06 Oct | Women.Words.Work

Sarah Pugh (06 Oct 1800 – 01 Aug 1884 | Alexandria VA – Philadelphia PA) teacher, Quaker, suffragist, abolitionist, non-violent activist.


Myra Belle Martin (06 Oct 1861 – unknown | Grafton NH – unknown) author, teacher, financier, social activist, art historian, business executive, founded Patria Club of New York, first female president of Eastern Connecticut Teachers’ Association.


Emily Palmer Cape (06 Oct 1865 – 1953 | New York NY – Florida US) artist, painter, agnostic, co-author, travel writer, freethiker, first female co-ed at Columbia University, co-founded Society of Independent Artists.


Enid Yandell (06 Oct 1869 – 13 Jul 1934 | Louisville KY – Boston MA) author, suffragist, women’s rights advocate, pioneering female sculptor, founded Brancock School for artists on Marchtha’s Vineyard, World War I Red Cross war orphans worker.

02 Oct | Women.Words.Work

Anna Smith Franklin (02 Oct 1696 – 16 Apr 1763 | Boston, Province of Massachusetts – Newport, Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations) American colonial newspaper printer and publisher, of the Mintunt and an almanac series, country’s first female newspaper editor, first woman to write an almanac, and first woman inducted into the University of Rhode Island’s Journalism Hall of Fame.


Hannah Adams (02 Oct 1755 – 15 Dec 1831 | Medfield MA – Brookline MA) historical author, first recognized US female professional writer.


Mary Barr Clay (02 Oct 1839 – 12 Oct 1924 | Lexington KY – Richmond KY) poet, author, pioneering Kentucky feminist / suffragist, aka Mary B. Clay and Mrs. J. Frank Herrick.


Eliza Maria Mosher (02 Oct 1846 – 16 Oct 1928 | Cayuga NY – New York NY) inventor, educator, essayist, physician, posture expert, senior editor of Medical Women’s Journal, founder of American Posture League, focus on physical fitness and health maintenance, first female professor / first Dean of Women at University of Michigan, first female resident physician / first female superintendent at Massachusetts Reformatory for Women.


Blanche Roosevelt Tucker (02 Oct 1858 – 10 Sep 1898 | Sandusky OH – Monte Carlo FR) novelist, opera singer, first American woman to sing Italian opera at Covent Garden.

01 Sep | Women.Words.Work

Lydia Huntley Sigourney (01 Sep 1791 – 10 Jun 1865 | Norwich CT – Hartford CT) poet, critic, children’s writer, girls’ school founder, autobiographical author, aka The Sweet Singer of Hartford.


Mary Grew (01 Sep 1813 – 10 Oct 1896 | Hartford CT – Philadelphia PA) preacher, feminist, abolitionist, social activist, public speaker.


Emma Stebbins (01 Sep 1815 – 25 Oct 1882 | New York NY – New York NY) sculptor.


Elizabeth Harrison (01 Sep 1845 – 31 Oct 1927 | Athens KY – San Antonio TX) educator, non-fiction author, autobiographical author, founding president National Louis University, early childhood / teacher training pioneer, founding member of International Kindegarten Movement, sponsored first Mothers’ Convention [later became National Parent Teachers Association].


Anna Botsford Comstock (01 Sep 1854 – 24 Aug 1930 | Otto NY – Ithaca NY) writer, educator, illustrator, conservationist, nature study movement leader.

11 Aug | Women.Words.Work

Eliza Hart Spalding (11 Aug 1807 – 13 Jan 1851 | Kensington CT – Brownsville OR) diarist, pioneer, missionary to Nez Perce, mother of Eliza Spalding Warren.


Octavia Walton Le Vert (11 Aug 1811 – 12 Mar 1877 | Augusta GA – Augusta GA) author, socialite, social activist, memoirist, travel writer.


Oriana [Orie] Russell Moon Andrews (11 Aug 1834 – 26 Dec 1883 | Viewmont VA – Scottsville VA) aka Dr. Orie Moon, Civil War Confederate doctor, Bedouin missionary physician.


Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt (11 Aug 1836 – 22 Dec 1919 | Lexington KY – Caldwell NJ) poet.


Carrie Minetta Jacobs-Bond (11 Aug 1862 – 28 Dec 1946 | Janesville WI – Hollywood CA) poet, pianist, singer-songwriter, first US female music publisher, autobiographical author, first woman to sell one million copies of a song.

06 Aug | Women.Words.Work

Zerelda G. Wallace (06 Aug 1817 – 19 Mar 1901 | Bourbon KY – Jennings IN) author, suffragist, temperance leader, First Lady of Indiana.


Myrtle Fillmore (06 Aug 1845 – 06 Oct 1931 | Pagetown OH – Lees Summit MO) author, memoirist, school teacher, New Thought practitioner, Unity Church co-founder, née Mary Caroline Page, aka Mother of Unity.


Susie Baker King Taylor (06 Aug 1848 – 06 Oct 1912 | Liberty GA – Boston MA) memoirist, social activist, Civil War nurse, aka The Black Clara Barton.


Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt (06 Aug 1861 – 30 Sep 1948 | Norwich CT – Oyster Bay NY) US First Lady, social activist, knitter and needlework artist.


Elizabeth Robins (06 Aug 1862 – 08 May 1952 | Louisville KY – Brighton UK) actress, novelist, playwright, suffragist, pen name: C. E. Raimond.

03 Aug | Women.Words.Work

Graceanna Lewis (03 Aug 1821 – 25 Feb 1912 | West Chester PA – Media PA) author, suffragist, naturalist, illustrator, ornithologist, Underground Railroad activist.


