16 Jan | Herstorical.Reflections

Virginia Caroline Tunstall Clay-Clopton (16 Jan 1825 – 23 Jan 1915 | Nash County NC – Gurley AL) author, memoirist, political wife, suffragist, United Daughters of the Confederacy member.


Ellen Russell Emerson (16 Jan 1837 – 12 Jun 1907 | New Sharon ME – Cambridge MA) author, sketcher, ethnologist.


Sarah Rosetta Wakeman (16 Jan 1843 – 19 Jun 1864 | Afton NY – New Orleans LA) US folk figure, aka Lyons Wakeman, letter correspondent, disguised Civil War Union soldier.


Ella Flagg Young (16 Jan 1844 – 26 Oct 1918 | Buffalo NY – Washington DC) author, essayist, theorist, educator, first female superintendent of major school district, first female president of National Education Association [NEA].


Margaret Wilhelmina Wilson (16 Jan 1882 – 06 Oct 1973 | Traer IA – Droitwich UK) novelist, aka G.D. Turner, 1924 Pulitzer Prize for The Able McLaughlins.

07 Jan | Herstorical.Reflections

Ann Mayes Rutledge (07 Jan 1813 – 25 Aug 1835 | Henderson KY – New Salem IL) US folk figure, aka [US President Abraham] Lincoln’s First Love.


Julia Thompson von Stosch Schayer (07 Jan 1842 – 29 Mar 1928 | Deering ME – Bronxville NY) short fiction author.


Louise Imogen Guiney (07 Jan 1861 – 02 Nov 1920 | Roxbury MA – Chipping Campden UK) poet, editor, essayist.


Ella Sophonisba Hergesheimer (07 Jan 1873 – 24 Jun 1943 | Allentown PA – Nashville TN) painter, illustrator, printmaker, white-line woodcut creator / innovator.


Florence Winger Bagley (07 Jan 1874 – 1952 | Clay Lick PA – US) author, psychologist, Fechner’s color aesthetics specialist, independent psychology researcher.

11 Dec | Herstorical.Reflections

Leonora Sansay (11 Dec 1773 – 12 Nov 1821 | Philadelphia PA – Newent UK) novelist, painter, memoirist, political / literary figure, aka Mary Hassal, née Honora Davern, artificial flower-making business owner.


Clemence Sophia Harned Lozier (11 Dec 1813 – 26 Apr 1888 | Plainfield NJ – New York NY) feminist, suffragist, physician, founded / directed New York Medical College and Hospital for Women, president of New York City Suffrage League and National Women’s Suffrage Association.


Mary Belle King Sherman (11 Dec 1862 – 15 Jan 1935 | Albion NY – Denver CO) author, club woman, national park activist, aka The National Park Lady.


Annie Jump Cannon (11 Dec 1863 – 13 Apr 1941 | Dover DE – Cambridge MA) author, astronomer, pioneer cataloguer / developer of contemporary stellar classification.


Louise Brown Leslie (11 Dec 1869 – 07 Oct 1948 | Perry ME – Detroit MI) editor, journalist, women’s advice columnist, pen name: Nancy Brown, aka Dear Nancy.

30 Nov | Herstorical.Reflections

Mary Hayden Green Pike (30 Nov 1824 – 15 Jan 1908 | Eastport ME – Baltimore MD) author, novelist, pen names: Mary Langdon and Sydney A. Story, Jr.


Martha George Ripley (30 Nov 1843 – 18 Apr 1912 | Lowell VT – Minneapolis MN) suffragist, feminist, woman’s physician, women’s rights advocate, public health activist / educator, founder / administrator Minneapolis Maternity Hospital [later renamed Ripley Memorial Hospital].


Mary Eliza McDowell (30 Nov 1854 – 14 Oct 1936 | Cincinnati OH – Chicago IL) social worker / reformer, community / neighborhood organizer, workplace / public health activist, head of University of Chicago’s Settlement House [later renamed Mary McDowell Settlement], aka The Settlement Lady and Angel of the Stockyards.


Elise Mercur Wagner (30 Nov 1868 – 27 Mar 1947 | Towanda PA – Old Economy Village PA) author, public / private architect, first female architect in Pittsburgh.


Etta Cone (30 Nov 1870 – 31 Aug 1949 | Jonesboro TN – Baltimore MD) heiress, literary figure, modern art collector.

28 Nov | Herstorical.Reflections

Margaret Jane Mussey Sweat (28 Nov 1823 – 16 Jan 1908 | Portland ME – Portland ME) poet, author, diarist, reformer, journalist, travel writer, first female New England book reviewer.


Phebe Cobb Larry Dole (28 Nov 1835 – 26 Apr 1909 | Gorham ME – Windham ME) poet, artist, landscape painter, magazine / newspaper writer, editor-in-chief of weekly Portland ME paper The Narragansett Sun.


Helen Magill White (28 Nov 1853 – 28 Oct 1944 | Providence RI – Kittery Point ME) educator, pacifist, suffragist, school principal, first US female PhD.


Suzanne Adams Stern Mackay (28 Nov 1872 – 05 Feb 1953 | Cambridge MA – London UK) lyric coloratura soprano.

26 Nov | Herstorical.Reflections

Sarah Moore Grimké (26 Nov 1792 – 23 Dec 1873 | Charleston SC – Boston MA) writer, lawyer, speaker, suffragist, abolitionist, feminist, women’s laws / legal activist.


