30 May | Women.Words.Work

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Zilpah Polly Grant Banister (30 May 1794 – 03 Dec 1874 | Norfolk CT – Newburyport MA) educator, pamphleteer, women’s seminary founder.

Persis Foster Eames Albee (30 May 1836 – 07 Dec 1914 | Newry ME – Templeton MA) aka PFE Albee and The First Avon Lady, women’s business trainer / advocate, professional saleswoman for California Perfume Company [later Avon Products].

Katrina Trask (30 May 1853 – 08 Jan 1922 | Brooklyn NY – Saratoga Springs NY) poet, memoirist, playwright, philanthropist, co-founder of Yaddo artists’ retreat, aka Kate Nicholes Trask.

Florence Casler (30 May 1869 – 15 Mar 1954 | Welland ON – Yolo CA) plumber, groundbreaking female architect / contractor / real estate developer of downtown Los Angeles, first female / then sole female director Peoples Bank of Los Angeles.

Josephine Preston Peabody (30 May 1874 – 04 Dec 1922 | New York NY – Cambridge MA) poet, dramatist.

01 May | Women.Words.Work

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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.

29 Apr | Women.Words.Work

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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 | Women.Words.Work

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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.

24 Apr | Women.Words.Work

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Annis Bertha Ford Eastman (24 Apr 1852 – 22 Oct 1910 | Peoria IL – Elmira NY) author, lecturer, suffragist, theologian, philosopher, first NY State ordained female minister.

Virna Sheard (24 Apr 1862 – 22 Feb 1944 | Cobourg ON – Toronto ON) poet, novelist, pen name Stanton Sheard.

Gemma La Guardia Gluck (24 Apr 1881 – 01 Nov 1962 | New York NY – New York NY) memoirist, Italian-Jewish-American, Holocaust survivor, citizen of US and Hungary, sister of Fiorello La Guardia [first Italian-American Mayor of NYC].

Rowena Meeks Abdy (24 Apr 1887 – 18 Aug 1945 | Vienna AT – San Francisco CA) plein-air painter.

Sara Campbell (24 Apr 1890 – 18 Nov 1965 | Dover TN – Paducah KY) poet, author, flag designer, aka The Betsy Ross of Paducah.

27 Mar | Women.Words.Work

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.