02 Dec | Herstorical.Reflections

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Mary Mortimer (02 Dec 1816 – 14 Jul 1877 | Trowbridge UK – Milwaukee WI) educator, woman’s club leader, art history lecturer, co-founded Milwaukee College, founded Industrial School for Girls of Milwaukee [middle image courtesy of Lawrence.edu].

Elizabeth Lyle Saxon (02 Dec 1832 – 14 Mar 1915 | Greenville TN – Memphis TN) speaker, memoirist, women’s rights activist, pioneer Southern suffrage leader.

Grace Mac Gowan Cooke (02 Dec 1861 – 24 Jun 1944 | Brooklyn NY – Santa Clara CA) novelist, co-writer with sister Alice Mac Gowan.

Ruth Draper (02 Dec 1884 – 30 Dec 1956 | New York NY – New York NY) diseuse, actress, dramatist, memoirist.

Josephine Aspinwall Roche (02 Dec 1886 – 26 Jul 1976 | Neligh NE – Bethesda MD) activist, politician, industrialist, humanitarian, New Deal administrator, first female Denver police officer, United Mine Workers administrator, Foreign Language Information Services director.

30 Nov | Herstorical.Reflections

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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.

14 Nov | Herstorical.Reflections

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Josephine Louise Van der Schrieck (14 Nov 1813 – 03 Dec 1886 | Bergen-op-Zoom NL – Cincinnati OH) Catholic nun / leader / educator, member of Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.

Madeleine Lemoyne Ellicott (14 Nov 1856 – 1945 | Chicago IL – Baltimore MD) suffragist, political activist, founder / president League of Women Voters of Maryland, co-organized Pan-American Conference of Women [1922].

Isabel Bevier (14 Nov 1860 – 17 Mar 1942 | Plymouth OH – Urbana IL) author, pioneer university home economics educator / administrator.

Claribel Cone (14 Nov 1864 – 20 Sep 1929 | Jonesboro TN – Baltimore MD) German-American art collector, physician, pathologist.

Anna Magdalena Plehn Meyer (14 Nov 1867 – 18 Aug 1941 | Neumark PRU – Milwaukee WI) poet, hymnist, German-English translator of hymns.

07 Nov | Herstorical.Reflections

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Elizabeth Johns Neall Gay (07 Nov 1819 – 09 Dec 1907 | Hingham MA – Hingham MA) poet, writer, Quaker, pacifist, abolitionist, Underground Railroad activist, delegate to first World Anti-Slavery Convention [1840].

Ann Eliza Worcester Robertson (07 Nov 1826 – 19 Nov 1905 | Brainerd TN – Muskogee OK) author, editor, teacher, missionary, translator, Muscogee / English linguistics scholar.

Charlotte [Lotta] Mignon Crabtree (07 Nov 1847 – 25 Sep 1924 | New York NY – Boston MA) actress, comedian, entertainer, philanthropist, theatrical company owner / manager, aka Nation’s Darling and Gold Rush Girl.

Leonora Speyer (07 Nov 1872 – 10 Feb 1956 | Washington DC – New York NY) poet, violinist, aka Lady Speyer, awarded 1927 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.

Eleanor Hague (07 Nov 1875 – 25 Dec 1954 | Los Angeles CA – Los Angeles CA) author, folklorist, Southwest US / Latin American music expert.

28 Oct | Herstorical.Reflections

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Catherine Stratton Ladd (28 Oct 1809 – 30 Jan 1899 | Richmond VA – Buckhead SC) poet, educator, essayist, playwright, Civil War nurse, early Confederate flag designer.

Henrietta Hall Shuck (28 Oct 1817 – 27 Nov 1844 | Kilmarnock VA – Hong Kong CN) memoirist, letter correspondent, founded co-ed boarding school, Chinese girls’ education advocate, first female Baptist missionary to China, first Western female to live in Hong Kong.

Mary Frame Myers Thomas (28 Oct 1816 – 19 Aug 1888 | Sandy Spring MD – Richmond IN) Quaker, abolitionist, suffragist, women’s rights leader, first female physician west of the Alleghenies.

