13 Oct | Women’s Words & Works

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Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley (13 Oct 1744 – 22 Jan 1832 | Philadelphia PA – Carlisle PA) folk figure, aka Molly Pitcher, American Revolutionary War heroine.

Lillie Langtry (13 Oct 1853 – 12 Feb 1929 | Jersey UK – Monaco FR) British-American actress, vineyard owner, autobiographical author, thoroughbred race horse farm owner, stage production company founder / director, born Emilie Charlotte Le Breton.

Eleanor Clarke Slagle (13 Oct 1868 – 18 Sep 1942 | Hobart NY – Yonkers NY) social worker, occupational therapy pioneer / leader / founder, founding member of National Society for Promotion of Occupational Therapy.

Louise Closser Hale (13 Oct 1872 – 26 Jul 1933 | Springfield MA – Los Angeles CA) actress, novelist, playwright.

11 Oct | Women’s Words & Works

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Ann Eliza Schuyler Bleecker (11 Oct 1752 – 23 Nov 1783 | New York, Colony of New York – Albany NY) poet, short story writer, letter correspondent.

Anna Warner Bailey (11 Oct 1758 – 19 Jan 1851 | Groton CT – Groton CT) folk figure, storyteller, tavern keeper, Revolutionary War heroine, aka Mother Bailey and The Petticoat Patriot.

Margaretta Bleecker Faugères (11 Oct 1771 – 09 Jan 1801 | New York, Colony of New York – Brooklyn NY) poet, editor, author, playwright, political activist.

Harriet Boyd Hawes (11 Oct 1871 – 31 Mar 1945 | Boston MA – Washington DC) nurse, author, archeologist, relief worker, discoverer / director of one of first Minoan archaeological excavation sites.

10 Oct | Women’s Words & Works

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Sarah Thompson, Countess Rumford (10 Oct 1774 – 02 Dec 1852 | Concord NH – Concord NH) educator, philanthropist, first US woman to be named Countess, founded school for motherless girls.

Harriet Atwood Newell (10 Oct 1793 – 30 Nov 1812 | Haverhill MA – Port Louis MUS) memoirist, first wave US Christian missionary to India, Burma, and Mauritius.

Josephine [J.P.] Pollard (10 Oct 1834 – 15 Aug 1892 | New York NY – New York NY) poet, editor, author, hymn writer, religious / historical children’s writer, founding member of Sorosis professional women’s club.

Caroline M. Hewins (10 Oct 1846 – 04 Nov 1926 | Roxbury MA – Hartford CT) librarian, travel writer, library activist, children’s author, letter correspondent, autobiographical author, founded first Children’s Reading Room in Hartford [CT], aka First Lady of the Library, founded Education Club for Parents and Teachers [later the Parent-Teachers Association], first woman speaker at annual meeting of American Library Association, founded first Connecticut State Library Committee [later CT State Library Commission].

Eleanor Elizabeth Gordon (10 Oct 1852 – 06 Jan 1942 | Hamilton IL – Keokuk IA) author, educator, suffragist, Unitarian minister, women’s rights activist.

09 Oct | Women’s Words & Works

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Mary Ann Shadd Cary (09 Oct 1823 – 05 Jul 1893 | Wilmington DE – Washington DC) lawyer, teacher, publisher, journalist, African-American, anti-slavery / Underground Railroad activist, first black woman publisher in Canada and North America.

Harriet Goodhue Hosmer (09 Oct 1830 – 21 Feb 1908 | Watertown MA – Watertown MA) neo-classical sculptor.

Elizabeth Chase Akers Allen (09 Oct 1832 – 07 Aug 1911 | Strong ME – Tuckahoe NY) poet, author, journalist, pen names: Florence Percy and Elizabeth Akers.

Caroline [Carrie] Olivia Mayhew Speake (09 Oct 1834 – 20 Mar 1906 | Alabama US – Alabama US) poet, artist, musician [note: allegorical image created as no images of this woman or her works were located.

Elaine Goodale Eastman (09 Oct 1863 – 22 Dec 1953 | Mount Washington MA – Hadley MA) poet, author, novelist, educator, Native American Sioux advocate, aka The Sister of the Sioux.

08 Oct | Women’s Words & Works

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Caroline Howard Gilman (08 Oct 1794 – 15 Sep 1888 | Boston MA – Washington DC) poet, editor, author, publisher.

Abby May Alcott (08 Oct 1800 – 25 Nov 1877 | Boston MA – Concord MA) Unitarian, social activist, journal keeper, literary folk figure, one of first female social workers in Boston.

Emily Blackwell (08 Oct 1826 – 07 Sep 1910 | Bristol UK – York Cliffs ME) physician, professor of obstetrics, sister of Elizabeth Blackwell, second female MD graduate at Case Western Reserve, third female MD graduate in US, organizer of Civil War Women’s Central Relief Association / post-war United States Sanitary Commission, co-founded [with sister] NYC Women’s Medical College.

