02 Oct | Herstorical.Reflections

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 | Herstorical.Reflections

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].

24 Sep | Herstorical.Reflections

Lois Lathrop Cutler (24 Sep 1788 – 23 Mar 1878 | Lebanon NH – Oak Lake MN) Mormon pioneer, mother of fourteen, Female Relief Society activist.


Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (24 Sep 1825 – 22 Feb 1911 | Baltimore MD – Philadelphia PA) poet, author, essayist, feminist, abolitionist, African-American, aka The Bronze Muse, civil rights / temperance activist.


Katharine [Kate] Brownlee Sherwood (24 Sep 1841 – 15 Feb 1914 | Poland OH – Washington DC) poet, journalist, clubwoman, women’s relief leader, Poetess of Congressional Circle.


Winifred Edgerton Merrill (24 Sep 1862 – 06 Sep 1951 | Ripon WI – Fairfield CT) astronomer, first female Columbia University graduate, first US woman PhD in mathematics.


Cornelia Bowen (24 Sep 1865 – 09 Jul 1934 | Tuskegee AL – Mount Meigs AL) writer, teacher, educator, administrator, in the first graduating class of Tuskegee Institute, founded Mount Meigs Colored Institute and Negro Boys’ Reformatory.

23 Sep | Herstorical.Reflections

Sarah Jane Lippincott (23 Sep 1823 – 20 Apr 1904 | Pompey NY – New Rochelle NY) poet, editor, novelist, essayist, journalist, correspondent, pseudonym Grace Greenwood.


Victoria Claflin Woodhull Martin (23 Sep 1838 – 09 Jun 1927 | Homer OH – Bredon UK) feminist, journalist, suffragist leader, spiritualist healer, women’s rights activist, first female candidate for US Presidency, first woman to found weekly newspaper, first woman to own Wall Street brokerage firm.


Helen Almira Shafer (23 Sep 1839 – 20 Jan 1894 | Newark NJ – Wellesley MA) mathematician, mathematics professor, president of Wellesley College.


Emily Warren Roebling (23 Sep 1843 – 28 Feb 1903 | Cold Spring NY – Trenton NJ) attorney, essayist, social activist, women’s rights advocate, autodidact civil engineer, key figure / facilitator in Brooklyn Bridge completion.


Ellen Amanda Hayes (23 Sep 1851 – 27 Oct 1930 | Granville OH – Wellesley MA) author, novelist, biographer, astronomer, Socialist, suffragist, radical activist, temperance advocate, outspoken social commentator, mathematician, women’s educational rights activist, one of first six females in New York Mathematical Society [later the American Mathematical Society].

21 Sep | Herstorical.Reflections

Sophia Peabody Hawthorne (21 Sep 1809 – 26 Feb 1871 | Salem MA – London UK) painter, illustrator, essayist, journal editor.


Mary Monnett Bain (21 Sep 1833 – 30 Jul 1885 | Delaware OH – Osawatomie KS) philanthropist, women’s higher education advocate / supporter.


Mary T. Waggaman (21 Sep 1846 – 30 Jul 1931 | Baltimore MD – Baltimore MD) prolific children’s author and religious novelist.


Susan Macdowell Eakins (21 Sep 1851 – 27 Dec 1938 | Philadelphia PA – Philadelphia PA) artist, painter, photographer, artist’s model.


Sara Delano Roosevelt (21 Sep 1854 – 07 Sep 1941 | Newburgh NY – Hyde Park NY) memoirist, mother of FDR, political family member, mother-in-law to Eleanor Roosevelt.

16 Sep | Herstorical.Reflections

Mary Wiseman See (16 Sep 1854 – 31 Jul 1939 | Ontario CA – Ontario CA) candymaker, businesswoman.


Miriam Elizabeth Benjamin (16 Sep 1861 – 1947 | Charleston SC – Boston MA) teacher, inventor, patented Gong and Signal Chair for hotels, second black woman to receive US Patent [note: found no images of the inventor herself; image used is one of an unidentified 19th c. black woman].


Eva Lawrence Watson-Schütze (16 Sep 1867 – 01 May 1935 | Jersey City NJ – Chicago IL) painter, photographer, Photo-Secession movement co-founder.


Clara Edith Work Ayres (16 Sep 1880 – 17 May 1917 | Venice Township OH – onboard USS Mongolia, Atlantic Ocean) nurse, WWI US Red Cross nurse, grocery store owner / manager, one of first two US military women killed in WWI [Helen Burnett Wood the other].


