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.

09 Feb | Herstorical.Reflections

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 | 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.