09 Apr | Women.Words.Work

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Mary Rollins Lightner (09 Apr 1818 – 17 Dec 1913 | Lima NY – Minersville UT) Mormon pioneer, member LDS church, rescued looted pages of LDS DOctrine and Convenants, one of plural wives of JoSeph Smith, Brigham Young, and Adam Lightner.

Maria Susanna Cummins (09 Apr 1827 – 01 Oct 1866 | Salem MA – Dorchester MA) short fiction writer, girls’ / young adult serial novelist.

Mary Strong Kinney (09 Apr 1859 – 17 Jun 1938 | Salem OR – Seaside OR) suffragist, politician, Oregon State Senator, sawmill owner / manager.

Margaret Mann (09 Apr 1873 – 22 Aug 1960 | Cedar Rapids IA – Cedar Rapids IA) author, librarian, archivist, professor, pioneer in library cataloging and library science education.

Florence Beatrice Price (09 Apr 1887 – 03 Jun 1953 | Little Rock AR – Chicago IL) solo / choral / orchestral / symphonic composer, first African-American woman recognized as symphonic composer and to have composition played by major orchestra.


06 Apr | Women.Words.Work

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Jane McManus Cazneau (06 Apr 1807 – 12 Dec 1878 | Brunswick NY – at sea near Dominican Republic) journalist, publicist, aka Cora Montgomery.

Julia Abigail Fletcher Carney (06 Apr 1823 – 01 Nov 1908 | Lancaster MA – Galesburg IL) poet, editor, author, educator, pen names: Julia, Minnie May, Frank Fisher, Sadie Sensible, Minister’s Wife, Rev. Peter Benson’s Daughter.

Catherine [Kate] Boott Gannet Wells (06 Apr 1838 – 13 Dec 1911 | London UK – Boston MA) writer, reformer, philanthropist, anti-suffragist.

Martha Gallison Moore Avery (06 Apr 1851 – 08 Aug 1929 | Steuben ME – Medford MA) author, socialist, Catholic convert, anti-socialist / anti-suffrage activist.

Catherine Everit [Kate] Macy Ladd (06 apr 1863 – 27 aug 1945 | Manhattan NY – Far Hills NJ) philanthropist, founder of philanthropic foundation.

05 Apr | Women.Words.Work

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Sybil Ogden Ludington (05 Apr 1761 – 26 Feb 1839 | Ludingtonville NY – Catskill NY) folk figure, US Revolutionary War heroine.

Mary Jane Holmes (05 Apr 1825 – 06 Oct 1907 | Brookfield MA – Brockport NY) novelist, short story writer.

Nellie Neilson (05 Apr 1873 – 26 May 1947 | Philadelphia PA – South Hadley MA) author, historian, professor, first female president of American Historical Association (AHA).

María Montoya Martínez (05 Apr 1881 [or 1887] – 20 Jul 1980 | San Ildefonso NM – San Ildefonso NM) ceramic artist, cultural icon, self-taught Tewa potter, aka Po-Ve-Ka [Pond Lily].

Fannia Mary Cohn (05 apr 1885 – 24 dec 1962 | Kletsk BY – New York NY) author, trade union educational advocate, co-founding director of Brookwood Labor College, International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union [ILGWU] activist / leader / first female vice-president.

04 Apr | Women.Words.Work

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Frances Montresor Buchanan Allen Penniman (04 Apr 1760 – 1834 | New York NY – Burlington VT) botanist, gardener, illustrator, political activist / family member.

Dorothea Lynde Dix (04 Apr 1802 – 17 Jul 1887 | Hampden ME – Trenton NJ) nurse, author, mental health patient advocate, insane asylum activist / reformer.

Mary Jane Colter (04 Apr 1869 – 08 Jan 1958 | Pittsburgh PA – Santa Fe NM) artist, art teacher, architect, interior designer.

Mary Coffin Ware Dennett (04 Apr 1872 – 25 Jul 1947 | Worcester MA – Valatie NY) activist, author, pacifist, suffragist, sex educator.

Dorothy Lerner Gordon (04 Apr 1889 – 11 May 1970 | Odessa RU – New York NY) author, broadcaster, musician, youth advocate / activist.

31 Mar | Women.Words.Work

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Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut (31 Mar 1823 – 22 Nov 1886 | Stateburg SC – Camden SC) diarist, novelist, political family member.

Mary Abigail Dodge (31 Mar 1833 – 17 Aug 1896 | Hamilton MA – Hamilton MA) critic, editor, author, essayist, education advocate, aka Gail Hamilton.

Martha Bailey Briggs (31 Mar 1838 – 28 Mar 1889 | New Bedford MA – Washington DC) educator, school principal, black educational activist, professor of education at Howard University, taught slaves who escaped through Underground Railroad, first African-American female high school graduate in New Bedford MA.

Anna Eva Fay Pingree (31 Mar 1851 – 20 May 1927 | Southington OH – Melrose MA) born Ann Eliza Heathman, spiritual medium / stage mentalist.

Susan [Susie] Norris Fitkin (31 Mar 1870 – 18 Oct 1951 | Ely QC – Oakland CA) author, minister, memoirist, evangelist, founder / president of Women’s Foreign Missionary Society [now Nazarene Missions International], co-funded / co-founded numerous churches / hospitals / children’s care facilities.