Daisy Ann Peterkin (16 Sep 1884 – 12 Aug 1952 | St. Louis MO – Miami Beach FL) vaudeville toe-dancer, Ziegfield Follies dance member, aka Mademoiselle Dazie.

14 Sep | Herstorical.Reflections

Emily Pomona Edson Briggs (14 Sep 1830 – 03 Jul 1910 | Burton OH – Washington DC) journalist, first Lincoln White House female correspondent, first president of Women’s National Press Association.


Julia Magruder (14 Sep 1854 – 09 Jun 1907 | Charlottesville VA – Richmond VA) novelist, short story writer.


Alice Stone Blackwell (14 Sep 1857 – 01 Mar 1950 | Orange NJ – Cambridge MA) feminist, suffragist, journalist, social reformer, human rights advocate.


Julia Barlow Platt (14 Sep 1857 – 1935 | San Francisco CA – Pacific Grove CA) author, embryologist, environmental preservationist, Mayor of Pacific Grove [at 74], aka The Woman Who Saved Monterey Bay.


Ellen Beach Yaw (14 Sep 1869 – 09 Sep 1947 | Buffalo NY – Covina CA) coloratura soprano, aka Lark Ellen, unpublished memoirist.

04 Sep | Herstorical.Reflections

Mary Wells Morris (04 Sep 1764 – 06 Nov 1819 | Burlington County NJ – Wellsboro PA) Quaker, settler, namesake of Wellsboro PA [note: middle image is painting of anonymous Quaker woman].


Sarah Childress Polk (04 Sep 1803 – 14 Aug 1891 | Murfreesboro TN – Nashville TN) US First Lady, active Presbyterian, Presidential consultant, hosted first annual White House Thanksgiving Dinner.


Phoebe Cary (04 Sep 1824 – 31 Jul 1871 | Mount Healthy OH – Newport RI) poet, lyricist, co-author with sister Alice Cary.


Marion Juliet Mitchell (04 Sep 1836 – 30 Jan 1917 | Buffalo NY – Janesville WI) poet, graduate of first chartered US women’s college Ingham Institute in Le Roy NY.


Isabella Preston (04 Sep 1881 – 31 Jan 1965 | Lancaster UK – Georgetown ON) British-Canadian author, civil servant, plant hybridist, horticulturist, first female professional hybridist in Canada, aka Queen of Ornamental Horticulture.

31 Aug | Herstorical.Reflections

Anna Bartlett Warner (31 Aug 1827 – 22 Jan 1915 | Long Island NY – Highland Falls NY) poet, author, hymnist, children’s song writer.


Esther Pugh (31 Aug 1834 – 29 Mar 1908 | Cincinnati OH – Philadelphia PA) Quaker, temperance reformer, national WCTU treasurer, editor / publisher Our Union temperance journal.


Mary Corinna Putnam Jacobi (31 Aug 1842 – 10 Jun 1906 | London UK – New York NY) author, novelist, feminist, suffragist, physician.


Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (31 Aug 1842 – 13 Mar 1924 | Boston MA – Boston MA) editor, publisher, journalist, suffragist, civil rights leader, anti-lynching activist.


Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward (31 Aug 1844 – 28 Jan 1911 | Boston MA – Boston MA) author, essayist, intellectual, Spiritualist, social activist, women’s clothing reform advocate, aka Mary Adams, Lily Phelps, Mary Gray Phelps.

28 Aug | Herstorical.Reflections

Elizabeth Ann Seton (28 Aug 1774 – 04 Jan 1821 | New York NY – Emmitsburg MD) widow, mother, memoirist, sainted religious, Sisters of Charity founder.


Lucy Webb Hayes (28 Aug 1831 – 25 Jun 1889 | Chillicothe OH – Fremont OH) US Presidential First Lady, social activist, public speaker, temperance leader, aka Lemonade Lucy.


Clara Erskine Clement Waters (28 Aug 1834 – 29 Feb 1916 | St Louis MO – Boston MA) biographer, translator, world traveler, travel writer, arts history author.


Maria Leopoldina Burns (28 Aug 1855 – 03 Jun 1942 | Utica NY – Honolulu HI) nun, member of Sisters of St. Francis of Syracuse, co-worker and biographer of Marianne Cope, last Catholic sister to serve with Father Damien in Hawaii.


Alice Chapin Ferris (28 Aug 1857 – 05 Jul 1934 | Keene NH – Keene NH) heiress, playwright, silent film actress, suffragist active in England.