05 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Judith Sargent Murray (05 May 1751 – 09 Jun 1820 | Gloucester MA – Natchez MS) poet, essayist, feminist, playwright, letter writer, pioneering women’s rights advocate.


Ella Sterling Mighels (05 May 1853 – 10 Dec 1934 | Mormon Island CA – San Francisco CA) author, California pioneer, literary historian, pen name: Aurora Esmerelda.


Mary Virginia McCormick (05 May 1861 – 24 May 1941 | Chicago IL – Pacific Palisades CA) heiress, traveler, millionaire recluse, declared mentally incompetent at age 19, daughter of industrialist Cyrus McCormick.


Adelaide Florence Chase (05 May 1862 – 23 Feb 1900 | Fitchburg MA – Boston MA) author, editor, historian, publisher, member of US Women’s Relief Corps.


Elizabeth Cochran Seaman (05 May 1864 – 27 Jan 1922 | Cochran’s Mills PA – New York NY) inventor, novelist, industrialist, charity worker, pen name Nellie Bly, pioneering investigative journalist.

04 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Mary Elizabeth Surratt (04 May 1823 – 07 Jul 1865 | Waterloo MD – Washington DC) boarding house owner / operator, historical / political folk figure, tried as Lincoln assassination co-conspirator, first American female executed by hanging.


Julia Britton Hooks (04 May 1852 – 10 Mar 1942 | Frankfort KY – Memphis TN) pianist, social worker, civil rights leader, juvenile court officer, second female African-American US college graduate, founded Julia Hooks Cottage School and Julia Hooks School of Music.


Mary Ellis Peltz (04 May 1896 – 24 Oct 1981 | New York NY – New York NY) poet, editor, author, music / drama critic, founding editor Opera News magazine.


Joy Bright Hancock (04 May 1898 – 20 Aug 1986 | Wildwood NJ – Bethesda MD) pilot, WAVES activist, early female Naval officer, autobiographical author.


Bernice Mildred Goetz (04 May 1909 – 30 Dec 1958 | Cleveland OH – Brooklyn NY) poet, author, teacher, lecturer, explorer.

03 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Laura Matilda Towne (03 May 1825 – 22 Feb 1901 | Pittsburgh PA – St Helena Island SC ) educator, abolitionist, first freedmen’s school founder.


Anne Etheridge Hooks (03 May 1839 – 23 Jan 1913 | Detroit MI – Georgetown VA) aka Gentle Annie, Civil War Union nurse / vivandiere, one of two women to receive Kearny Cross.


George Madden Martin (03 May 1866 – 30 Nov 1946 | Louisville KY – Louisville KY) novelist, social reform / civil rights / prohibition activist, Commission on Interracial Co-operation charter member, Association of Southern Women for Prevention of Lynching leader / advocate.


Angel De Cora (03 May 1871 – 06 Feb 1919 | Thurston NE – Northampton MA) Winnebago teacher, painter, illustrator, Native American rights activist, aka Hinook-Mahiwi-Kalinaka [Fleecy Cloud Floating in Place].


Maud O’Farrell Swartz (03 May 1879 – 22 Feb 1937 | County Kildare IE – Brooklyn NY) Irish-American labor activist, president of Women’s Trade Union League [1922 to 1926], Secretary of the NY State Department of Labor under Industrial Commissioner Frances Perkins, first woman and first trade unionist to hold that position.

02 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Rhoda Lavinia [Vinnie] Goodell (02 May 1839 – 31 Mar 1880 | Utica NY – Janesville WI) first licensed female lawyer in Wisconsin State.


Katharine Putnam Hooker (02 May 1849 – 07 Jan 1935 | Milwaukee WI – Santa Barbara CA) socialite, philanthropist, travel writer.


Margaret Hill McCarter (02 May 1860 – 31 Aug 1938 | Carthage IN – Topeka KS) teacher, novelist, founded Western Sorosis women’s club.


Julia Barnett Rice (02 May 1860 – 18 Nov 1929 | New Orleans LA – New York NY) musician, physician, civic / social activist, documented unnecessary tugboat whistling / aided passage of 1907 Bennett Act, founding president of The Society for the Suppression of Unnecessary Noise, founded SSUN children’s branch for NYC Board of Education.


Alice Bertha Kroeger (02 May 1864 – 31 Oct 1909 | St. Louis MO – Philadelphia PA) author, lecturer, librarian, professor, student of Melvil Dewey, founder / director of library science program at Drexel University [1892-1909].

01 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Tabitha Moffat Brown (01 May 1780 – 04 May 1858 | Brimfield MA – Forest Grove OR) educator, pioneer emigrant, social reformer, aka Mother Symbol of Oregon, orphanage co-founder / facilitator, founded Tualatin Academy [later Pacific University].


Fidelia Fiske (01 May 1816 – 26 Jul 1864 | Shelburne MA – Shelburne MA) memoirist, religious missionary, women’s educational activist, Mount Holyoke Seminary college teacher, founder / first principal of Nestorian Female Seminary in Persia (Iran).


Emily Howard Jennings Stowe (01 May 1831 – 30 Apr 1903 | Norwich Township ON – Toronto ON) educator, suffragist, Quaker / then Unitarian, Canada’s first practicing female homeopathic physician, founding member of Toronto Women’s Literary Guild, founding president of Dominion Women’s Enfranchisement Association [became Canadian Suffrage Association].