Nina Clifford (03 Aug 1851 – 14 Jul 1929 | Chatham ON – Detroit MI) madam, folk figure, brothel owner, born Johanna Crow.


Caroline [Carrie] Celestia Ingalls Swanzey (03 Aug 1870 – 02 Jun 1946 | Montgomery KS – Pennington SD) typesetter, folk / literary / pioneer figure.


Sophia Kindrick Alcorn (03 Aug 1883 – 28 Nov 1967 | Stanford KY – Stanford KY) educator, deaf-blind disability rights activist, invented Tadoma Method and Alcorn Symbols, American Association for the Blind (AFB) advocate, first female elder of Stanford Presbyterian Church.


Margaret [Maggie] Kuhn (03 Aug 1905 – 22 Apr 1995 | Buffalo NY – Philadelphia PA) writer, social activist, elder rights advocate, Gray Panther founder, autobiographical author.

19 Jul | Women.Words.Work

Elizabeth [Betty] Zane McLAugusthlin Clark (19 Jul 1759 – 23 Aug 1823 | Moorefield VA – St Clairsville OH) pioneer, folk figure, Colonial heroine.


Catherine Troutman Simmons Broshears Maynard (19 Jul 1816 – 20 Oct 1906 | Meade County KY – Seattle WA) folk figure, pioneer, memoirist, social activist, Seattle WA co-founder.


Mary Ann Bickerdyke (19 Jul 1817 – 08 Nov 1901 | Mount Vernon OH – Bunker Hill KS) author, Civil War Union nurse, hospital administrator, aka Mother Bickerdyke, lifelong veterans’ advocate.


Lizbeth [Lizzie] Borden (19 Jul 1860 – 01 Jun 1927 | Fall River MA – Fall River MA) heiress, literary / folk figure, subject of films / books / plays / folk rhymes, accused and acquitted of murdering father and stepmother in sensational trial, later shunned and ostracized by Fall River community.


Narcissa Florence Foster Jenkins (19 Jul 1868 – 26 Nov 1944 | Wilkes-Barre PA – New York NY) pianist, singer, voice teacher, literary figure, amateur operatic soprano, aka ‘the world’s worst opera singer’.

18 Jun | Women.Words.Work

Jane Lampton Clemens (18 Jun 1803 – 27 Oct 1890 | Columbia KY – Keokuk IA) literary family figure, mother of Samuel Clemens, portrayed as Aunt Polly in Tom Sawyer.


Frances [Fanny] Sargent Locke Osgood (18 Jun 1811 – 12 May 1850 | Boston MA – New York NY) poet, author, letter correspondent.


Helen Hinsdale Rich (18 Jun 1827 – 04 Sep 1914 | Antwerp NY – St. Joseph MO) poet, lecturer, suffragist, women’s rights activist, temperance worker, short fiction writer, aka Poet of the Adirondacks, first woman to stand for woman suffrage in St. Lawrence County NY.


Laura Adeline Muntz Lyall (18 Jun 1860 – 09 Dec 1930 | Radford UK – Toronto ON) visual artist, Canadian Impressionst, known for portraits of mothers and children.


Carolyn Wells (18 Jun 1862 – 26 Mar 1942 | Rahway NJ – New York NY) poet, author.

16 Jun | Women.Words.Work

Mary Katherine Goddard (16 Jun 1738 – 12 Aug 1816 | Groton CT – Baltimore MD) editor, printer, publisher, Baltimore MD Post Office postmistress, first newspaper publisher in Providence RI, first to print US Declaration of Independence with names of signatories.


Jane [Jenny] Marsh Parker (16 Jun 1836 – 13 Mar 1913 | Milan NY – Rochester NY) fiction / nonfiction author.


Belle Brezing (16 Jun 1859 – 11 Aug 1940 | Lexington KY – Lexington KY) madam, folk figure, aka The American Magdalene, basis for Belle Watling in Gone with the Wind [Brezing’s last name had one ‘e’ — except on her headstone, where it was mispelled Breezing].


Sarah Margaret Armour Robertson (16 Jun 1891 – 06 Dec 1948 | Montreal QC – Montreal QC) painter, member of Beaver Hall Hill Group / Canadian Group of Painters.


Jennie Grossinger (16 Jun 1892 – 20 Nov 1972 | Baligrod AH- Liberty NY) hotelier, restaurateur, cookbook author.

12 Jun | Women.Words.Work

Lilian Jeannette Rice (12 Jun 1889 – 22 Dec 1938 | National City CA – Rancho Santa Fe CA) pioneering female eco-conscious architect.


Lela Campbell Murray (12 Jun 1890 – 18 Mar 1949 | Kentucky US – San Bernardino CA) social / civil rights activist, pioneering African-American dude ranch co-owner / manager.


Djuna Barnes (12 Jun 1892 – 18 Jun 1982 | Cornwall-on-Hudson NY – New York NY) poet, writer, journalist, illustrator, memoirist, playwright, sketch artist.


Viola Blanche Evans Dean (12 Jun 1892 – 31 May 1974 | Clay County AL – Goodwater AL) teacher, author, naturalist, illustrator, conservationist.


Anni Albers (12 Jun 1899 – 09 May 1994 | Berlin DEU – Orange CT) author, weaver, Bauhaus graduate, printmaker, mixed media artist, German-American textile artist, born Annelise Elsa Frieda Fleischmann, founded Josef and Anni Albers Foundation.