30 Aug | Herstorical.Reflections

Ellen Lewis Herndon Arthur (30 Aug 1837 – 12 Jan 1880 | Culpeper VA – New York NY) soprano concert singer, Confederate sympathizer, wife of 21st US President [died before husband took office so posthumous US First Lady].


Lillie Rosa Minoka Hill (30 Aug 1876 – 18 Mar 1952 | St Regis Mohawk Reservation NY – Oneida WI) Mohawk, educator, physician, rural medical care pioneer, aka Yo-Da-Gent (She-Who-Cares), adopted by Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, only woman adopted by Oneida in 20th century.


Eleanor Mercein Kelly (30 Aug 1880 – 11 Oct 1986 | Milwaukee WI – Louisville KY) novelist, biographer, travel writer, short fiction author.


Margery Elizabeth Hoffman Smith (30 Aug 1888 – 08 Mar 1981 | Portland OR – San Mateo CA) artist, painter, lecturer, craftsperson, interior designer, aka Grand Dame of Arts and Crafts, WPA designer / director for Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood.


Shirley Booth (30 Aug 1898 – 16 Oct 1992 | Brooklyn NY – North Chatham MA) actress, born Thelma Booth Ford, well-known for television character Hazel, one of only 24 performers to achieve Triple Crown of Acting, won an Academy Award / two Primetime Emmy Awards / three Tony Awards.

26 Aug | Herstorical.Reflections

Eliza Maria Posey Street (26 Aug 1792 – 02 Feb 1847 | Fredericksburg VA – Agency IA) pioneer, folk / historical figure, settler wife of US Indian Agent, deeded 640 acres of Sac / Fox land.


Sarah [Annie] Turner Wittenmyer (26 Aug 1827 – 02 Feb 1900 | Adams County OH – Sanatoga PA) author, hymnist, historian, relief worker, social reformer, temperance activist.


Isabel Hampton Robb (26 Aug 1860 – 15 Apr 1910 | Welland ON – Cleveland OH) textbook author, first Superintendent of Nurses at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, nurse theorist / advocate / curriculum developer.


May Lamberton Becker (26 Aug 1873 – 27 Apr 1958 | New York NY – Epsom UK) editor, author, journalist, anthologist, literary critic, social / charitable activist, Reader’s Guide columnist, pro-British during WWII, active member of Books Across the Sea, namesake for Library Reading Room dedicated by T. S. Eliot [1960].


Zona Gale Breese (26 Aug 1874 – 27 Dec 1938 | Portage WI – Chicago IL) author, novelist, essayist, playwright, newspaper writer, education / pacifism / women’s rights activist.

17 Aug | Herstorical.Reflections


Charlotte Louise Bridges Forten Grimké (17 Aug 1837 – 23 Jul 1914 | Philadelphia PA – Washington DC) African-American poet, educator, journal writer, anti-slavery activist, volunteer Civil War Union nurse, first black teacher hired in two different US schools.


Laura de Force Gordon (17 Aug 1838 – 05 Apr 1907 | North East PA – Lodi CA) editor, lawyer, Spiritualist, women’s rights activist, second female attorney in California, first woman to run daily US newspaper [Stockton Daily Leader].


Caroline Bartlett Crane (17 Aug 1858 – 24 Mar 1935 | Hudson WI – Kalamazoo MI) educator, suffragist, journalist, civic reformer, Unitarian minister, aka America’s Housekeeper.


Geneva [Gene] Stratton-Porter (17 Aug 1863 – 06 Dec 1924 | Lagro IN – Los Angeles CA) author, naturalist, wildlife photographer, early female movie studio / production company founder.

11 Aug | Herstorical.Reflections

Eliza Hart Spalding (11 Aug 1807 – 13 Jan 1851 | Kensington CT – Brownsville OR) diarist, pioneer, missionary to Nez Perce, mother of Eliza Spalding Warren.


Octavia Walton Le Vert (11 Aug 1811 – 12 Mar 1877 | Augusta GA – Augusta GA) author, socialite, social activist, memoirist, travel writer.


Oriana [Orie] Russell Moon Andrews (11 Aug 1834 – 26 Dec 1883 | Viewmont VA – Scottsville VA) aka Dr. Orie Moon, Civil War Confederate doctor, Bedouin missionary physician.


Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt (11 Aug 1836 – 22 Dec 1919 | Lexington KY – Caldwell NJ) poet.


Carrie Minetta Jacobs-Bond (11 Aug 1862 – 28 Dec 1946 | Janesville WI – Hollywood CA) poet, pianist, singer-songwriter, first US female music publisher, autobiographical author, first woman to sell one million copies of a song.

30 Jul | Herstorical.Reflections

Emma Millinda Gillett (30 Jul 1852 – 23 Jan 1927 | Princeton WI – Washington DC) lawyer, clubwoman, National Woman’s Party member, women’s law education activist / advocate, first female Notary Public appointed by US President.


Julia Henrietta Gulliver (30 Jul 1856 – 25 Jul 1940 Norwich CT – Eustis FL) author, educator, philosopher, Rockford College president, second US woman awarded PhD.


Lucy Angeline Bacon (30 Jul 1857 – 17 Oct 1932 | Pitcairn NY – San Francisco CA) artist, art teacher, American Impressionist.


Elizabeth Ross Haynes (30 Jul 1883 – 26 Oct 1953 | Mount Willing AL – New York NY) author, YWCA advocate, civil rights activist, social reformer / researcher.


Bertha Fanning Taylor (30 Jul 1883 – 03 Jul 1980 | New York NY – Norfolk VA) curator, painter, author, educator, art critic, illustrator, art historian.

