14 Feb | Women.Words.Work

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Frances [Fanny] Keeling Valentine Allan (14 Feb 1784 – 28 Feb 1829 | Richmond VA – Richmond VA) literary folk figure, E. A. Poe’s foster-mother / first teacher, taught Poe to read and write, gave Poe his middle name Allan.

Sarah Louise Browning Knox-Goodrich (14 Feb 1825 – 30 Oct 1903 | Culpeper VA – San Jose CA) suffragist, political / women’s rights activist, commissioned Knox-Goodrich Building, Goodrich quarry provided stone for Stanford University construction.

Anna Howard Shaw (14 Feb 1847 – 02 Jul 1919 | Newcastle-upon-Tyne UK – Moylan PA) orator, physician, suffragist, social reformer, women’s leader, autobiographical author, one of first ordained American female Methodist ministers.

Sallie Florence Casey Thayer (14 Feb 1856 – 10 Sep 1925 | Covington KY – San Diego CA) art collector / benefactor, donated her collections to Spencer Art Museum in Lawrence KS.

Virginia Frazer Boyle (14 Feb 1863 – 13 Dec 1938 | Chattanooga TN – Memphis TN) poet, author.

24 Jan | Women: Words & Works

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Catherine Elizabeth Brewer Benson (24 Jan 1822 – 27 Feb 1908 | Augusta GA – Macon GA) first US female to earn Bachelor degree, awarded by Wesleyan College [Macon GA].

Catharine [Cate] Merrill (24 Jan 1824 – 30 May 1900 | Corydon IN – Indianapolis IN) author, educator, Civil War nurse, second female US university professor.

Mary Susan Noailles Murfree (24 Jan 1850 – 31 Jul 1922 | Murfreesboro TN – Murfreesboro TN) novelist, short story writer, aka Charles Egbert Craddock.

Katherine [Kate] Harwood Waller Barrett (24 Jan 1857 – 23 Feb 1925 | Falmouth VA – Alexandria VA) physician, sociologist, humanitarian, philanthropist, social activist / reformer, founded first home for unwed mothers / National Florence Crittenton Mission.

Edith Newbold Jones Wharton (24 Jan 1862 – 11 Aug 1937 | New York NY – Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt FR) novelist, designer, short story writer.

21 Jan | Women.Words.Work

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Eliza Roxcy Smith Snow Young (21 Jan 1804 – 05 Dec 1887 | Becket MA – Salt Lake City UT) poet, Mormon historian, married to Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Lorenzo Snow.

Anna White (21 Jan 1831 – 16 Dec 1910 | Brooklyn NY – Mount Lebanon NY) Shaker Eldress, religious sister, social / political / peace activist, Mt. Lebanon Shaker Community member.

Helen Hamilton Gardener (21 Jan 1853 – 26 Jul 1925 | Winchester VA – Washington DC) author, lecturer, suffragist, political activist, government functionary, born Alice Chenoweth, Free Thought movement member.

Willie Betty Newman (21 Jan 1863 – 06 Feb 1935 | Murfreesboro TN – Nashville TN) portrait artist, worked / exhibited in Paris salons / in her native Tennessee / throughout the US.

Marguerite Agniel (21 Jan 1891 – 01 Apr 1971 | Indiana US – Washington DC) actress, author, dancer, yoga practitioner, health and beauty guru, nude yoga proponent.

10 Jan | Women.Words.Work

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Sally Foster Otis (10 Jan 1770 – 06 Sep 1838 | Boston MA – Boston MA) hostess, folk figure, Francophile, aka Queen of Boston Society.

Louisa Lane Drew (10 Jan 1820 – 31 Aug 1897 | London UK – Larchmont NY) British-American stage actress, theater owner, theatrical family matriarch.

Larcena Ann Pennington Page Scott (10 Jan 1837 – 31 Mar 1913 | Nashville TN – Tucson AZ) pioneer, Western folk heroine, Indian kidnap survivor.

Manie Payne Ferguson (10 Jan 1850 – 08 Jun 1932 | Carlow IE – Los Angeles CA) hymnist, evangelist, social activist, co-founded Peniel Mission, American Holiness Movement pioneer leader.

Mary Amelia Ingalls (10 Jan 1865 – 17 Oct 1928 | Pepin WI – De Smet SD) blind, folk / literary family figure, one of sisters of Little House on the Prairie.

05 Jan | Women.Words.Work

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Olympia Brown (05 Jan 1835 – 23 Oct 1926 | Prairie Ronde Township MI – Baltimore MD) author, suffragist, first female theological school graduate in US, first ordained American female minister.

Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones (05 Jan 1868 – 24 Jun 1933 | Portsmouth VA – Providence RI) African-American grand opera / light opera / popular music soprano.

Mary Magdalena Lewis Tate (05 Jan 1871 – 28 Dec 1930 | Vanleer TN – Philadelphia PA) African-American, author, preacher, Bishop Mother, religious leader, Church of the Living God, Pillar and Ground of Truth founder.

Frances Nacke Noel (05 Jan 1873 – 24 Apr 1963 | Saxony DEU – Los Angeles CA) suffragist, women’s labor activist, women’s rights advocate, Socialist Labor Party member, cross-class alliance advocate, aka The Most Eloquent Female Orator of Southern California.

Clara Gardner Mairs (05 Jan 1878 – 24 May 1963 | Hastings MN – Ramsey MN) artist, etcher, printmaker.

02 Dec | Women’s Words & Works

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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 | Women’s Words & Works

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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 | Women’s Words & Works

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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 | Women’s Words & Works

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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 | Women’s Words & Works

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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.