09 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Eliza Seaman Leggett (09 May 1815 – 08 Feb 1900 | New York NY – Detroit MI) social activist, suffragist, abolitionist, Underground Railroad worker, public restrooms and public drinking fountain advocate.


Harriet Rebecca Lane Johnston (09 May 1830 – 03 Jul 1903 | Franklin County PA – Narragansett RI) fine art collector, arts / music advocate, Native American reservation activist, acting US Presidential First Lady for uncle James Buchanan, children’s hospital founder, founded Washington Cathedral School for Choir Boys, aka First Lady of National Collection of Fine Arts.


Mary Eno Bassett Mumford (09 May 1842 – 09 May 1935 | Litchfield CT – New Britain CT) author, activist, editor, teacher.


Fanny Titus Hazen (09 May 1840 – 20 Jan 1930 | Vershire VT – Cambridge MA) Civil War nurse, suffragist, president Army Nurse Association of Massachusetts, member of Woman’s Relief Corps / Cambridge Equal Suffrage League.


Isabella Maria [Belle] Boyd (09 May 1844 – 11 Jun 1900 | Martinsburg VA [now WV] – Kilbourn [now Wisconsin Dells] WI) spy, lecturer, memoirist, aka Cleopatra of the Secession, Siren of the Shenandoah.


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.

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.

19 Apr | Herstorical.Reflections

Sarah Kemble Knight (19 Apr 1666 – 25 Sep 1727 | Boston MA – New London CT) diarist, teacher, innkeeper, shopkeeper, traveled from Boston to New York on horseback / kept ongoing journey of the journey.


Sarah George Bagley Duro (19 Apr 1806 – 23 Jun 1883 | Candia NH – Brooklyn NY) labor leader / organizer, newspaper editor / publisher, women’s rights activist / advocate, co-founded Lowell Female Labor Reform Association (LFLRA).


Calista H. Vinton (19 Apr 1807 – 18 Dec 1864 | Willington CT – Rangoon, BUR [now Myanmar]) Baptist missionary, teacher, preacher, mission school administrator.


Mary Louise Booth (19 Apr 1831 – 05 Mar 1889 | Yaphank NY – New York NY) writer, author, historian, magazine editor, French / English translator.


Ella Broadus Robertson (19 Apr 1872 – 05 Dec 1945 | Greenville SC – Louisville KY) nonfiction author.

16 Apr | Herstorical.Reflections

Sarah Ann Major Harris Fayerweather (16 Apr 1812 – 16 Nov 1878 | Norwich CT – Kingston RI) African-American activist, abolitionist, school integrationist.


Martha McClellan Brown (16 Apr 1838 – 31 Aug 1916 | Baltimore MD – Dayton OH) newspaper publisher, temperance activist, women’s college vice-president, Ohio Temperance leader.


Ida Elizabeth Smith Noyes (16 Apr 1853 – 05 Dec 1912 | Croton DE – Chicago IL) poet, speaker, club woman, member of Daughters of the American Revolution.


Mary Ellen Britton (16 Apr 1855 – 27 Aug 1925 | Lexington KY – Lexington KY) educator, suffragist, journalist, columnist, civil rights activist, first female African-American physician in Lexington, original member of KY Negro Education Association.


Emily Susan Hartwell (16 Apr 1859 – 02 Oct 1951 | Foochow CN – Oberlin OH) philanthropist, relief worker, orphanage founder, educational missionary, founder / teacher of girls’ school at Ponasang.


Grace Anne Bower anniebower71@gmail.com Hill (16 Apr 1865 – 01 Jan 1947 | Wellsville NY – Swarthmore PA) aka Marcia Macdonald, Christian novelist / short story writer.

11 Apr | Herstorical.Reflections

Margaret Moffette Houston (11 Apr 1819 – 03 Dec 1867 | Marion AL – Independence TX) political family member, First Lady of the Republic of Texas.


Lurana Waterhouse Sheldon Ferris (11 Apr 1862 – 11 Jun 1945 | Hadlyme CT – York ME) poet, lecturer, novelist, suffragist, freethinker, newspaper editor, anti-prohibitionist, pen names Richard Hackstaff, Stanley Norris, Grace Shirley.


Lillie Plummer Bliss (11 Apr 1864 – 12 Mar 1931 | Boston MA – New York NY) art patron / collector, philanthropist.


Mary White Ovington (11 Apr 1865 – 15 Jul 1951 | Brooklyn NY – Newton Highlands MA) suffragist, journalist, social / civil rights activist, NAACP co-founder.


