27 Mar | Women.Words.Work

Jane Franklin Mecom (27 Mar 1712 – 08 May 1794 | Philadelphia PA – Philadelphia PA) milliner, innkeeper, letter writer, political family member, autobiographical author.


Jane Colden Farquhar (27 Mar 1724 – 10 Mar 1766 | New York NY – New York NY) botanist, illustrator, letter writer, first female botanist recognized in the New World.


Elleanor Eldridge (27 Mar 1784 – c. 1862 | Warwick RI – unknown) memoirist, landlord, property owner, pioneering African-American entrepreneur.


Virginia Louisa Minor (27 Mar 1824 – 14 Aug 1894 | Caroline County VA – St Louis MO) suffragist, social activist, co-founder / first president Woman’s Suffrage Association of Missouri.


Catherine [Kate] Fox (27 Mar 1837 – 02 Jul 1892 | Consecon ON – Brooklyn NY) folk figure, controversial spiritualist medium, considered one of the founders of modern spiritualist movement.

14 Mar | Women.Words.Work

Narcissa Prentiss Whitman (14 Mar 1808 – 29 Nov 1847 | Prattsburgh NY – Waiilatpu [now Spokane] WA) diarist, letter correspondent, Whitman Massacre victim, missionary / mission founder, first white woman known to cross Rocky Mountains.


Lucy Hobbs Taylor (14 Mar 1833 – 03 Oct 1910 | Constable NY – Lawrence KS) women’s rights activist, first graduated / licensed US female dentist.


Eliza Frances Shepard Pumpelly (14 Mar 1840 – 05 Feb 1915 | Dorchester MA – Newport RI) socialite, mother, aka Mrs. Raphael Pumpelly, portrait painted by John Singer Sargent.


Anna Caroline Maxwell (14 Mar 1851 – 02 Jan 1929 | Bristol NY – New York NY) nurse, author, nurse educator, established Army Nursing Corps, aka The American Florence Nightingale.


Emily Gowan Ferguson Murphy (14 Mar 1868 – 27 Oct 1933 | Cookstown ON – Edmonton AB) jurist, author, magistrate, women’s rights activist, one of Canada’s Famous Five.

22 Feb | Women.Words.Work

Isabella Beecher Hooker (22 Feb 1822 – 25 Jan 1907 | Litchfield CT – Hartford CT) author, suffragist activist / leader / lecturer.


Rebecca Sophia Clarke (22 Feb 1833 – 10 Aug 1906 | Norridgewock ME – Norridgewock ME) aka Sophie May, children’s serial novelist.


Margaret Elizabeth Munson Sangster (22 Feb 1838 – 03 Jun 1912 | New Rochelle NY – South Orange Village NJ) poet, editor, hymnist, short story writer, autobiographical author.


Anna Giaccaglia Hill (22 Feb 1851 – 18 Feb 1931 | Cincinnati OH – Hollywood CA) Annetta Saloski, operatic soprano, aka The Toast of Milan.


Ann Maria [Annie] Le Porte Diggs (22 Feb 1853 – 07 Sep 1916 | London ON – Detroit MI) poet, author, activist, journalist, librarian, Canadian-born American, national speaker / first female delegate for National People’s Party Convention [Omaha NE 1892].

01 Feb | Women.Words.Work

Johanna Graham Bethune (01 Feb 1770 – 28 Jul 1860 | Fort Niagara ON – New York NY) author, memoirist, social activist, leader in Sunday school education movement, founded Orphan Asylum Society and Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Children.


Hannah Harrison Cohoon (01 Feb 1788 – 07 Jan 1864 | Williamstown MA – Hancock MA) Shaker visionary artist, music composer, created Tree of Life iconic ‘gift painting’.


Harriet Ann Jacobs (01 Feb 1813 – 07 Mar 1897 | Edenton NC – Washington DC) former slave, pen name: Linda Brent, autobiographical author, Civil War relief worker, co-founded two schools for freed slaves.


Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (c. 01 Feb 1818 – c. 01 May 1907 | Dinwiddie County Court House VA – Washington DC) former slave, memoirist, First Lady’s seamstress, businesswoman. 


Lucy Wheelock (01 Feb 1857 – 01 Oct 1946 | Cambridge VT – Boston MA) author, lecturer, translator, one of first US kindergarten education pioneers, founding director of Wheelock Kindergarten Training School.

30 Jan | Women.Words.Work

Amalia Barney Simons Post (30 Jan 1826 – 28 Jan 1897 | Johnson VT – Cheyenne WY) pioneer, suffragist, 1869 instrumental in having franchise granted women in Wyoming Territory by the 1st Wyoming Territorial Legislature, 1871 delegate to Woman’s National Convention in Washington DC, 1873 vice-president of National Woman Suffrage Association.


Catharine Van Valkenburg Waite (30 Jan 1829 – 09 Nov 1913 | Dumfries ON – Chicago IL) author, attorney, suffragist, women’s rights activist, founded C. V. Waite & Co. publishing firm, founder / editor Chicago Law Times magazine, president of Woman’s International Bar Association.


Matilda Beatrice Samuel De Mille (30 Jan 1853 – 08 Oct 1923 | Liverpool UK – Hollywood CA) agent, playbroker, playwright, screenwriter, theatre actress, theatrical entrepreneur, aka Agnes Graham, Matilda Beatrice Samuel, Tillie Samuel, Mrs. Henry De Mille.


Emma Brown Malone (30 Jan 1859 – 12 May 1924 | Pickering ON – Cleveland OH) American Quaker, writer, social activist, co-founded Cleveland Bible School [later became Malone College], women’s ministerial activist / advocate.


