22 Dec | Herstorical.Reflections

Ann Hasseltine Judson (22 Dec 1789 – 24 Oct 1826 | Bradford MA – Amherst MM) author, translator, essayist, educator, catechism writer, aka Ann of Ava, one of first female American foreign missionaries to India and Burma.


Josephine Brawley Hughes (22 Dec 1839 – 22 Mar 1926 | Meadville PA – Tucson AZ) Western writer, pioneer, suffragist, social activist, women’s advocate, temperance activist, aka Mother of Methodism, managed Arizona Daily Star newspaper, established first girls’ school in Southwest US, first female public school teacher in Arizona, founded Arizona Chapter of Women’s Christian Temperance Union [WCTU].


Maria Teresa Carreño (22 Dec 1853 – 12 Jun 1917 | Caracas VE – New York NY) singer, composer, pianist, conductor, master teacher, Venezuelan-American, aka The Valkyrie of the Piano.


Aline Bernstein (22 Dec 1880 – 07 Sep 1955 | New York NY – New York NY) American author, set / costume designer, novelist, autobiographical author, Museum of Costume Art co-founder, first female member of Designers Union.

20 Dec | Herstorical.Reflections

Amy Kirby Post (20 Dec 1803 – 29 Jan 1889 | Jericho NY – Rochester NY) abolitionist, suffragist leader, Underground Railroad conductor, American National Women’s Suffrage Movement co-founder.


Laura Smith Haviland (20 Dec 1808 – 20 Apr 1898 | Kitley ON – Grand Rapids MI) abolitionist, suffragist, social reformer, temperance activist, Underground Railroad activist, orphanage founder / director.


Mary Porter Tileston Hemenway (20 Dec 1820 – 06 Mar 1894 | New York NY – Boston MA) philanthropist, children’s education advocate, founded Boston Normal School of Cookery and Normal School of Gymnastics, post-Civil War restorationist.


Lydia Sayer Hasbrouck (20 Dec 1827 – 24 Aug 1910 | Bellvale NY – Delaware County NY) hydrotherapist, newspaper founder / editor, women’s dress reform activist.

19 Dec | Herstorical.Reflections

Mary Ashton Rice Livermore (19 Dec 1820 – 23 May 1905 | Boston MA – Melrose MA) editor, author, essayist, journalist, memoirist, suffragist, newspaper founder, women’s biographer, Universalist minister, women’s rights activist, temperance advocate, Civil War Sanitary Commission member.


Jane Cunningham Croly (19 Dec 1829 – 23 Dec 1901 | New York NY – Lakewood NJ) suffragist, memoirist, journalist, columnist, Sorosis women’s press club founder, General Federation of Women’s Clubs founder.


Ada Lydia Howard (19 Dec 1829 – 02 Mar 1907 | Temple NH – Methuen MA) educator, first female president of Wellesley College.


Susan Huntington Gilbert Dickinson (19 Dec 1830 – 12 May 1913 | Old Deerfield MA – Amherst MA) poet, writer, editor, traveler, intimate and sister-in-law of Emily Dickinson.

18 Dec | Herstorical.Reflections

Phoebe Worrall Palmer Knapp (18 Dec 1807 – 02 Nov 1874 | New York NY – New York NY) author, hymnist, religious pioneer, Christian music advocate.


Sarah Tittle Bolton (18 Dec 1814 – 05 Aug 1893 | Newport KY – Indianapolis IN) poet, author, women’s / property rights activist, aka Indiana’s Pioneer Poet.


Josephine Sophia White Griffing (18 Dec 1814 – 18 Feb 1872 | Hebron CT – Washington DC) suffragist, abolitionist, women’s rights activist, Freedmen’s movement member [Note: no images of this woman are known to exist].


Henrietta Muir Edwards (18 Dec 1849 – 10 Nov 1931 | Montreal QC – Fort Macleod AB) author, suffragist, women’s rights reformer.

17 Dec | Herstorical.Reflections

Deborah Sampson Gannett (17 Dec 1760 – 29 Apr 1827 | Plympton MA – Sharon MA) diarist, memoirist, political activist, Continental soldier.


Delia Ann Webster (17 Dec 1817 – 18 Jan 1904 | Vergennes VT – Jeffersonville IN) teacher, abolitionist, Underground Railroad activist, girls’ school founder, aka The Petticoat Abolitionist.


Celia Logan Connelly (17 Dec 1837 – 18 Jun 1904 | Philadelphia PA – New York NY) author, actress, aka L. Fairfax, journalist, playwright, translator, social activist / organizer.


