20 Feb | Women.Words.Work

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Margaret Bayard Smith (20 Feb 1778 – 07 Jun 1844 | Pennsylvania US – Washington DC) diarist, novelist, essayist, biographer, short story writer, letter correspondent.

Angelina Emily Grimké Weld (20 Feb 1805 – 26 Oct 1879 | Charleston SC – Hyde Park MA) suffragist, abolitionist, letter correspondent, women’s rights advocate.

Sarah Cooke Acheson (20 Feb 1843 – 16 Jan 1899 | Washington PA – Denison TX) suffragist, women’s activist, temperance reformer.

Louise Southgate (20 Feb 1857 – 14 Aug 1941 | Walton KY – Walton KY) author, physician, suffragist, artifact collector, Egyptologist, early proponent of birth control, one of first female doctors in Northern Kentucky, advocate for girls in juvenile court system, Kentucky Equal Rights Association member.

Leonora Jackson McKim (20 Feb 1879 – 07 Jan 1969 | Boston MA – Baltimore MD) violinist, art collector, philanthropist, one of first American women concert violinists acclaimed internationally.

14 Feb | Women.Words.Work

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Frances [Fanny] Keeling Valentine Allan (14 Feb 1784 – 28 Feb 1829 | Richmond VA – Richmond VA) literary folk figure, E. A. Poe’s foster-mother / first teacher, taught Poe to read and write, gave Poe his middle name Allan.

Sarah Louise Browning Knox-Goodrich (14 Feb 1825 – 30 Oct 1903 | Culpeper VA – San Jose CA) suffragist, political / women’s rights activist, commissioned Knox-Goodrich Building, Goodrich quarry provided stone for Stanford University construction.

Anna Howard Shaw (14 Feb 1847 – 02 Jul 1919 | Newcastle-upon-Tyne UK – Moylan PA) orator, physician, suffragist, social reformer, women’s leader, autobiographical author, one of first ordained American female Methodist ministers.

Sallie Florence Casey Thayer (14 Feb 1856 – 10 Sep 1925 | Covington KY – San Diego CA) art collector / benefactor, donated her collections to Spencer Art Museum in Lawrence KS.

Virginia Frazer Boyle (14 Feb 1863 – 13 Dec 1938 | Chattanooga TN – Memphis TN) poet, author.

09 Feb | Women.Words.Work

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Patience Lovell Wright (09 Feb 1725 – 23 Mar 1786 | Oyster Bay NY – London UK) poet, painter, wax sculptor, first recognized US female sculptor, aka The Promethean Modeler, American Revolutionary War political spy / activist.

Sarah [Sally] Hemings (09 Feb 1773 – 1835 | Charles City County, Virginia Colony – Charlottesville VA) diarist, domestic slave, social / political / literary figure.

Lydia Estes Pinkham (09 Feb 1819 – 17 May 1873 | Lynn MA – Lynn MA) women’s herbal remedy inventor / developer / entrepreneur.

Laura Redden Searing (09 Feb 1839 – 10 Aug 1923 | Somerset County MD – San Mateo County CA) poet, journalist, songwriter, pen name: Howard Glyndon, onset of deafness at age 11.

Laura Clay (09 Feb 1849 – 29 Jun 1941 | White Hall KY – Lexington KY) orator, suffragist leader, Kentucky Equal Rights Association co-founder / first president.

18 Jan | Women.Words.Work

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Virginia Penny (18 Jan 1826 – 04 Apr 1913 | Louisville KY – Wards Island NY) author, economist, suffragist, social reformer, owned employment agency for women, first to study women’s labor markets.

Sarah Blakeslee Chase (18 Jan 1837 – 01 Apr 1914 | New Richmond OH – Toledo OH) birth control activist, homeopathic gynecologist, first female admitted to Medical Society of Cleveland and Homœopathic Association of Ohio.

Alice H. Putnam (18 Jan 1841 – 19 Jan 1919 | Chicago IL – Chicago IL) author, educator, pioneer in Chicago kindergarten education, opened and directed first private kindergarten in Chicago.

Emma Bertha Delany (18 Jan 1871 – 07 Oct 1922 | Fernandina Beach FL – Fernandina Beach FL) African-American missionary fundraiser, first Baptist missionary to Malawai and Liberia in Africa, co-founded Providence Industrial Mission [Malawi] and Suehn Industrial Mission [Liberia].

Irene Osgood Andrews (18 Jan 1879 – 01 Feb 1963 | Big Rapids MI – New York NY) writer, author, relief worker, factory inspector, focus on challenges facing women in American industries.

17 Jan | Women.Words.Work

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Mary Jane Whitely Coggeshall (17 Jan 1836 – 22 Dec 1911 | Milton IN – Des Moines IA) writer, speaker, suffragist, first editor Woman’s Standard, aka the Mother of Woman Suffrage in Iowa, first woman west of Mississippi to join the National American Woman Suffrage Association [NAWSA].

Alva Erskine Smith Belmont (17 Jan 1853 – 26 Jan 1933 | Mobile AL – Paris FR) socialite, suffragist, librettist, philanthropist, multi-millionaire, architectural endower / decorator.

Edith Stuyvesant Dresser Gerry (17 Jan 1873 – 21 Dec 1958 | Newport RI – Providence RI) heiress, socialite, social activist, philanthropist, once the wealthiest woman in Rhode Island.

