11 May | Women’s Words & Works

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Letitia Tyler Semple (11 May 1821 – 28 Dec 1907 | Cedar Grove Plantation VA – Baltimore MD) founder / principal Eclectic Institute for Young Women, White House hostess for father President John Tyler.

Caroline Clement [Carroll] Watson Rankin (11 May 1864 – 13 Aug 1945 | Marquette MI – Marquette MI) reporter, novelist, short story writer.

Harriet Quimby (11 May 1875 – 01 Jul 1912 | Arcadia MI – Quincy MA) aviator, journalist, drama critic, screenwriter.

Alma Gluck Zimbalist (11 May 1884 – 27 Oct 1938 | Iasi RO – Manhattan NY) editor, operatic soprano, née Reba Feinsohn.

Martha Graham (11 May 1894 – 01 Apr 1991 | Allegheny PA – New York NY) dancer, choreographer, autobiographical author, aka The Dancer of the Century.

09 May | Women’s Words & Works

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Eliza Seaman Leggett (09 May 1815 – 08 Feb 1900 | New York NY – Detroit MI) social activist, suffragist, abolitionist, Underground Railroad worker, public restrooms and public drinking fountain advocate.

Harriet Rebecca Lane Johnston (09 May 1830 – 03 Jul 1903 | Franklin County PA – Narragansett RI) fine art collector, arts / music advocate, Native American reservation activist, acting US Presidential First Lady for uncle James Buchanan, children’s hospital founder, founded Washington Cathedral School for Choir Boys, aka First Lady of National Collection of Fine Arts.

Mary Eno Bassett Mumford (09 May 1842 – 09 May 1935 | Litchfield CT – New Britain CT) author, activist, editor, teacher.

Fanny Titus Hazen (09 May 1840 – 20 Jan 1930 | Vershire VT – Cambridge MA) Civil War nurse, suffragist, president Army Nurse Association of Massachusetts, member of Woman’s Relief Corps / Cambridge Equal Suffrage League.

Isabella Maria [Belle] Boyd (09 May 1844 – 11 Jun 1900 | Martinsburg VA [now WV] – Kilbourn [now Wisconsin Dells] WI) spy, lecturer, memoirist, aka Cleopatra of the Secession, Siren of the Shenandoah.

25 Apr | Women’s Words & Works

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Abigail Brown Brooks Adams (25 Apr 1808 – 06 Jun 1889 | Medford MA – Quincy MA) outspoken political critic, member Boston Brahmin / political family.

Eliza Daniel Stewart (25 Apr 1816 – 06 Aug 1908 | Piketon OH – Springfield OH) aka Mother Stewart, state / local pioneering temperance leader / organizer.

Lucy Goodale Thurston (25 Apr 1823 – 24 Feb 1841 | Kailua HI – Boston MA) member of well-known missionary family, sister of artist Persis Goodale Thurston Taylor.

Mary Torrans Lathrap (25 Apr 1838 – 03 Jan 1895 | Jackson MI – Jackson MI) poet, preacher, suffragist, pen name Lena, temperance reformer, women’s progressive activist, aka The Daniel Webster of Prohibition.

Constance Cary Harrison (25 Apr 1843 – 21 Nov 1920 | Vaucluse VA – Washington DC) aka Refugitta, fiction / nonfiction author, co-creator and seamstress for first US Civil War Confederate Battle Flag.

22 Apr | Women’s Words & Works

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Olive Logan (22 Apr 1839 – 27 Apr 1909 | Elmira NY – Banstead UK) author, actress, lecturer, suffragist | Women.Bourne.Works © Susan.Powers.Bourne

Ursula Newell Gestefeld (22 Apr 1845 – 22 Oct 1921 | Augusta ME – Chicago IL) Christian Scientist, New Thought author, women’s press founder.

Henrietta McCormick Goodhart (22 Apr 1857 – 1932 | Chicago IL – Langley Park MD) heiress, memoirist, managed McCormick-Goodhart Mansion on Langley Park Estate.

Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow (22 Apr 1873 – 21 Nov 1945 | Richmond VA – Richmond VA) poet, novelist, short story writer, Pulitzer Prize laureate, autobiographical author.

Laura Gilpin (22 Apr 1891 – 30 Nov 1979 | Austin Bluffs CO – Santa Fe NM) Pictorialist, photographer, focus on images of Native Americans [particularly Navajo and Pueblo] and Southwestern landscapes.

27 Mar | Women’s Words & Works

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Jane Franklin Mecom (27 Mar 1712 – 08 May 1794 | Philadelphia PA – Philadelphia PA) milliner, innkeeper, letter writer, political family member, autobiographical author.

Jane Colden Farquhar (27 Mar 1724 – 10 Mar 1766 | New York NY – New York NY) botanist, illustrator, letter writer, first female botanist recognized in the New World.

Elleanor Eldridge (27 Mar 1784 – c. 1862 | Warwick RI – unknown) memoirist, landlord, property owner, pioneering African-American entrepreneur.

Virginia Louisa Minor (27 Mar 1824 – 14 Aug 1894 | Caroline County VA – St Louis MO) suffragist, social activist, co-founder / first president Woman’s Suffrage Association of Missouri.

Catherine [Kate] Fox (27 Mar 1837 – 02 Jul 1892 | Consecon ON – Brooklyn NY) folk figure, controversial spiritualist medium, considered one of the founders of modern spiritualist movement.

18 Mar | Women’s Words & Works

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Mary Ann Harris Gay (18 Mar 1828 – 06 Nov 1918 | Jones County GA – Decatur GA) poet, author, diarist, memoirist, American Confederate heroine.

Marilla Marks Young Ricker (18 Mar 1840 – 12 Nov 1920 | New Durham NH – Dover NH) author, attorney, suffragist, free-thinker, humanitarian, women’s rights activist.

Sally Berkeley Nelson Robins (18 Mar 1855 – 04 Feb 1925 | Gloucester County VA – Richmond VA) author, suffragist, genealogist, essayist, historian.

Jennie Harris Oliver (18 Mar 1864 – 03 Jun 1942 | Lowell MI – Oklahoma City OK) poet, Poet Laureate of Oklahoma.

Alice Cushing Donaldson Riley (18 Mar 1867 – 09 Aug 1955 | Morrison IL – Pasadena CA) children’s songs /operas / poetry / lullabies author, Drama League of America innovator.

16 Mar | Women’s Words & Works

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Lucy Virginia French (16 Mar 1825 – 31 Mar 1881 | Accomack County VA – McMinnville TN) poet, author, songwriter, pen name L’Inconnue.

Anna B. Alcott Pratt (16 Mar 1831 – 13 Jul 1893 | Germantown PA – Concord MA) author, folk / literary family figure.

Clara Weaver Parrish (16 Mar 1861 – 11 Nov 1925 | Selma AL – New York NY) painter, illustrator, printmaker, stained glass window designer.

Sara Corning (16 Mar 1872 – 05 May 1969 | Chegoggin NS – Yarmouth NS) nurse, humanitarian, WWI Red Cross nurse, saved wartime orphans, founded orphanage on Island of Syros, graduate of Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Hanover, New Hamsphire.

Loja Saarinen (16 Mar 1879 – 21 Apr 1968 | Helsinki FI – Bloomfield Hills MI) author, sculptor, textile artist, Finnish-American, opened Studio Loja Saarinen, founded weaving department at Cranbrook Academy of Art, born Minna Carolina Mathilde Louise Gesellius.