Annie Dodge Wauneka (11 Apr 1910 – 10 Nov 1997 | Navajo Nation AZ – Flagstaff AZ) Navajo, health / education activist, Navajo Nation Council leader.

10 Apr | Herstorical.Reflections

Louise Chandler Moulton (10 Apr 1835 – 10 Aug 1908 | Pomfret CT – Boston MA) poet, critic, short-story writer, prose fiction author, literary salon hostess.


Lucy Higgs Nichols (10 Apr 1838 – 25 Jan 1915 | Halifax County NC – New Albany IN) escaped slave, aka Miss Lucy, Civil War Union nurse, sole female honorary member of Grand Army of the Republic.


Mary Emilee Holmes (10 Apr 1850 – 13 Feb 1906 | Chester NY – Rockford IL) geologist, educator, first female fellow of the Geological Society of America, co-founded seminary for young black women.


Helene Carola Nancy Sanford Dow (10 Apr 1874 – 08 Aug 1962 | Brussels BE – Derby CT) author, travel writer, aka Machesa di Poggio.


Margaret [Daisy] Sutermeister (10 Apr 1875 – 30 May 1951 | Milton MA – Milton MA) glass-plate photographer, plant nursery manager, a few years after her death 1800+ photographic works discovered stored in her barn.

01 Apr | Herstorical.Reflections

Martha Wadsworth Brewster (01 Apr 1710 – c. 1757 | Lebanon CT – Lebanon CT) poet, writer.


Mary Richardson Walker (01 Apr 1811 – 21 Nov 1877 | Baldwin ME – Forest Grove OR) diarist, frontier missionary to Spokan Indians, co-founded Columbia Maternal Association, one of first six women to travel over Rocky Mountains.


Agnes Repplier (01 apr 1855 – 15 nov 1950 | Philadelphia PA – Philadelphia PA) author, essayist, biographer, cat lover / owner.


Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge (01 Apr 1866 – 30 Jul 1948 | Lexington KY – Chicago IL) author, social activist / scientist, higher education innovator, Progressive Era social reformer.


Aurelia Isabel Henry Reinhardt (01 Apr 1877 – 28 Jan 1948 | San Francisco CA – Palo Alto CA) peace activist, Unitarian moderator, Mills College president [1916 – 1943], prominent member / leader of numerous organizations.

30 Mar | Herstorical.Reflections

Eliza Grew Jones (30 Mar 1803 – 28 Mar 1838 | Providence RI – Bangkok, Siam [THAI]) memoirist, Biblical historian, American Baptist missionary to Burma and Siam, created first Siamese-English dictionary, invented Romanized script for writing Siamese language.


Ann Sophia Winterbotham Stephens (30 Mar 1810 – 20 Aug 1886 | Derby CT – Newport RI) poet, author, novelist, essayist, magazine editor and founder.


Julia Elizabeth Christiansen Hoffman (30 Mar 1856 – 30 Nov 1934 | Manti UT – Portland OR) artist, arts patron, Arts and Crafts curator / teacher, eponym of Hoffman Gallery at OCAC, first person to walk across Willamette River Bridge, founded Arts and Crafts Society of Portland [later the Oregon College of Art and Craft].


Mary Whiton Calkins (30 Mar 1863 – 26 Feb 1930 | Hartford CT – Newton MA) author, researcher, philosopher, psychologist, autobiographical author, Wellesley professor, earned Harvard PhD but un-awarded because of gender, first female president of American Psychological Association and American Philosophical Association.


Helen Abbot Merrill (30 Mar 1864 – 01 May 1949 | Llewellyn Park NJ – Wellesley MA) educator, mathematician, textbook author.

21 Mar | Herstorical.Reflections

Mary Dixon Kies (21 Mar 1752 – 1837 | Killingly CT – Brooklyn NY) milliner, inventor, first female US patent holder [1809], invented new method of weaving straw with silk and thread.


Lucy Taft Fisher (21 Mar 1805 – 20 Jan 1854 | Wendell MA – Oregon City OR) pioneer, American Baptist Home missionary.


Antonia Maury (21 Mar 1866 – 08 Jan 1952 | Cold Spring NY – Dobbs Ferry NY) author, astronomer, published early catalog of stellar spectra.


Amy Eliza Tanner (21 Mar 1870 – 01 Feb 1956 | Owatonna MN – Worcester MA) author, psychologist, doctor of philosophy, spiritual medium researcher, theater owner / manager, girls / women’s club activist.


Anna Strunsky Walling (21 Mar 1877 – 25 Feb 1964 | Babinots RU – San Francisco CA) author, Socialist, novelist, essayist, social / political activist.