1830s
Caroline Lake Quiner Ingalls (12 dec 1839 – 20 apr 1924 | Brookfield WI – De Smet SD) aka Ma Ingalls, folk / literary / mother / pioneer figure
1840s
May Wright Sewall (27 may 1844 – 22 jul 1920 | Greenfield WI – Indianapolis IN) educator, lecturer, letterist, reformer, suffragist, civic / social activist, philanthropist
Vinnie Ream Hoxie (25 sep 1847 – 12 jan 1914 | Madison WI – Washington DC) harpist, sculptor, creator of US Capitol Lincoln Statue, first woman / youngest person to receive government commission for sculpture
Susan Stuart Frackelton (05 jun 1848 – 14 apr 1932 | Milwaukee WI – Kenilworth IL) artist, author, ceramics painter, Arts and Crafts movement leader
Katharine Putnam Hooker (02 may 1849 – 07 jan 1935 | Milwaukee WI – Santa Barbara CA) socialite, philanthropist, travel writer
1850s
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
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (05 nov 1850 – 30 oct 1919 | Johnstown WI – Short Beach CT) poet, author
Ella Clara Sabin (29 nov 1850 – 03 feb 1949 | Sun Prairie WI – unknown) educator, administrator, college president, educational reformer, domestic science / occupational therapy course innovator / founder
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
Elizabeth Ann Plankinton (27 jul 1853 – 1923 | Milwaukee WI – Lucerne, Switzerland) 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
Emma Payne Erskine (10 may 1854 – 04 mar 1924 | Racine WI – Tryon NC) author, peace activist, romance novelist, short story writer, patriotic Christian writer
Elizabeth McCourt Tabor (07 oct 1854 – 07 mar 1935 | Oshkosh WI – Leadville CO) aka Baby Doe, American folk figure, namesake of The Ballad of Baby Doe opera, aka Best Dressed Woman in the West
Carrie Chapman Catt (09 jan 1859 – 09 mar 1947 | Ripon WI – New Rochelle NY) suffragist, social activist, pamphleteer
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
Velma Caldwell Melville (01 jul 1858 – 25 aug 1924 | Greenwood WI – Gainesville FL) poet, editor, prose writer
Caroline Bartlett Crane (17 aug 1858 – 24 mar 1935 | Hudson WI – Kalamazoo MI) educator, suffragist, journalist, civic reformer, Unitarian minister, aka America’s Housekeeper
Belle Case La Follette (21 apr 1859 – 18 aug 1831 | Summit WI – Washington DC) author, attorney, suffragist, peace movement activist
1860s
Mary Kimball Morgan (08 dec 1861 – 13 oct 1948 | Janesville WI – Elsah IL) Christian Science educator, founder / president of Principia School and College in St. Louis MO
Louise Phelps Kellogg (12 may 1862 – 11 jul 1942 | Milwaukee WI – Madison WI) writer, educator, historian
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
Winifred Edgerton Merrill (24 sep 1862 – 06 sep 1951 | Ripon WI – Fairfield CT) astronomer, first female Columbia University graduate, first US woman PhD in mathematics
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
Berenice van Loan Gaines (11 sep 1863 – 09 oct 1953 | Cedar Creek WI – Glendale CA) musician, composer, songwriter
Winifred Sweet Black Bonfils (14 oct 1863 – 25 may 1936 | Chilton WI – San Francisco CA)reporter, journalist, columnist, pen names Annie Laurie and Winifred Black
Mathilde Georgine Schley (04 may 1864 – 20 mar 1921 | Horicon WI – Milwaukee WI) artist, landscape painter, member Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors
Mary Amelia Ingalls (10 jan 1865 – 17 oct 1928 | Pepin WI – De Smet SD) blind folk / literary family figure
Elizabeth Garver Jordan (09 may 1865 – 24 feb 1947 | Milwaukee WI – New York NY) editor, novelist, memoirist, journalist, suffragist
Lillian Heath Nelson (29 dec 1865 – 05 aug 1962 | Burnett Junction WI – Rawlins WY) memoirist, first female doctor in Wyoming, one of first female medical practitioners west of the Mississippi River