23 Mar | Women.Words.Work

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Sarah Ann Lillie Bumstead Hardinge (23 Mar 1824 – 13 Oct 1913 | Boston MA – East Orange NJ) artist, author, teacher, inventor, watercolorist, self-taught painter, one of first females to depict Texas, patented photo-finishing process called Pearletta Pictures.

Sarah Elizabeth Doyle (23 Mar 1830 – 21 Dec 1922 | Providence RI – Providence RI) educator, feminist, women’s education activist, co-founded Rhode Island School of Design, funded Brown University’s Pembroke Hall [became Pembroke College].

Josephine Lazarus (23 Mar 1846 – 03 Feb 1910 | New York NY – Manhattan NY) book critic, essayist, Zionist, lecturer, biographer, transcendentalist, Emma Lazarus’ sister and co-publisher.

Fannie Merritt Farmer (23 Mar 1857 – 15 Jan 1915 | Medford MA – Boston MA) school principal, culinary expert, cookbook author.

Caroline Dale Parke Snedeker (23 Mar 1871 – 22 Jan 1956 | New Harmony IN – Bay St Louis MS) young-adult novelist, pen name Caroline Dale Owen.

21 Mar | Women.Words.Work

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Mary Dixon Kies (21 Mar 1752 – 1837 | Killingly CT – Brooklyn NY) milliner, inventor, first female US patent holder [1809], invented new method of weaving straw with silk and thread.

Lucy Taft Fisher (21 Mar 1805 – 20 Jan 1854 | Wendell MA – Oregon City OR) pioneer, American Baptist Home missionary.

Antonia Maury (21 Mar 1866 – 08 Jan 1952 | Cold Spring NY – Dobbs Ferry NY) author, astronomer, published early catalog of stellar spectra.

Amy Eliza Tanner (21 Mar 1870 – 01 Feb 1956 | Owatonna MN – Worcester MA) author, psychologist, doctor of philosophy, spiritual medium researcher, theater owner / manager, girls / women’s club activist.

Anna Strunsky Walling (21 Mar 1877 – 25 Feb 1964 | Babinots RU – San Francisco CA) author, Socialist, novelist, essayist, social / political activist.

20 Mar | Women.Words.Work

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Sophia Fowler Gallaudet (20 Mar 1798 – 13 May 1877 | near Guildford CT – Washington DC) born deaf, lobbyist for deaf education, founding matron of National Deaf-Mute College [later Gallaudet College].

Mary Elizabeth Moore Hewitt (20 Mar 1807 – 17 Sep 1884 | Malden MA – Chicago IL) poet, editor.

Cornelia Phillips Spencer (20 Mar 1825 – 11 Mar 1908 | Harlem NY – Cambridge MA) poet, hymnist, journalist, social historian, first female to receive honorary degree from University of North Carolina.

Lucy Myers Wright Mitchell (20 Mar 1845 – 10 Mar 1888 | Urumiah IR – Lausanne CH) American author, historian, ancient art expert.

Maria Longworth Nichols Storer (20 Mar 1849 – 30 Apr 1932 | Cincinnati OH – Paris FR) potter, patron of arts, Rookwood Pottery Company founder.

19 Mar | Women.Words.Work

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Cornelia Grinnell Willis (19 Mar 1825 – 24 Mar 1904 | New Bedford MA – Washington DC) abolitionist, women’s rights advocate, columnist for New York Ledger, protected and purchased freedom for Harriet Jacobs, founding member of first US Woman’s Club, founded school for young women at the Willis Idlewild Estate.

Alice French (19 Mar 1850 – 09 Jan 1934 | Andover MA – Davenport IA) novelist, aka Octave Thanet.

Ellen Gates Starr (19 Mar 1859 – 10 Feb 1940 | Laona IL – Suffern NY) author, teacher, lecturer, bookbinder, child labor activist, anti-industrialist, co-founder of Hull-House, social / political reformer, Arts and Crafts Movement practitioner.

Senda Berenson Abbott (19 Mar 1868 – 16 Feb 1954 | Vilnius LT – Santa Barbara CA ) author, wrote first guide / rule book for women’s basketball, Instructor of Physical Culture at Smith College, aka The Mother of Women’s Basketball.

Edith Nourse Rogers (19 Mar 1881 – 10 Sep 1960 | Saco ME – Boston MA) aviator, politician, social welfare activist, created US GI Bill, veterans advocate, Women’s Army Corps founder, longest tenured US State Representative.

17 Mar | Women.Words.Work

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Queen Kaʻahumanu (17 Mar 1768 – 05 Jun 1832 | Maui HI – Mānoa Valley HI) aka The Feathered Mantle, Kingdom of Hawai’i regent / queen consort.

Elizabeth [Eliza] Kirby Withington (17 Mar 1825 – 04 Mar 1877 | New York NY – Ione CA) portrait and landscape photographer.

Emily Sartain (17 Mar 1841 – 17 Jun 1927 | Philadelphia PA – Philadelphia PA) engraver, portrait painter, mezzo-tint artist.

Cornelia Maria Clapp (17 Mar 1849 – 31 Dec 1934 | Montague MA – Mount Dora FL) author, academic, zoologist, Marine biologist, earned both first and second American PhD degrees awarded to a woman.

E. Alice Munn Austen (17 Mar 1866 – 09 Jun 1952 | Staten Island NY – Staten Island NY) photographer, landscape artist, master tennis player, first Staten Island woman to own a car.