Käte Frankenthal (30 Jan 1889 – 21 Apr 1976 | Kiel DEU – New York NY) German-American author, physician, memoirist, psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, socialist politician, marriage / family therapist.

23 Jan | Women.Words.Work

Agnes Maule Machar (23 Jan 1837 – 24 Jan 1927 | Kingston ON – Kingston ON) poet, author, novelist, essayist, feminist, biographer, social reformer, pen-name Fidelis.


Amanda Berry Smith (23 Jan 1837 – 24 Feb 1915 | Long Green MD – Sebring FL) singer, teacher, autodidact, missionary, autobiographical author.


Marianne Cope (23 Jan 1838 – 09 Aug 1918 | Hessen DEU – Kalaupapa HI) German-American, aka The Leprosy Nun, school / hospital / orphanage founder, canonized religious sister Saint Marianne of Molokaʻi.


Antoinette Sterling (23 Jan 1850 – 10 Jan 1904 | Sterlingville NY – Hampstead UK) Anglo-American vocalist, teacher, voice teacher, church singer, Christian Scientist.


Lydia Field Emmet (23 Jan 1866 – 16 Aug 1952 | New Rochelle NY – New York NY) artist, portrait painter, stained glass artist.

22 Jan | Women.Words.Work

Catherine Wolfe Bruce (22 Jan 1816 – 13 Mar 1900 | New York NY – New York NY) philanthropist, astronomy patron, namesake for Bruce Medal of Astronomical Society of the Pacific / Bruce moon crater / asteroid 323 Brucia.


Harriet Ward Sanborn Grosvenor (22 Jan 1823 – 07 Sep 1863 | Hampton Falls NH – Newburyport MA) poet, writer, novelist.

 


Jennie Fowler Willing (22 Jan 1834 – 06 Oct 1916 | Burford ON – New York NY) author, temperance reformer, founding member Women’s Christian Temperance Union [WCTU], founded New York Evangelistic Training School.


Marie Manning (22 Jan 1872 – 28 Nov 1945 | Washington DC – Washington DC) novelist, journalist, suffragist, aka Beatrice Fairfax, magazine founder, short fiction writer, autobiographical author, first US newspaper advice columnist.


Elsie Reford (22 Jan 1872 – 08 Nov 1967 | Perth ON – Montreal QC) art collector, pioneer horticulturist, outdoor sportswoman, WWI War Office German/English translator, created one of largest private gardens in Canada [open to public since 1962].

19 Jan | Women.Words.Work

Sarah Helen Whitman (19 Jan 1803 – 27 Jun 1878 | Providence RI – Providence RI) poet, author, essayist, Spiritualist, literary figure, transcendentalist.


Alice Hale Hill (19 Jan 1840 – 19 Jul 1908 | Providence RI – Denver CO) political hostess, Colorado State Senator’s wife, social / charitable worker, president of YWCA, charter member of several civic organizations.


Alice Eastwood (19 Jan 1859 – 30 Oct 1953 | Toronto ON – San Francisco CA) Canadian-American author, editor, curator, teacher, journal founder, self-taught botanist, plant collector / discoverer / cataloguer.


Natacha Rambova (19 Jan 1897 – 05 Jun 1966 | Salt Lake City UT – Pasadena CA) actress, ballerina, producer, playwright, memoirist, artistic director, screenwriter, set / costume / fashion designer, elite couture fashion shop owner, born Winifred Kimball Shaughnessy.


Anne Schumacher Hummert (19 Jan 1905 – 05 Jul 1996 | Baltimore MD – New York NY) journalist, advertising executive, multimillionaire, radio serials scriptwriter, pioneering soap opera writer.

31 Dec | Women.Words.Work

Lucretia Crocker (31 Dec 1829 – 09 Oct 1886 | Barnstable MA – Boston MA) author, educator, first female superintendent Boston Public Schools, educational activist / advocate / innovator.


Queen Kapi’olani Napelakapuokakaʻe (31 Dec 1834 – 24 Jun 1899 | Hilo HI – Waikiki HI) Queen Consort of the Kingdom of Hawai’i, medical / educational philanthropist, founded Kapi’olani Maternity Home and Kapi’olani Home for Girls.


Mary Jane Safford-Blake (31 Dec 1834 – 08 Dec 1891 | Hyde Park VT – Tarpon Springs FL) author, teacher, novelist, translator, Civil War Union field nurse. 


Elizabeth Arden (31 Dec 1878 – 18 Oct 1966 | Woodbridge ON – New York NY) Canadian-American author, social icon, beauty products innovator, cosmetics businesswoman, born Florence Nightingale Graham.


20 Dec | Women.Words.Work

Amy Kirby Post (20 Dec 1803 – 29 Jan 1889 | Jericho NY – Rochester NY) abolitionist, suffragist leader, Underground Railroad conductor, American National Women’s Suffrage Movement co-founder.


Laura Smith Haviland (20 Dec 1808 – 20 Apr 1898 | Kitley ON – Grand Rapids MI) abolitionist, suffragist, social reformer, temperance activist, Underground Railroad activist, orphanage founder / director.


Mary Porter Tileston Hemenway (20 Dec 1820 – 06 Mar 1894 | New York NY – Boston MA) philanthropist, children’s education advocate, founded Boston Normal School of Cookery and Normal School of Gymnastics, post-Civil War restorationist.


Lydia Sayer Hasbrouck (20 Dec 1827 – 24 Aug 1910 | Bellvale NY – Delaware County NY) hydrotherapist, newspaper founder / editor, women’s dress reform activist.