Jessie Hubbell Bancroft (20 dec 1867 – 13 nov 1952 | Winona WI – Pittsfield MA) author, educator, physical education activist / advocate / innovator
Adelaide Hasse (13 sep 1868 – 28 jul 1953 | Milwaukee WI – Washington DC) librarian, bibliographer, aka Champion Fast Lady Bicycle Rider of Los Angeles, developed Superintendent of Documents Classification System for US Government Printing Office and Federal Depository Library Program
1870s
Beatrice Tonnesen (24 jun 1871 – 12 may 1958 | Winneconne WI – Oshkosh WI) artist, inventor, photographer, Mars Ware sculpture innovator, developed process for silhouette photographs, pioneered use of live models in print advertising
Allene Tew (07 jul 1872 – 01 may 1955 | Janesville WI – Cap d’Ail, France) socialite, married five times, member of the Daughters of the American Revolution
Helen Farnsworth Mears (26 dec 1872 – 17 feb 1916 | Oshkosh WI – Greenwich Village NY) sculptor
Zona Gale (26 aug 1874 – 27 dec 1938 | Portage WI – Chicago IL) author, playwright, newspaper writer
Margaret Eliza Ashmun (10 jul 1875 – 15 mar 1940 | Rural WI – West Springfield MA) poet, teacher, novelist, essayist, textbook author, short fiction writer
Helen Sumner Woodbury (12 mar 1876 – 10 mar 1933 | Sheboygan WI – New York NY) author, historian, public official
Marie Christine Kohler (13 jul 1876 – 11 oct 1943 | Sheboygan WI – Sheboygan WI) philanthropist, founded Girl Scouts, social / family / community activist, co-founded The Kohler Foundation, founding member of AAUW [American Association of University Women]
Florence Eliza Allen (04 oct 1876 – 31 dec 1960 | Horicon WI – Madison WI) suffragist, professor, mathematician, second female PhD in mathematics at University of Wisconsin-Madison, fine arts / literary society leader
Anne Sewell Young (02 jan 1877 – 15 aug 1961 | Bloomington WI – Claremont CA) author, astronomer, astronomy professor, variable star observer
Eda Nemoede Casterton (14 apr 1877 – 08 dec 1969 | Brillion WI – Palos Verdes Estates CA) painter, oil / pastel / watercolor miniature portrait artist
Ida Maud Cannon (29 jun 1877 – 08 jul 1960 | Milwaukee WI – Cambridge MA) author, social work activist / reformer, founder of medical social work speciality
Harriet Ware Krumbhaar (26 aug 1877 – 09 feb 1962 | Waupun WI – New York NY) pianist, music teacher, choral composer
Kate Gordon Moore (18 feb 1878 – 04 oct 1963 | Oshkosh WI – Glendale CA) cognitive psychologist, researched color vision, perception, aesthetics, memory, imagination, and emotion
Edith Juliet Rich Isaacs (27 mar 1878 – 10 jan 1956 | Milwaukee WI – White Plains NY) arts critic, editor Theatre Arts magazine, African-American theatre arts advocate
Helen Jean Arthur (29 mar 1879 – 09 dec 1939 | Lancaster WI – New York NY) theater director, non-profit theater activist / advocate, actors’ and Neighborhood Playhouse manager, member ACLU Committee Against Stage Censorship
1880s
Eleanor Mercein Kelly (30 aug 1880 – 11 oct 1986 | Milwaukee WI – Louisville KY) novelist, biographer, travel writer, short fiction author
May Ester Peterson (07 oct 1880 – 08 oct 1952 | Oshkosh WI – Austin TX) operatic soprano
Helen Rogers Reid (23 nov 1882 – 27 jul 1970 | Appleton WI – New York NY) newspaper publisher, president of New York Herald Tribune
Maria Maud Leonard McCreery (24 feb 1883 – 10 apr 1938 | Cedarburg WI – Milwaukee WI) editor, socialist, feminist, suffragist, pamphleteer, TB survivor, editor-in-chief, labor union organizer
Ethel Wright Nesbitt (24 jun 1884 – 07 nov 1958 | Mineral Point WI – New Jersey US) silent film actress, high school teacher, principal of Professional Children’s School
Helen Parkhurst (03 jan 1887 – 01 jun 1973 | Durand WI – New Milford CT) author, lecturer, educator, Dalton School founder
Mary Madeleva Evaline Wolff (24 may 1887 – 25 jul 1964 | Cumberland WI – Boston MA) poet, abbess, medieval scholar, non-fiction author, aka Lady Abbess of Nun Poets
