14 Dec | Herstorical.Reflections

Mary Tappan Wright (14 Dec 1851 – 25 Aug 1916 | Steubenville OH – Cambridge MA) novelist, short story writer.


Lavinia Norman (14 Dec 1882 – 22 Jan 1983 | Montgomery WV – Washington DC) lifelong educator, French / English / Latin teacher, original founding member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority / first sorority founded by African-American women at Howard University.


Helen Steketee (14 Dec 1882 – 23 Aug 1974 | Grand Rapids MI – Grand Rapids MI) artist, still-life / landscape painter.


Jane Bailey Cowl (14 Dec 1883 – 22 Jun 1950 | Boston MA – Santa Monica CA) playwright, stage / film actress, WWII co-director of NYC Stage Door Canteen, wrote in collaboration with Jane Murfin, often used joint pseudonym Allan Langdon Martin.


Ethel Browne Harvey (14 Dec 1885 – 02 Sep 1965 | Baltimore MD – Falmouth MA) author, zoologist, embryologist, women’s educational rights activist / advocate.

23 Aug | Herstorical.Reflections

Mary Moody Emerson (23 Aug 1774 – 01 May 1863 | Concord MA – Concord MA) poet, author, literary family member, mentor to her nephew Ralph Waldo Emerson.


Lillie Hitchcock Coit (23 Aug 1843 – 22 Jul 1929 | Mobile AL – San Francisco CA) folk figure, aka Firebell Lil, philanthropist, cookbook author, Coit Tower benefactor, San Francisco Volunteer Firefighters patroness, born Elizabeth Wyche Hitchcock.


Sarah Frances Whiting (23 Aug 1847 – 12 Sep 1927 | Wyoming NY – Wilbraham MA) author, essayist, physicist, astronomer, first professor of physics at Wellesley College, funded Whiting Observatory at Wellesley.


Amelie Louise Rives Troubetzkoy (23 Aug 1863 – 15 Jun 1945 | Richmond VA – Cismont VA) poet, novelist, playwright.


Edith Lake Wilkinson (23 Aug 1868 – 19 Jul 1957 | Wheeling WV – Huntington WV) lesbian, studied at Arts Student League of New York, degree from Columbia Teacher’s College [1905], Provincetown MA artist / printmaker, committed to mental hospitals [from 1924 till her death] [Note: middle image from HBO documentary © 2022 Greenie Films and Little Mama, Inc.].

21 Jul | Herstorical.Reflections

Mary Anna Morrison Jackson (21 Jul 1831 – 24 Mar 1915 | Lincoln NC – Charlotte NC) author, memoirist, military / political wife, aka Widow of the Confederacy.


Henrietta Maria Morse Chamberlain King (21 Jul 1832 – 31 Mar 1925 | Boonville MO – Kingsville TX) Texas rancher, philanthropist, public school builder.


Mary Foote Henderson (21 Jul 1842 – 16 Jul 1931 | Seneca Falls NY – Bar Harbor ME) author, suffragist, art collector, social activist, community developer, temperance leader.


Myra Horner Camden Atkinson (21 Jul 1844 – 13 Apr 1925 | Lumberport WV – Clarksburg WV) First Lady of Virginia, genealogist / family historian.


Blanche Willis Howard von Teuffel (21 Jul 1847 – 07 Oct 1898 | Bangor ME – Munich DEU) pianist, novelist.

27 Jun | Herstorical.Reflections

Hannah Mather Crocker (27 Jun 1752 – 11 Jul 1829 | Roxbury MA – Boston MA) essayist, educator, school founder, women’s rights activist, advocate for women Freemasons, Revolutionary War spy, authored first American book on rights of women.


Maria Monk (27 Jun 1816 – 08 Sep 1849 | Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu QC – Roosevelt Island NY) author, memoirist, religious sister, controversial Canadian folk figure, alleged infanticide / systemic sexual abuse in Catholic convent.


Ednah Dow Littlehale Cheney (27 Jun 1824 – 19 Nov 1904 | Boston MA – Jamaica Plain MA) writer, editor, reformer, philanthropist, secretary of School of Design for Women.


Eugenia Scholay Washington (27 Jun 1838 – 30 Nov 1900 | Charles Town WV – Washington DC) historian, civil servant, co-founded Daughters of American Revolution / Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America.


