20 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Dolley Payne Todd Madison (20 May 1768 – 12 Jul 1849 | North Carolina Province, British America – Washington DC) US Presidential First Lady, memoirist, letter correspondent.


Mary Ramsey Lemons Wood (20 May 1787 – 01 Jan 1908 | Knoxville TN – Hillsboro OR) pioneer, died as oldest person at that time (disputed), aka Oldest Methodist in the World, First Mother Queen of Oregon Pioneers.


Antoinette Louisa Brown Blackwell (20 May 1825 – 05 Nov 1921 | Henrietta NY – Elizabeth NJ) author, Unitarian pastor, women’s rights activist, first US female ordained minister.


Rose Hawthorne Lathrop (20 May 1851 – 09 Jul 1926 | Lenox MA – New York NY) author, religious sister, memoirist, social worker, aka Mother Mary Alphonsa.

07 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Juliet Ann Opie Hopkins (07 May 1818 – 09 Mar 1890 | Jefferson County WV – Washington DC) US Civil War Confederate nurse, aka Florence Nightingale of the South.


Harriet Starr Cannon (07 May 1823 – 29 Mar 1896 | Charleston SC – Peekskill NY) religious, school founder, children’s advocate, spiritual leader / organizer, founded Episcopalian Sisterhood of St Mary.


Euphemia Vale Blake (07 May 1824 – 21 Oct 1904 | Hastings UK – Brooklyn NY) critic, author, editor, journalist, British-born American.


Varina Banks Howell Davis (07 May 1826 – 16 Oct 1906 | Natchez MS – New York NY) writer, memoirist, columnist, Confederate States First Lady, post-war reconciliation activist.


Margaret Elizabeth [Lizzie] Crozier French (07 May 1851 – 14 May 1926 | Knoxville TN – Washington DC) educator, suffragist, social reform activist.

24 Apr | Herstorical.Reflections

Annis Bertha Ford Eastman (24 Apr 1852 – 22 Oct 1910 | Peoria IL – Elmira NY) author, lecturer, suffragist, theologian, philosopher, first NY State ordained female minister.


Virna Sheard (24 Apr 1862 – 22 Feb 1944 | Cobourg ON – Toronto ON) poet, novelist, pen name Stanton Sheard.


Gemma La Guardia Gluck (24 Apr 1881 – 01 Nov 1962 | New York NY – New York NY) memoirist, Italian-Jewish-American, Holocaust survivor, citizen of US and Hungary, sister of Fiorello La Guardia [first Italian-American Mayor of NYC].


Rowena Meeks Abdy (24 Apr 1887 – 18 Aug 1945 | Vienna AT – San Francisco CA) plein-air painter.


Sara Campbell (24 Apr 1890 – 18 Nov 1965 | Dover TN – Paducah KY) poet, author, flag designer, aka The Betsy Ross of Paducah.

01 Mar | Herstorical.Reflections

Mary Palmer Tyler (01 Mar 1775 – 07 Jul 1866 | Watertown MA – Brattleboro VT) author, farmer, mother of 11 children, published one of earliest childcare manuals [1811] by an American woman.


Lillian M. N. Ames Stevens (01 Mar 1844 – 06 Apr 1914 | Dover-Foxcroft ME – Portland ME) philanthropist, humanitarian, community activist, women’s right advocate, founder / president Maine WCTU and president of US National WCTU [Women’s Christian Temperance Union].


Mary Ella Waller (01 Mar 1855 – 14 Jun 1938 | Boston MA – Wellesley MA) poet, novelist, essayist, translator, short story writer.


Virginia E. Walker Broughton (01 Mar 1856 – 21 Sep 1934 | Nashville TN – Memphis TN) African-American author, teacher, essayist, preacher, religious scholar, Baptist missionary.


Katharine Elizabeth Dopp (01 Mar 1863 – 14 May 1944 | Belmont WI – Chicago IL) teacher, educational activist, one of first to advocate for industry / business involvement in elementary education, children / young adult textbooks author in science / economics / anthropology.

14 Feb | Herstorical.Reflections

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 | Herstorical.Reflections

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 | Herstorical.Reflections

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 | Herstorical.Reflections

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 | Herstorical.Reflections

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.