18 Jan | Herstorical.Reflections

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 | Herstorical.Reflections

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 | Herstorical.Reflections

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 | Herstorical.Reflections

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 | Herstorical.Reflections

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 | Herstorical.Reflections

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 | Herstorical.Reflections

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.

13 Dec | Herstorical.Reflections

Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln (13 Dec 1788 – 12 Apr 1869 | Elizabethtown KY – Coles County IL) pioneer, educational mentor, political family figure, Abraham Lincoln’s step-mother.


Mary Todd Lincoln (13 Dec 1818 – 16 Jul 1882 | Lexington KY – Springfield IL) political family member, US Presidential First Lady, born 30 years to the day after Abraham Lincoln’s step-mother Sarah Bush Lincoln.


Pauline Jacobus (13 Dec 1840 – 1930 | Chicago IL – Dousman WI) potter, founded Pauline Pottery company, opened first art pottery studio in Chicago.


Emily Carr (13 Dec 1871 – 02 Mar 1945 | Victoria BC – Victoria BC) artist, author, memoirist, landscape painter, Canadian cultural icon.


Eleanor Robson Belmont (13 Dec 1879 – 24 Oct 1979 | Wigan UK – New York NY) actress, patron of arts, philanthropist, British-American.

25 Nov | Herstorical.Reflections

Hannah Maynard Thompson Pickard (25 Nov 1812 – 11 Mar 1844 | Chester VT – Sackville NB) poet, writer, diarist, memoirist, novelist, teacher, pen name The Lady.


Magdalena [Ellen] Rysdam Earp Van Rossum Eaton (25 Nov 1842 – 03 May 1910 | Utrecht NL – Cornelius OR) pioneer, folk figure, Dutch immigrant.


Carrie Amelia Moore (25 Nov 1846 – 09 Jun 1911 | Garrard County KY – Leavenworth KS) author, speaker, newsletter publisher, radical temperance activist, aka Carrie Nation and Carry A. Nation.


Mabel Gardiner Hubbard Bell (25 Nov 1857 – 03 Jan 1923 | Cambridge MA – Chevy Chase MD) educator, philanthropist, aka Mabel Bell, childhood onset of deafness, married Alexander Graham Bell, first president of Bell Telephone Company.


Catherine Anselm Gleason (25 Nov 1865 – 09 Jan 1933 | Rochester NY – Rochester NY) suffragist, engineer, philanthropist, businesswoman, community planner and builder, namesake for Rochester Institute of Technology College of Engineering.

22 Nov | Herstorical.Reflections

Abigail Smith Adams (22 Nov 1744 – 28 Oct 1818 | Wentworth MA – Quincy MA) political influencer, one of the founders of the United States, wife and closest advisor of President John Adams, mother of 6th US President John Quincy Adams, first US Second Lady and second US First Lady [though those titles were not used then].


Abby Morton Diaz (22 Nov 1821 – 01 Apr 1904 | Plymouth MA – Belmont MA) author, teacher, women’s rights organizer, Brooks Farm experimental commune member, founded Women’s Educational and Industrial Union of Boston.


Helen Louise Gilson Osgood (22 Nov 1836 – 20 Apr 1868 | Boston MA – Newton Corner MA) teacher, Civil War Union volunteer nurse, co-facilitated post-war orphanage for black children.


Maud Morgan (22 Nov 1860 – 02 Dec 1941 | New York NY – New York NY) singer, composer, classical harpist.


Fannie Caldwell (22 Nov 1863 – 06 Jan 1941 | Shelbyville KY – Louisville KY) prolific novelist, focus on Japanese life, pen name: Frances Little.