Harriet Hubbard Ayer (27 Jun 1849 – 23 Nov 1903 | Chicago IL – New York NY) socialite, journalist, essayist, kidnap victim, proto-feminist, founded first successful US female-owned cosmetics company, editor of New York World newspaper women’s pages, highest paid US female journalist at the time of her death.

11 Jun | Herstorical.Reflections

Anne Newport Royall (11 Jun 1769 – 01 Oct 1854 | Baltimore MD – Washington DC) writer, publisher, reformer, journalist, possibly first professional female journalist in America.


Caroline Le Gresley LeSueur (11 Jun 1814 – 01 Oct 1898 | Jersey, Channel Islands – St Johns AZ) Mormon, farmer, pioneer, settler, co-founder of St. Johns, Arizona.


Lucy Petway Holcombe Pickens (11 Jun 1832 – 08 Aug 1899 | La Grange TN – Edgefield SC) author, socialite, flag seamstress, Confederate icon, aka Queen of the Confederacy.


Mary Leslie (11 Jun 1842 – 01 Mar 1920 | UK – Toronto ON) artist, art teacher, columnist for McLure Syndicate, conducted Leslie’s College for Women, pen names: J.T.J., James Thomas Jones.


Olivia America Davidson Washington (11 Jun 1854 – 09 May 1889 | Mercer WV – Boston MA) teacher, Tuskegee Institute co-founder.

26 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Ann Hall (26 May 1792 – 11 Dec 1863 | Pomfret CT – New York NY) miniature portrait painter.


Mary Andrews Denison (26 May 1826 – 15 Oct 1911 | Cambridge MA – Cambridge MA) editor, novelist, playwright, aka Clara Vance, Civil War nurse, short story writer.


Clara Louise Root Burnham (26 May 1854 – 20 Jun 1927 | Newton MA – Bailey Island ME) author, hymnist.


Edna Brady Cornwell (26 May 1868 – 01 Dec 1958 | Romney WV – Romney WV) newspaper publisher, West Virginia State First Lady.


Peggy Hopkins Joyce (26 May 1893 – 12 Jun 1957 | Berkley VA – New York NY) dancer, actress, folk figure, artist model, autobiographical author.

09 May | Herstorical.Reflections

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.


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.

29 Apr | Herstorical.Reflections

Helen Louise Chapel Bullock (29 Apr 1836 – 1927 | Norwich NY – Norwich NY) suffragist, philanthropist, musical educator, temperance activist, women’s prison reformer.


Adeline [Addie] Lucia Hart Ballou (29 Apr 1837 – 10 Aug 1916 | Chagrin Falls OH – San Francisco CA) poet, artist, author, lecturer, suffragist.


Caroline [Carrie] Watson Fleming (29 Apr 1844 – 19 Jul 1931 | Fairmont WV – Fairmont WV) First Lady of West Virginia, civic / cultural / religious activist.


Margherita Arlina Hamm (29 Apr 1867 – 17 Dec 1907 | St Stephen NB – New York NY) author, journalist, suffragist, magazine editor, war correspondent.


Katherine Golden Bitting (29 Apr 1868 – 1937 | Stratford ON – Lafayette IN) author, food chemist, professor, food preservation expert.

18 Apr | Herstorical.Reflections

Mary [Katherine] Baptist Russell (18 Apr 1829 – 06 Aug 1898 | Bewry IE – San Francsico CA) educator, Sister of Mercy, religious activist, founded home for infirm.


Marion Foster Welch (18 Apr 1851 – 09 Jul 1935 | Pittsburgh PA – Pittsburgh PA) pianist, composer, lecturer, piano teacher, curator of Stephen Foster Memorial.


Clara Elsene Peck Williams (18 Apr 1883 – 24 Feb 1968 | Allegan MI – Gettysburg PA) painter, etcher, illustrator, comics artist, watercolorist.


Edna Hall Scott Kump (18 Apr 1887 – 19 Jan 1957 | Elkins WV – Elkins WV) gardener, First Lady of West Virginia.


Lucile McVey Drew (18 Apr 1890 – 03 Nov 1925 | Sedalia MO – Los Angeles CA) actress, knitter, comedian, director, producer, screenwriter, aka Jane Morrow, Mrs. Sidney Drew.