04 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Mary Elizabeth Surratt (04 May 1823 – 07 Jul 1865 | Waterloo MD – Washington DC) boarding house owner / operator, historical / political folk figure, tried as Lincoln assassination co-conspirator, first American female executed by hanging.


Julia Britton Hooks (04 May 1852 – 10 Mar 1942 | Frankfort KY – Memphis TN) pianist, social worker, civil rights leader, juvenile court officer, second female African-American US college graduate, founded Julia Hooks Cottage School and Julia Hooks School of Music.


Mary Ellis Peltz (04 May 1896 – 24 Oct 1981 | New York NY – New York NY) poet, editor, author, music / drama critic, founding editor Opera News magazine.


Joy Bright Hancock (04 May 1898 – 20 Aug 1986 | Wildwood NJ – Bethesda MD) pilot, WAVES activist, early female Naval officer, autobiographical author.


Bernice Mildred Goetz (04 May 1909 – 30 Dec 1958 | Cleveland OH – Brooklyn NY) poet, author, teacher, lecturer, explorer.

03 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Laura Matilda Towne (03 May 1825 – 22 Feb 1901 | Pittsburgh PA – St Helena Island SC ) educator, abolitionist, first freedmen’s school founder.


Anne Etheridge Hooks (03 May 1839 – 23 Jan 1913 | Detroit MI – Georgetown VA) aka Gentle Annie, Civil War Union nurse / vivandiere, one of two women to receive Kearny Cross.


George Madden Martin (03 May 1866 – 30 Nov 1946 | Louisville KY – Louisville KY) novelist, social reform / civil rights / prohibition activist, Commission on Interracial Co-operation charter member, Association of Southern Women for Prevention of Lynching leader / advocate.


Angel De Cora (03 May 1871 – 06 Feb 1919 | Thurston NE – Northampton MA) Winnebago teacher, painter, illustrator, Native American rights activist, aka Hinook-Mahiwi-Kalinaka [Fleecy Cloud Floating in Place].


Maud O’Farrell Swartz (03 May 1879 – 22 Feb 1937 | County Kildare IE – Brooklyn NY) Irish-American labor activist, president of Women’s Trade Union League [1922 to 1926], Secretary of the NY State Department of Labor under Industrial Commissioner Frances Perkins, first woman and first trade unionist to hold that position.

27 Apr | Herstorical.Reflections

Mary Upton Ferrin (27 Apr 1810 – 11 Apr 1881 | South Danvers MA – Marblehead MA) pioneering suffragist, pamphleteer, public speaker.


Mary Elizabeth Croghan Schenley (27 Apr 1826 – 01 Nov 1903 | Louisville KY – London UK) heiress, Pittsburgh philanthropist, romantic scandal heroine.


Alice Morse Earle (27 Apr 1851 – 16 Feb 1911 | Worcester MA – Hempstead NY) author, pioneering social historian.


Alice Sarah Tyler (27 Apr 1859 – 18 Apr 1944 | Decatur IL – Decatur IL) editor, author, club woman, librarian, Carnegie library activist.


Mary Elliott Flanery (27 Apr 1867 – 19 Jul 1933 | Carter County KY – Cattlettsburg KY) suffragist, politician, journalist, columnist, social reformer, Daughters of Confederacy co-founder, women’s rights activist, first female elected to KY General Assembly and State legislature south of Mason–Dixon line.

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.

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.

29 Mar | Herstorical.Reflections

Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr (29 Mar 1831 – 10 Mar 1919 | Ulverston UK – Queens NY) English-American novelist, short story writer.


Augusta Louise Pierce Tabor (29 Mar 1833 – 30 Jan 1895 | Augusta ME – Pasadena CA) folk figure, social activist, mining entrepreneur / millionaire.


Isabella Thoburn (29 Mar 1840 – 01 Sep 1901 | St Clairsville OH – Lucknow IN) educator, Methodist Episcopal missionary, high school / women’s college founder in India.


Frances Wisebart Jacobs (29 Mar 1843 – 03 Nov 1892 | Harrodsburg KY – Denver CO) philanthropist, school teacher, founded United Way, social / community activist, founded Denver’s Jewish Hospital Association, aka Denver’s Mother of Charities.


Lou Henry Hoover (29 Mar 1874 – 07 Jan 1944 | Waterloo IA – New York NY) linguist, scholar, translator, public speaker, Girl Scout enthusiast / supporter, US Presidential First Lady, first First Lady to speak fluent Chinese, first First Lady to offer regular national radio broadcasts.

25 Mar | Herstorical.Reflections

Jennie Carter Benedict (25 Mar 1860 – 24 Jul 1928 | Louisville KY – Louisville KY) cook, columnist, cookbook author, restaurateur, autobiographical author.


Florence Elizabeth Smith Knapp (25 Mar 1875 – 26 Oct 1949 | Syracuse NY – Marcy NY) author, politician, Secretary of State of New York, Dean of College of Home Economics at Syracuse University, accused of maladministration / convicted of grand larceny, only woman elected to statewide office in New York [1924 – 1974].


Frances Glessner Lee (25 Mar 1878 – 27 Jan 1962 | Chicago IL – Bethlehem NH) artist, heiress, dollhouse expert, aka Mother of Forensic Science, created The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, founded The Nutshell Laboratories in Littleton NH, endowed first Department of Legal Medicine at Harvard University.


Bella Cohen Spewack (25 Mar 1899 – 29 Apr 1990 | Transylvania RO – Manhattan NY) diarist, reporter, lyricist, memoirist, screenwriter.


Ruth Winifred Howard Beckham (25 Mar 1900 – 12 Feb 1997 | Washington DC – Washington DC) social worker, child psychologist, pioneering African-American female PhD in psychology.

23 Feb | Herstorical.Reflections

Emma Hart Willard (23 Feb 1787 – 15 Apr 1870 | Berlin CT – Troy NY) poet, author, educator, graphic illustrator, founded Troy Female Seminary.


Margaret Deland (23 Feb 1857 – 13 Jan 1945 | Allegheny PA – Boston MA) poet, novelist, short story writer, autobiographer, born Margaretta Wade Campbell.


Katherine Rebecca Pettit (23 Feb 1868 – 03 Sep 1936 | Fayette County KY – Lexington KY) author, progressive educator, co-founded Pine Mountain Settlement School.


Agnes Smedley (23 Feb 1892 – 06 May 1950 | Osgood MO – Oxford UK) author, journalist, biographer, spy / triple agent, autobiographical novelist, women’s rights / birth control / children’s welfare activist.


Elinor Remick Warren (23 Feb 1900 – 27 Apr 1991 | Los Angeles CA – Los Angeles CA) pianist, contemporary classical music composer.

20 Feb | Herstorical.Reflections

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 | Herstorical.Reflections

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.