Lilly Martin Spencer (26 Nov 1822 – 22 May 1902 | Exeter UK – New York NY) French-American artist, genre painter, born Angelique Marie Martin.


Ellen Gould Harmon White (26 Nov 1827 – 16 Jul 1915 | Gorham ME – Saint Helena CA) author, religious pioneer, Seventh Day Adventist co-founder / leader / visionary / prophetess.


Mary Edwards Walker (26 Nov 1832 – 21 Feb 1919 | Oswego NY – Oswego NY) surgeon, alleged spy, feminist, suffragist, abolitionist, prohibitionist, prisoner of war, only woman [as of 2015] ever awarded US Medal of Honor.

10 Nov | Herstorical.Reflections

Phebe Folger Coleman (10 Nov 1771 – 05 Feb 1857 | Nantucket MA – Nantucket MA) poet, diarist, teacher, watercolorist, commonplace book author / illustrator.


Julia Zitella Cocke (10 Nov 1840 – 03 Dec 1929 | Perry County AL – Gadsden AL) poet, composer, essayist, translator, short fiction writer.


Cornelia Thurza Crosby (10 Nov 1854 – 11 Nov 1946 | Phillips ME – Lewiston ME) aka Fly Rod, columnist, sportswoman, first Registered Maine Guide [male or female].


Mabel Loomis Todd (10 Nov 1856 – 14 Oct 1932 | Cambridge MA – Hog Island ME) editor, writer, literary figure, known for editing / publishing Emily Dickinson’s poetry.


Jennette Barbour Perry Lee (10 Nov 1861 – 16 Oct 1951 | Bristol CT – Northampton MA) author, professor, novelist.

08 Nov | Herstorical.Reflections

Alice Bunker Stockham (08 Nov 1833 – 03 Dec 1912 | Cardington OH – Alhambra CA) author, fifth female US doctor, philosophy school founder, birth control / gender equality / marital sexual fulfillment activist / advocate.


Maria Kraus-Boelté (08 Nov 1836 – 01 Nov 1918 | Hagenow DEU – Atlantic City NJ) author, essayist, professor, Froebel education advocate, kindergarten pioneer / founder, president of Kindergarten Department of National Education Association.


Lizzie Pitts Merrill Palmer (08 Nov 1838 – 28 Jul 1916 | Portland ME – Great Neck NY) educator, philanthropist, child activist, children’s educational school / child development research institute founder.


Katherine [Kate] Olivia Sessions (08 Nov 1857 – 24 Mar 1940 | San Francisco CA – San Diego CA) botanist, horticulturist, landscape architect, aka Mother of Balboa Park.


Margaret [Meta] Gladys Watkins (08 Nov 1884 – 10 Nov 1969 | Hamilton ON – Glasgow SCT) Canadian photographer, later recluse in Scotland, works discovered in her house after her death.

26 Oct | Herstorical.Reflections

Elizabeth Payson Prentiss (26 Oct 1818 – 13 Aug 1878 | Portland ME – Dorset VT) author, hymnist, educator, memoirist.


Mary Tenney Castle (26 Oct 1819 – 13 Mar 1907 | Plainfield Center NY – Honolulu HI) missionary, philanthropist, aka Mother Castle, progressive educator, founded kindergarten and orphans’ home.


Matilda Jane Sager Fultz (26 Oct 1839 – 13 Apr 1928 | St Joseph MO – Reseda CA) orphan, pioneer, folk figure, massacre survivor.


Tennessee Celeste Claflin (26 Oct 1844 – 18 Jan 1923 | Homer OH – London UK) writer, banker, broker, publisher, suffragist, Spiritualist medium, founded Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly newspaper, first in US to print The Communist Manifestor, women’s rights activist / advocate, first woman [with sister Victoria Woodhull] to open Wall Street brokerage firm, aka Lady Cook, Viscountess of Montserrat.


Clara Chipman Newton (26 Oct 1848 – 03 Dec 1936 | Delphos OH – Cincinnati OH) artist, archivist, art teacher, women’s arts activist, watercolorist, painter of china and porcelain.

25 Oct | Herstorical.Reflections

Mary Hempstead Keeney Lisa (25 Oct 1782 – 03 Sep 1869 | New London CT – Galena IL) pioneer, folk figure, aka Aunt Manuel, first white woman to enter upper Missouri Indian territory.


Anna Maria Richardson Harkness (25 Oct 1837 – 27 Mar 1926 | Dalton OH – New York NY) philanthropist, founded Commonwealth Fund, funded Yale University’s Harkness Tower and Memorial Quadrangle.


Helen Augusta Blanchard (25 Oct 1840 – 09 Jan 1922 | Portland ME – Providence RI) businesswoman, sewing machine / sewing technology inventor / innovator, invented zigzag and buttonhole stitches, patent holder for 28 designs.


Maria Remond Lyons (25 Oct 1848 – 28 Jan 1929 | Brooklyn NY – Brooklyn NY) author, feminist, abolitionist, memoirist, civic leader, public educator, biographical essayist, childhood home part of Underground Railroad, first African-American student to graduate from Providence [RI] High School, second black female public school assistant principal, co-founded Women’s Loyal Union and White Rose Mission.


Carolyn Sherwin Bailey (25 Oct 1875 – 23 Dec 1961 | Hoosick Falls NY – Concord MA) children’s author, magazine writer.