Josie Bassett Morris (17 Jan 1874 – 01 May 1964 | Hot Springs AR – Jensen UT) potter, pioneer, basket maker, cattle rancher, folk figure affiliated with The Wild Bunch Gang, rumored to have been Butch Cassidy’s sweetheart.

Cora Wilson Stewart (17 Jan 1875 – 02 Dec 1958 | Farmers KY – Columbus NC) educator, social reformer, founded Moonlight Schools to teach illiterate adults.

11 Jan | Women.Words.Work

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Caroline Mathilda Stansbury Kirkland (11 Jan 1801 – 06 Apr 1864 | New York NY – New York NY) writer, editor, social activist, Domestic School co-founder.

Harriet Maxwell Converse (11 Jan 1836 – 18 Nov 1903 | Elmira NY – New York NY) poet, author, adopted Iroquois, aka Yaiewano / Gayaneshaoh.

Martha Strudwick Young (11 Jan 1862 – 09 May 1941 | Newbern AL – Greensboro AL) poet, novelist, lecturer, short fiction writer, children’s book author.

Anna Schoen-René (11 Jan 1864 – 1942 | Berlin DEU – New York NY) German-American author, musician, memoirist, music teacher, entrepreneur, aka Godmother of Minnesota Orchestra, considered first woman to conduct an orchestra in the USA.

Alice Caldwell Hegan Rice (11 Jan 1870 – 10 Feb 1942 | Shelbyville KY – Louisville KY) novelist.

08 Jan | Women.Words.Work

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Ida Whipple Benham (08 Jan 1849 – 21 May 1903 | Quakertown CT – Ledyard CT) poet, hymnist, educator, peace activist, American Peace Society director, Universal Peace Union executive committee member.

Fanny Bullock Workman (08 Jan 1859 – 22 Jan 1925 | Worcester MA – Cannes FR) author, explorer, geographer, cartographer.

Ellen Churchill Semple (08 Jan 1863 – 08 May 1932 | Louisville KY – West Palm Beach FL) author, geographer, Presidential advisor, president American Geographers, first female president of any US academic organization.

Mary Kenney O’Sullivan (08 Jan 1864 – 18 Jan 1943 | Hannibal MO – West Medford MA) bookbinder, dressmaker, settlement house activist, labor movement organizer, founded Women’s Trade Union League, factory Inspector for Massachusetts Board of Labor and Industries.

Ellen Hattie Clapsaddle (08 Jan 1865 – 07 Jan 1934 | South Columbia NY – New York NY) illustrator, commercial artist, prolific souvenir / postcard / greeting card artist.

07 Jan | Women.Words.Work

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Ann Mayes Rutledge (07 Jan 1813 – 25 Aug 1835 | Henderson KY – New Salem IL) US folk figure, aka [US President Abraham] Lincoln’s First Love.

Julia Thompson von Stosch Schayer (07 Jan 1842 – 29 Mar 1928 | Deering ME – Bronxville NY) short fiction author.

Louise Imogen Guiney (07 Jan 1861 – 02 Nov 1920 | Roxbury MA – Chipping Campden UK) poet, editor, essayist.

Ella Sophonisba Hergesheimer (07 Jan 1873 – 24 Jun 1943 | Allentown PA – Nashville TN) painter, illustrator, printmaker, white-line woodcut creator / innovator.

Florence Winger Bagley (07 Jan 1874 – 1952 | Clay Lick PA – US) author, psychologist, Fechner’s color aesthetics specialist, independent psychology researcher.

25 Dec | Women’s Words & Works

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Martha Coffin Wright (25 Dec 1806 – 04 Jan 1875 | Boston MA – Boston MA) Quaker, feminist, abolitionist, writing and painting teacher, Declaration of Sentiments signer, Underground Railroad activist conductor.

Hannah Maria Conant Tracy Cutler (25 Dec 1815 – 11 Feb 1896 | Becket MA – Ocean Springs MS) author, essayist, physician, abolitionist, social reformer, suffrage / temperance movements activist / leader.

Louisa [Lou] Hawkins Canby (25 Dec 1818 – 27 Jun 1889 | Paris KY – Portland OR) humanitarian, Union Army wife, charitable activist, aka The Angel of Santa Fe, converted Santa Fe home into hospital to nurse Confederate soldiers during US Civil War.

Clarissa [Clara] Harlowe Barton (25 Dec 1821 – 12 Apr 1912 | North Oxford MA – Glen Echo MD) teacher, patent clerk, humanitarian, pioneering nurse, founded Red Cross.

18 Dec | Women’s Words & Works

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Phoebe Worrall Palmer Knapp (18 Dec 1807 – 02 Nov 1874 | New York NY – New York NY) author, hymnist, religious pioneer, Christian music advocate.

Sarah Tittle Bolton (18 Dec 1814 – 05 Aug 1893 | Newport KY – Indianapolis IN) poet, author, women’s / property rights activist, aka Indiana’s Pioneer Poet.

Josephine Sophia White Griffing (18 Dec 1814 – 18 Feb 1872 | Hebron CT – Washington DC) suffragist, abolitionist, women’s rights activist, Freedmen’s movement member [Note: no images of this woman are known to exist].

Henrietta Muir Edwards (18 Dec 1849 – 10 Nov 1931 | Montreal QC – Fort Macleod AB) author, suffragist, women’s rights reformer.