Mary Harris Jones (01 May 1837 – 11 Nov 1930 | Cork IE – Adelphi MD) author, dressmaker, school teacher, labor activist, aka Mother Jones, community organizer, autobiographical author.


Martha Jane Burke Cannary (01 May 1852 – 01 Aug 1903 | Princeton MO – Terry SD) folk figure, memoirist, aka Calamity Jane, frontierswoman, professional scout.

30 Apr | Herstorical.Reflections

Abba Louisa Goold Woolson (30 Apr 1838 – 06 Feb 1921 | Windham Center ME – Portland ME) poet, author, lecturer, historian, women’s dress reform advocate.


Mary Scott Lord Dimmock Harrison (30 Apr 1858 – 05 Jan 1948 | Honesdale PA – New York NY) former US Presidential First Lady, second wife of Benjamin Harrison.


Mary Blanche O’Sullivan (30 Apr 1860 – 1940 | Saint John NB – Boston MA) editor, writer, teacher, naturalized American, editor-in-chief of Donahoe’s Magazine, member of New England Woman’s Press Association.


Mary Haviland Stilwell Kuesel (30 Apr 1866 – 22 Jun 1936 | Philadelphia PA – Philadelphia PA) pioneering female dentist, founded Women’s Dental Association of the United States.


Belle Skinner (30 Apr 1866 – 10 Apr 1928 | Williamsburg MA – Paris FR) arts patron, humanitarian, philanthropist, architectural restorationist, musical instrument collector, aka La Maraine [Fairy Godmother].

29 Apr | Herstorical.Reflections

Helen Louise Chapel Bullock (29 Apr 1836 – 1927 | Norwich NY – Norwich NY) suffragist, philanthropist, musical educator, temperance activist, women’s prison reformer.


Adeline [Addie] Lucia Hart Ballou (29 Apr 1837 – 10 Aug 1916 | Chagrin Falls OH – San Francisco CA) poet, artist, author, lecturer, suffragist.


Caroline [Carrie] Watson Fleming (29 Apr 1844 – 19 Jul 1931 | Fairmont WV – Fairmont WV) First Lady of West Virginia, civic / cultural / religious activist.


Margherita Arlina Hamm (29 Apr 1867 – 17 Dec 1907 | St Stephen NB – New York NY) author, journalist, suffragist, magazine editor, war correspondent.


Katherine Golden Bitting (29 Apr 1868 – 1937 | Stratford ON – Lafayette IN) author, food chemist, professor, food preservation expert.

28 Apr | Herstorical.Reflections

Meriva M. Carpenter (28 Apr 1802 – 24 Jul 1887 | Ellington CT – Homer NY) landscape / miniature portrait artist.


Caroline Shawk Brooks (28 Apr 1840 – 20 May 1913 | Cincinnati OH – St Louis MO) farmer, pioneer feminist, Centennial Exposition butter sculptor.


Julia Burnelle Smade [Bernie] Babcock (28 Apr 1868 – 14 Jun 1962 | Union OH – Petit Jean AR) poet, editor, essayist, novelist, satirist, illustrator, newspaper writer, museum founder.


Frances Reed Elliott Davis (28 Apr 1883 – 02 May 1965 | Shelby NC – Mount Clemens MI) first African-American nurse officially admitted to the American Red Cross Nursing Service.


Edith Summers Kelley (28 Apr 1884 – 09 Jun 1956 | Toronto ON – Los Gatos CA) Canadian-born American novelist.

27 Apr | Herstorical.Reflections

Mary Upton Ferrin (27 Apr 1810 – 11 Apr 1881 | South Danvers MA – Marblehead MA) pioneering suffragist, pamphleteer, public speaker.


Mary Elizabeth Croghan Schenley (27 Apr 1826 – 01 Nov 1903 | Louisville KY – London UK) heiress, Pittsburgh philanthropist, romantic scandal heroine.


Alice Morse Earle (27 Apr 1851 – 16 Feb 1911 | Worcester MA – Hempstead NY) author, pioneering social historian.


Alice Sarah Tyler (27 Apr 1859 – 18 Apr 1944 | Decatur IL – Decatur IL) editor, author, club woman, librarian, Carnegie library activist.


Mary Elliott Flanery (27 Apr 1867 – 19 Jul 1933 | Carter County KY – Cattlettsburg KY) suffragist, politician, journalist, columnist, social reformer, Daughters of Confederacy co-founder, women’s rights activist, first female elected to KY General Assembly and State legislature south of Mason–Dixon line.

26 Apr | Herstorical.Reflections

Frances Manwaring Caulkins (26 Apr 1795 – 03 Feb 1869 | New London CT – New London CT) writer, memoirist, historian.


Alice Cary (26 Apr 1820 – 12 Feb 1871 | Mount Healthy OH – New York NY) poet, author, novelist, suffragist, first president of Sorosis.


Martha Farquharson Finley (26 Apr 1828 – 30 Jan 1909 | Chillicothe OH – Elkton MD) author, teacher, prolific serial novelist.


Erminnie Adele Platt Smith (26 Apr 1836 – 09 Jun 1886 | Marcellus NY – Jersey City NJ) author, folklorist, ethnologist, anthropologist.


Elizabeth Conwell Smith Willson (26 Apr 1842 – 13 Oct 1864 | Laurel IN – Cambridge MA) poet, two volumes of poetry published posthumously by husband.