27 Jul | Herstorical.Reflections

Matilda Ann [Linda] Judson Richards (27 Jul 1841 – 16 Apr 1930 | West Potsdam NY – Boston MA) nurse, author, memoirist, nursing educator, first professional trained US nurse, established nursing schools in US and Japan, created first system for keeping individual medical records for hospitalized patients.


Helen Gerrells Stoddard (27 Jul 1850 – 31 Dec 1940 | Sheboygan WI – Dallas TX) educator, politician, community activist, Texas Women’s University co-founder, Women’s Christian Temperance Union leader, first woman to run for Congress in California.


Elizabeth Ann Plankinton (27 Jul 1853 – 1923 | Milwaukee WI – Lucerne CHE) humanitarian, philanthropist, artists / artisans patron, funded illustrated volume of Plankinton Memorial Book, funded first YWCA building in Milwaukee, aka Miss Lizzie and the Municipal Patroness.


Lucy Maynard Salmon (27 Jul 1853 – 14 Feb 1927 | Fulton NY – Poughkeepsie NY) author, historian, professor of history, new social history advocate.


Augusta Stowe Gullen (27 Jul 1857 – 25 Sep 1943 | Mount Pleasant ON – Toronto ON) physician, social reformer, women’s rights activist, first woman to gain a medical degree in Canada, Women’s College Hospital co-founder.

01 Jul | Herstorical.Reflections

Annis Boudinot Stockton (01 Jul 1736 – 06 Feb 1801 | Darby PA – Fieldsboro NJ) poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, political activist, aka Duchess of Morven, one of first women published in the Thirteen Colonies, sole Febmale member of secret pro-revolutionary American Whig Society.


Mary Olivia Nutting (01 Jul 1831 – 13 Feb 1910 | Randolph Center VT – South Hadley MA) librarian, journal keeper, Mount Holyoke College’s first librarian.


Florence Van Leer Earle Nicholson Coates (01 Jul 1850 – 06 Apr 1927 | Philadelphia PA – Philadelphia PA) poet, twice president of Browning Society, founded Contemporary Club of Philadelphia.


Velma Caldwell Melville (01 Jul 1858 – 25 Aug 1924 | Greenwood WI – Gainesville FL) poet, editor, prose writer.


Alice Barber Stephens (01 Jul 1858 – 13 Jul 1932 | Salem NJ – Rose Valley PA) painter, engraver, illustrator.

24 Jun | Herstorical.Reflections

Rebecca Blaine Harding Davis (24 Jun 1831 – 29 Sep 1910 | Washington PA – Mount Kisco NY) author, novelist, journalist.


Elizabeth [Lizzie] Sewall Alcott (24 Jun 1835 – 14 Mar 1858 | Boston MA – Concord MA) writer, literary figure, literary family member.


Ruth Miriam Randall Edström (24 Jun 1867 – 05 Oct 1944 | Wilmington IL – Stockholm SE) peace activist, Unitarian, expatriate, Swedish-American, women’s rights activist, participated in International Women’s Congress, worked on Hague peace conference.


Caroline Ellen Furness (24 Jun 1869 – 09 Feb 1936 | Cleveland OH – New York NY) author, astronomer, astronomy professor at Vassar College, women’s education advocate, first female PhD in Astronomy from Columbia University.


Beatrice Tonnesen (24 Jun 1871 – 12 May 1958 | Winneconne WI – Oshkosh WI) artist, inventor, photographer, Mars Ware sculpture innovator, pioneer in picture calendar photographs, developed process for silhouette photographs, pioneered use of live models in print advertising.

05 Jun | Herstorical.Reflections

Kate Cumming (05 Jun 1828 – 05 Jun 1909 | Scotland UK – Birmingham AL) diarist, memoirist, Confederate nurse.


Miriam Florence Folline Squier Leslie (05 Jun 1836 – 18 Sep 1914 | New Orleans LA – New York NY) author, memoirist, publisher.


Sarah Elizabeth Forbush Downs (05 Jun 1843 – 1926 | Wrentham MA – Cambridge MA) dime novelist, magazine writer, aka Mrs Georgie Sheldon, Mrs George Sheldon Downs.


Susan Stuart Frackelton (05 Jun 1848 – 14 Apr 1932 | Milwaukee WI – Kenilworth IL) artist, author, ceramics painter, Arts and Crafts movement leader.


Sarah Alice Addams Haldeman (05 Jun 1853 – 19 Mar 1915 | Cedarville IL – Chicago IL) banker, educator, social activist, craftswoman, philanthropist, Woman’s Club leader, physician’s assistant, sister of social activist Jane Addams, mother of Marcet Haldeman-Julius.

28 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Sarah Butler Wister (28 May 1835 – 09 Jun 1908 | Butler PA – Philadelphia PA) author, editor, diarist.


Annie Sherwood Hawks (28 May 1836 – 03 Jan 1918 | Hoosick NY – Bennington VT) poet, hymnist.


Abby Leach (28 May 1855 – 29 Dec 1918 | Brockton MA – Poughkeepsie NY) author, educational pioneer, Greek and Roman Classicist.


Lizzie Black Kander (28 May 1858 – 24 Jul 1940 | Milwaukee WI – Milwaukee WI) educator, relief / settlement worker, cookbook writer, founded Milwaukee Settlement House, Jewish women’s activist / advocate, originated The Settlement House Cookbook.


Katharine Blunt (28 May 1876 – 29 Jul 1954 | Philadelphia PA – New London CT) author, educator, nutritionist, home economist, third president of Connecticut College.