Anna Elizabeth Dickinson (28 Oct 1842 – 22 Oct 1932 | Philadelphia PA – Goshen NY) Quaker, orator, author, actress, novelist, lecturer, suffragist, abolitionist, mountaineer, Civil War spy, first female worker at US Mint, first woman to address US Congress.

Mary Katharine [Kate] Layne Curran Brandegee (28 Oct 1844 – 03 Apr 1920 | Tennessee US – Berkeley CA) botanist, autobiographical author, journal editor / publisher, created first botanical garden in San Diego CA.

04 Oct | Herstorical.Reflections

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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.

13 Sep | Herstorical.Reflections

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Theodosia Johnes Ford (13 Sep 1741 – 31 Aug 1824 | Southampton NY – Morristown NJ) historical folk figure, land / estate manager, hosted winter headquarters for Washington family / guests / troops.

Laura Ingersoll Secord (13 Sep 1775 – 17 Oct 1868 | Great Barrington, Province of Massachusetts Bay – Village of Chippewa ON) folk figure, Canadian heroine, cookbook author.

Emily Bradley Neal Haven (13 Sep 1827 – 23 Aug 1863 | Hudson NY – Mamaroneck NY) children’s author, magazine editor, popular Episcopal writer, pen names: Cousin Alice, Alice B. Neal, Alice B. Haven, Clara Cushman, Cornelia Holyroyd, Mrs Manners.

Pamela Clemens Moffett (13 Sep 1827 – 31 Aug 1904 | Jamestown TN – Greenwich CT) musician, music teacher, literary family figure.

Marian [Clover] Hooper Adams (13 Sep 1843 – 06 Dec 1885 | Boston MA – Washington DC) hostess, socialite, pioneering portrait photographer.

04 Sep | Herstorical.Reflections

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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.

16 Aug | Herstorical.Reflections

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Sarah Porter (16 Aug 1813 – 18 Feb 1900 | Farmington CT – Farmington CT) educator, women’s suffrage opponent, promoter of legal reforms for women, founder of elite private Miss Porter’s School for girls.

Helen Mary Knowlton (16 Aug 1832 – 05 May 1918 | Littleton MA – Needham MA) artist, author, spiritual writer, art instructor.

Mary Hall (16 Aug 1843 – 15 Nov 1927 | Marlborough CT – Marlborough CT) poet, suffragist, philanthropist, mathematics teacher, first CT Notary, first female lawyer admitted to Connecticut Bar, founded boys’ charity Good Will Club [became Boys’ Club USA].

Helen Hartley Jenkins (16 Aug 1860 – 24 Apr 1934 | New York NY – Morristown NJ) heiress, philanthropist, funded Barnard College and Columbia University, president of Hartley House board, tenement reform activist, settlement house builder.

Jeannette Augustus Marks (16 Aug 1875 – 15 Mar 1964 | Chattanooga TN – Westport NY) author, lecturer, educator, feminist.

29 Jun | Herstorical.Reflections

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Hannah Maria Libby Smith (29 Jun 1828 – 21 Sep 1906 | Ossipee NH – Provo UT) bobbin doffer, rug weaver, needleworker, historical figure, Mormon pioneer / educator.

Celia Laighton Thaxter (29 Jun 1835 – 25 Aug 1894 | Portsmouth NH – Appledore Island ME) poet, gardener, short story writer.

Julia Clifford Lathrop (29 Jun 1858 – 15 Apr 1932 | Rockford IL – Rockford IL) author, social worker, educational reformer, mother / child rights activist, Director US Children’s Bureau, first-ever female to head federal US bureau.

Emma Azalia Hackley (29 Jun 1867 – 13 Dec 1922 | Murfreesboro TN – Detroit MI) singer, author, lecturer, musician, child prodigy, school teacher, music publisher, civic / social / civil rights activist, founding executive director Colored Women’s League, founded Hackley Choral Society and Voice Normal Institute.

Elizabeth Lehman Myers (29 Jun 1869 – 06 Jan 1936 | Bethlehem PA – Bethlehem PA) historical author / essayist.