Georgia O’Keeffe (15 nov 1887 – 06 mar 1986 | Sun Prairie WI – Santa Fe NM) painter, artistic icon, memoirist, autobiographer, letter correspondent
1890s
Lorena Alice [Hick] Hickok (07 mar 1893 – 01 may 1968 | East Troy WI – Hyde Park NY) reporter, journalist, close relationship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt
Gertrude Deimel Eisendrath Kuh (11 sep 1893 – 04 sep 1977 | Racine WI – Chicago IL) landscape architect
Dorothy Ashby Pownall (20 jun 1895 – 01 mar 1979 | Superior WI – Iowa City IA) author, advice columnist, aka Mary Manners
Marie Hall Ets (16 dec 1895 – 17 jan 1984 | Milwaukee WI – Inverness FL) children’s book author / illustrator, settlement house social worker
Glenn Miller Wise (14 jul 1896 – 24 sep 1991 | Wyocena WI – Madison WI) state politician, statistician, first female Secretary of State in Wisconsin, organized / directed of Employment Exchange of Washington [DC] School for Secretaries
Sally Benson (03 sep 1897 – 19 jul 1972 | West Sweden Town WI – Woodland Hills CA) screenwriter, short fiction writer, autobiographical author
Elda Emma Anderson (05 oct 1899 – 17 apr 1961 | Green Lake WI – Oak Ridge TN) physicist, health researcher, member of the Manhattan Project
1900s
Mary Woodard Lasker (30 nov 1900 – 21 feb 1994 | Watertown WI – Greenwich CT) art dealer, fabric artist, health activist, philanthropist, non-profit leader, Birth Control Federation of America president
Marguerite Breithaupt Henry (13 apr 1902 – 26 nov 1997 | Milwaukee WI – Rancho Santa Fe CA) children’s novelist, picture geography author
Mildred Elizabeth Fish-Harnack (16 dec 1902 – 16 feb 1943 | Milwaukee WI – Berlin, Germany) American-German literary historian, translator, Resistance fighter in Nazi Germany, only US woman executed on direct order from Hitler
Elizabeth Hirschboeck (10 mar 1903 – 20 sep 1986 | Milwaukee WI – New York NY) author, aka Sister Mary Mercy, Maryknoll Sister of Saint Dominic, renowned international humanitarian
Lorine Faith Niedecker (12 may 1903 – 31 dec 1970 | Blackhawk Island WI – Blackhawk Island WI) poet, sole female poet associated with Objectivists
Margaret Dorothea Mortenson Landon (07 sep 1903 – 04 dec 1993 | Somers WI – Alexandria VA) novelist, missionary
Florence Guinness Blake (30 nov 1907 – 12 sep 1983 | Stevens Point WI – Madison WI) nurse, author, professor, pediatric / family-centered nursing care innovator
Jane Sherman (14 jun 1908 – 16 mar 2010 | Beloit WI – Englewood NJ) poet, editor, writer, dancer, composer, performer
Elinor Marineau Coyle (07 jun 1909 – 21 aug 1997 | Marinette WI – St Louis MO) author, historian, photographer
1910s
Viola Smith Schmitz (29 nov 1912 – 21 oct 2020 | Mount Calvary WI – Costa Mesa CA) one of first female professional drummers, known for work with orchestras / swing bands / popular music
Virginia Satir (26 jun 1916 – 10 sep 1988 | Neillsville WI – Menlo Park CA) author, social worker, family therapy innovator, aka Mother of Family Therapy
Helen Strassburger Boatwright (17 nov 1916 – 01 dec 2010 | Sheboygan WI – Jamesville NY) concert / operatic soprano
Dena Polacheck Epstein (30 nov 1916 – 14 nov 2013 | Milwaukee WI – US) author, musicologist, music historian, music librarian, biographical author
Georgette Louise Meyer [Dickey] Chapelle (14 mar 1918 – 04 nov 1965 | Shorewood WI – Quang Ngai, Vietnam) photojournalist, first US woman reporter killed in any conflict, first female US war correspondent killed in Vietnam War
1920s
Alice Faber Tryon (02 aug 1920 – 29 mar 2009 | Milwaukee WI – Pensacola FL) botanist, organized New England Fern Conference, first female member of New England Botanical Club
Esther Bubley (16 feb 1921 – 16 mar 1998 | Phillips WI – New York NY) photographer, photojournalist, children’s book author
