Aug | Herstorical.Reflections

Anna L. Clapp (15 Aug 1814 – 03 Dec 1889 | Cambridge NY – Lee Center IL) Civil War nurse, Ladies Union Aid Society founder, Western Sanitary Commission president, female veteran nurse benefits / pensions activist / spokeswoman.


Ann Pamela Cunningham (15 Aug 1816 – 01 May 1875 | Rosemont Plantation SC – Rosemont Plantation SC) historical preservationist, founded The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association of the Union.


Biddy Mason (15 Aug 1818 – 16 Jan 1891 | Hancock GA – Los Angeles CA) social activist, humanitarian, philanthropist, businesswoman, nurse / midwife, freed African-American slave, founded travelers center / black elementary school / first A.M.E. Church in California.


Virginia Clemm Poe (15 Aug 1822 – 30 Jan 1847 | Baltimore MD – Fordham NY) literary folk figure, wife / first cousin of Edgar Allan Poe.


Mary Cunningham Logan (15 Aug 1838 – 22 Feb 1922 | Petersburg MO – Washington DC ) writer, editor, memoirist.

14 Aug | Herstorical.Reflections

Charlotte Fowler Wells (14 Aug 1814 – 04 Jun 1901 | Cohocton NY – West Orange NJ) author, phrenologist, journal publisher.


May Dickson Exall (14 Aug 1859 – 28 Sep 1936 | McKinney TX – Dallas TX) civic leader, clubwoman, arts activist, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts co-founder.


Florence Pullman Lowden (14 Aug 1868 – 05 Jul 1937 | Chicago IL – Chicago IL) travel writer, philanthropist, First Lady of Illinois.


Vivian Louise Aunspaugh (14 Aug 1869 – 09 Mar 1960 | Bedford VA – Dallas TX) painter, art editor, art teacher, art school founder.


Leila Edna Andrews (14 Aug 1876 – 28 Apr 1954 | North Manchester IN – Oklahoma City OK) author, pediatrician, pediatrics professor, hematologist, one of first two female members of American College of Physicians [ACP].

13 Aug | Herstorical.Reflections

Lucy Blackwell Stone (13 Aug 1818 – 19 Oct 1893 | West Brookfield MA – Boston MA) writer, orator, suffragist, publisher, abolitionist, magazine founder / editor, women’s rights activist / organizer.


Martha Joanna Reade Nash Lamb (13 Aug 1829 – 02 Jan 1893 | Plainfield MA – New York NY) editor, author, historian, child welfare activist, Secretary of US Sanitary Commission, owner / editor-in-chief Magazine of American History.


Leonora Kearney Barry (13 Aug 1849 – 18 Jul 1923 | County Cork IE – Minooka IL) women’s labor rights activist / organizer, sole female Knights of Labor national office holder, aka Mother Lake and America’s First Woman Labor Activist.


Mary Ellen [Ella] Quinlan O’Neill (13 Aug 1857 – 28 Feb 1922 | New Haven CT – Los Angeles CA) pianist, literary figure / inspiration, mother of playwright Eugene O’Neill.


Annie Oakley (13 Aug 1860 – 03 Nov 1926 | near Woodland OH – Greenville OH) folk figure, philanthropist, aka Little Sure Shot, exhibition sharpshooter, born Phoebe Ann Moses, autobiographical writer.

12 Aug | Herstorical.Reflections

Elizabeth Elkins Sanders (12 Aug 1762 – 19 Feb 1851 | Salem MA – Salem MA) essayist, book reviewer, Unitarian, pamphleteer, Native American rights advocate [image note: anonymous 18th c. Massachusetts woman].


Elizabeth Oakes Smith (12 Aug 1806 – 16 Nov 1893 | North Yarmouth ME – Blue Point NY) poet, editor, lecturer, fiction writer, suffragist, women’s rights activist.


Lillie Devereux Blake (12 Aug 1833 – 30 Dec 1913 | Raleigh NC – Englewood NJ) author, suffragist, social reformer, aka Tiger Lily.


Katharine Lee Bates (12 Aug 1859 – 28 Mar 1929 | Falmouth MA – Wellesley MA) poet, author, educator, songwriter, composed ‘America the Beautiful’.


Edith Matilda Thomas (12 Aug 1854 – 13 Sep 1925 | Chatham Center OH – New York NY) poet, editor, author, teacher, typesetter.

11 Aug | Herstorical.Reflections

Eliza Hart Spalding (11 Aug 1807 – 13 Jan 1851 | Kensington CT – Brownsville OR) diarist, pioneer, missionary to Nez Perce, mother of Eliza Spalding Warren.


Octavia Walton Le Vert (11 Aug 1811 – 12 Mar 1877 | Augusta GA – Augusta GA) author, socialite, social activist, memoirist, travel writer.


Oriana [Orie] Russell Moon Andrews (11 Aug 1834 – 26 Dec 1883 | Viewmont VA – Scottsville VA) aka Dr. Orie Moon, Civil War Confederate doctor, Bedouin missionary physician.


Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt (11 Aug 1836 – 22 Dec 1919 | Lexington KY – Caldwell NJ) poet.


Carrie Minetta Jacobs-Bond (11 Aug 1862 – 28 Dec 1946 | Janesville WI – Hollywood CA) poet, pianist, singer-songwriter, first US female music publisher, autobiographical author, first woman to sell one million copies of a song.

10 Aug | Herstorical.Reflections

Mary Sargeant Neal Gove Nichols (10 Aug 1810 – 30 May 1884 | Goffstown NH – London UK) writer, lecturer, educator, suffragist, visionary, vegetarian, health reformer, autobiographer, hydrotherapy advocate, women’s rights activist.


Eliza Frances Andrews (10 Aug 1840 – 21 Jan 1931 | Washington GA – Rome GA) diarist, botanist, essayist, educator, memoirist, textbook author, magazine writer.


Mary Artemesia Lathbury (10 Aug 1841 – 20 Oct 1913 | Manchester NY – East Orange NJ) hymnist, children’s book author, religious periodical writer.


Gertrude Bloede (10 Aug 1845 – 14 Aug 1945 | Dresden DEU – Baldwin NY) German-born American poet, pen name: Stuart Sterne.


Mary [C. C.] Carroll Craig Bradford (10 Aug 1856 – 15 Jan 1938 | Brooklyn NY – Denver CO) politician, suffragist, Colorado State Superintendent of Public Instruction, first female delegate to 1908 Democratic National Convention, president: National Education Association, Colorado Federation of Women’s Clubs, and Colorado Springs Equal Suffrage Association.