Louisa Lander (08 Oct 1826 – 1923 | Salem MA – Washington DC) expatriate US sculptor, narrative figure sculptor, American Civil War volunteer nurse.

Zara A. Mahurin Wilson (08 Oct 1840 – unknown | Burnettsville IN – unknown) lawyer, suffragist, women’s activist.

04 Oct | Women’s Words & Works

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Eliza McCardle Johnson (04 Oct 1810 – 15 Jan 1876 | Telford TN – Greeneville TN) US Presidential First Lady, informal Presidential tutor / educator.

Jane Elizabeth [Jenny] Twichell Kempton (04 Oct 1835 – 13 Mar 1921 | Dublin NH – Los Angeles CA) operatic contralto, operatic voice teacher, concert tour singer, aka The Favorite American Contralto, founding member of Dominant Music Club (LA), aka Mother of Music in Southern California.

Jane Maria Read (04 Oct 1853 – unknown | Barnstable MA – unknown) poet, artist, author, human / animal portrait painter, tAugustht arts / languages / mathematics.

Eliza Kellas (04 Oct 1864 – 10 Apr 1943 | Moores Forks NY – Troy NY) educator, headmistress of Emma Willard School, co-founder of Russell Sage College.

Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau (04 Oct 1867 – 28 Jan 1922 | Exeter NH – Paris FR) artist, academic, portrait painter, first American woman to exhibit at the Paris Salon.

02 Oct | Women’s Words & Works

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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 Oct | Women’s Words & Works

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Sarah [Sally] Sayward Barrell Keating Wood (01 Oct 1759 – 06 Jan 1854 | York ME – Kennebunk ME) novelist, considered first American female writer of Gothic fiction, pen names: A Lady of Massachusetts and A Lady of Maine, Madam Wood.

Margaretta Angelica Peale (01 Oct 1795 – 17 Jan 1882 | Philadelphia PA – Philadelphia PA) still-life painter, artistic family member.

Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee (01 Oct 1808 – 05 Nov 1873 | Arlington VA – Lexington VA) editor, memoirist, Confederate Civil War family figure.

Jean Brooks Greenleaf (01 Oct 1831 – 02 Mar 1918 | Bernardston MA – Rochester NY) suffragist, social / political activist.

Caroline Scott Harrison (01 Oct 1832 – 25 Oct 1892 | Oxford OH – Washington DC) First Lady, music teacher, co-founded Daughters of the American Revolution [DAR].

25 Sep | Women’s Words & Works

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Mercy Otis Warren (25 Sep 1728 – 19 Oct 1814 | Barnstable MA – Plymouth MA) poet, political writer.

Maria Parloa (25 Sep 1843 – 21 Aug 1909 | Boston MA – Bethel CT) lecturer, cookbook / housekeeping author, cooking schools founder, aka America’s First Celebrity Cook, pioneer home economics / domestic science teacher, women’s immigrant activist / educator.

Lucy Rebecca Buck (25 Sep 1845 – 20 Aug 1918 | Warren VA – Front Royal VA) posthumous author, Confederate Civil War diarist.

Vinnie Ream Hoxie (25 Sep 1847 – 12 Jan 1914 | Madison WI – Washington DC) harpist, sculptor, creator of US Capitol Lincoln Statue, first woman / youngest person to receive government commission for sculpture.

Madeline Yale Wynne (25 Sep 1847 – 04 Jan 1918 | Newport NY – Asheville NC) artist, teacher, metalsmith, philanthropist, short fiction writer, co-founded / leader of Deerfield Society of Arts and Crafts.

22 Sep | Women’s Words & Works

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Louisa Van Velsor Whitman (22 Sep 1795 – 23 May 1873 | West Hills NY – West Hills NY) Dutch-American, homesteader, literary family member, poet Walt Whitman’s mother.

Charlotte Sophia Sewall Eastman (22 Sep 1816 – 25 May 1896 | Hallowell ME – York ME) artist, portrait painter.

Jane Manning James (22 Sep 1822 – 16 Apr 1908 | Wilton CT – Salt Lake City UT) early LDS member, aka Aunt Jane, first black female Mormon pioneer in Utah Territory.

Mary Clement Leavitt (22 Sep 1830 – 05 Feb 1912 | Hopkinton NH – Boston MA) educator, suffragist, social reformer, girl’s school founder, women / children’s rights activist, international temperance leader / lecturer / founder.

Eleanor Hallowell Abbott (22 Sep 1872 – 04 Jun 1958 | Cambridge MA – Portsmouth NH) author, magazine writer, aka Mrs. Fordyce Coburn.