Kate M. Youngman (17 Dec 1841 – 29 Sep 1910 | Kingston NY – Tokyo JP) nurse, missionary, founded Ihaien Leprosy Hospital in Tokyo.

12 Dec | Herstorical.Reflections

Martha Jane Coston (12 Dec 1826 – 09 Jul 1904 | Baltimore MD – Philadelphia PA) businesswoman, Coston emergency machine flare inventor / purveyor.


Sarah Brown Ingersoll Cooper (12 Dec 1835 – 11 Dec 1896 | Cazenovia NY – San Francisco CA) editor, educator, suffragist, philanthropist, women’s rights activist, kindergarten advocate / founder, treasurer for General Federation of Women’s Clubs, founded Jackson Street Kindergarten Association [in 1879, later renamed Golden Gate Kindergarten Association].


Caroline Lake Quiner Ingalls (12 Dec 1839 – 20 Apr 1924 | Brookfield WI – De Smet SD) aka Ma Ingalls, folk / literary / mother / pioneer figure.


Charlotte Frances Felt Wilder (12 Dec 1839 – 03 Dec 1916 | Templeton MA – Manhattan KS) author, novelist, Methodist, civic leader, club woman, magazine writer, juvenile religious writer.


Charlotte [Lottie] Digges Moon (12 Dec 1840 – 24 Dec 1912 | Albemarle County VA – Kobe Harbor JP) teacher, evangelist, missionary, one of first US women to earn Master’s Degree in Languages.

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.

10 Dec | Herstorical.Reflections

Caroline Mehitable Fisher Sawyer (10 Dec 1812 – 19 May 1894 | Newton MA – Somerville MA) poet, author, essayist, translator, social activist, short fiction writer, Universalist’s women’s and children’s societies advocate.


Jane [Jeanie] McDowell Foster (10 Dec 1829 – 17 Jan 1903 | Pittsburgh PA – Pittsburgh PA) diarist, wife of songwriter Stephen Foster, aka Jane Denny McDowell Wiley, inspiration for song “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair”.


Emily Dickinson (10 Dec 1830 – 15 May 1886 | Amherst MA – Amherst MA) poet, baker, literary figure.


Mary Louisa Parmalee Peebles (10 Dec 1833 – 25 Apr 1915 | Lansingburgh NY – Lansingburgh NY) children’s author, pen name: Lynde Palmer.


Anna Mebus Martin (10 Dec 1843 – 10 Jul 1925 | DEU – Mason County TX) seamstress, entrepreneur, textile trader, Texas rancher, German-American, bank owner / founder, first female bank president born outside US.

06 Dec | Herstorical.Reflections

Susanna Strickland Moodie (06 Dec 1803 – 08 Apr 1885 | Bungay UK – Toronto ON) English-Canadian poet, artist, novelist, memoirist, children’s author.


Jane Grey Cannon Swisshelm (06 Dec 1815 – 22 Jul 1884 | Pittsburgh PA – Lawrenceville PA) lecturer, feminist, social reformer, Civil War nurse, autobiographer, anti-slavery advocate, first woman founder / publisher of US newspaper.


Nina [Bonina] Morais Cohen (06 Dec 1855 – 19 Feb 1918 | Philadelphia PA – Minneapolis MN) magazine writer, English literature teacher, leader in Minneapolis’ woman’s club movement, founding member of National Council of Jewish Women.


Minerva Josephine Chapman (06 Dec 1858 – 14 Jun 1947 | Sand Bank [Altmar] NY – Palo Alto CA) artist, author, still life / landscape / miniature portrait painter.


Clara Lipman Mann (06 Dec 1864 – 22 Sep 1952 | Chicago IL – New York NY) playwright, stage actress.

04 Dec | Herstorical.Reflections

Angelia [Angie] Louise Thurston French Newman (04 Dec 1837 – 15 Apr 1910 | Montpelier VT – Lincoln NE) poet, editor, author, teacher, lecturer, Spanish-American War hospital inspector.


Cornelia Foster Bradford (04 Dec 1847 – 15 Jan 1935 | Granby NY – Montclair NJ) social worker, kindergarten advocate, social activist and reformer, founded Whittier House [first settlement house in New Jersey].


Mary Reed (04 Dec 1854 – 08 Apr 1943 | Lowell OH – Chandag IND) missionary social worker, leprosy colony missionary.


Julia Evelyn Ditto Young (04 Dec 1857 – 19 Apr 1915 | Buffalo NY – Buffalo NY) poet, novelist.


Lillian Russell (04 Dec 1861 – 06 Jun 1922 | Clinton IA – Pittsburgh PA) singer, actress, columnist, suffragist, born Helen Louise Leonard.