Joyce Carlson (16 mar 1923 – 04 jan 2008 | Racine WI – Orlando FL) artist, dollmaker, graphic designer, Disney imagineer
Lydia Marie Clark (14 apr 1923 – 03 sep 2018 | Two Rivers WI – Santa Monica CA) actress, photographer, married to actor Charlton Heston
Nancy Oestreich Lurie (29 jan 1924 – 13 may 2017 | Milwaukee WI – Milwaukee WI) author, scholar, professor, anthropologist, ethno-historian, Native American land rights activist / legal expert witness
Velvalea Rodgers [Vel] Phillips (18 feb 1924 – 17 apr 2018 | Milwaukee WI – Milwaukee WI) attorney, charitable foundation founder, first black woman graduate UW-Madison Law School, first woman / first African-American female Secretary of State of Wisconsin
Felice Bryant (07 aug 1925 – 22 apr 2003 | Milwaukee WI – Gaitlinburg TN) poet, songwriter, country musician
Joan Arend Kickbush (23 mar 1926 – 16 jun 2006 | Milwaukee WI – Delafield WI) painter, sculptor, illustrator, children’s book author, focus on Alaskan children / villagers / wildlife
Charlotte Rae Lubotsky (22 apr 1926 – 05 aug 2018 | Milwaukee WI – Los Angeles CA) singer, dancer, comedian, memoirist, character actress
Marga Richter (21 oct 1926 – 25 jun 2020 | Reedsburg WI – Barnegat NJ) opera, ballet, chorus, orchestra, solo instrument, chamber ensemble composer, Long Island Composers Alliance co-founder / co-director / president / vice-president
Anne Nicol Gaylor (25 nov 1926 – 14 jun 2015 | Tomah WI – Fitchburg WI) atheist, author, Freedom from Religion co-founder, abortion / reproductive rights advocate
Irene Tinker (08 mar 1927 – Milwaukee WI) scholar, academic, travel writer, founding board president of the International Center for Research on Women, founding director Equity Policy Center, co-founder of the Wellesley Center for Research on Women
Elizabeth Warnock Fernea (21 oct 1927 – 02 dec 2008 | Milwaukee WI – La Cañada Flintridge CA) writer, memoirist, filmmaker, ethnographer, Middle Eastern scholar
Ellen Ermingard Raskin (13 mar 1928 – 08 aug 1984 | Milwaukee WI – New York NY) writer, illustrator, fashion designer
Joan August Kucinski (16 mar 1928 – 07 jan 2012 | Chicago IL – Syracuse NY) operatic mezzo-soprano
Mary Ann Aspinwall Owens (24 jun 1928 – 21 nov 2005 | Fort Atkinson WI – Brooklyn NY) philatelist, collector, known for thematic and topical collections / exhibitions
Ruth Whitney (23 jul 1928 – 04 jun 1999 | Oshkosh WI – Irvington NY) editor, feminist, Glamour magazine editor-in-chief
Mary Tsingou-Menzel (14 oct 1928 – Milwaukee WI) author, essayist, physicist, mathematician, Greek-American, one of first programmers on MANIAC computer at Los Alamos National Laboratory, pioneering collaborator / inspiration for fields of chaos theory / scientific computing
1930s
Mary Maples Dunn (06 apr 1931 – 19 mar 2017 | Sturgeon Bay WI – Winston-Salem NC) author, historian, professor, former President of Smith College
Margot Peters (13 may 1933 – Wausau WI) novelist, biographer, literary critic
Anne Rose Pellowski (28 jun 1933 – Arcadia WI) Polish-American librarian, storyteller, children’s novelist, non-fiction author
Lois Ehlert (09 nov 1934 – Beaver Dam WI) children’s book author / illustrator
Loret Miller Ruppe (03 jan 1936 – 27 may 1996 | Milwaukee WI – Bethesda MD) author, civic leader, volunteer trainer, Peace Corps director, US Ambassador to Norway
Margaret Ann Schulze (11 nov 1936 – La Crosse WI) memoirist, polio survivor, young adult novelist, pen name: Peg Kehret
Ann Jones (03 sep 1937 – Eau Claire WI) novelist, educator, journalist, photographer, civil rights activist, non-fiction author
Evelyn Grace Hartley (21 nov 1937 – disappeared 24 oct 1953 | La Crosse County WI – La Crosse County WI) kidnapped, disappeared, presumed dead, case unsolved
Gloria Coates (10 oct 1938 – Wausau WI) artist, painter, essayist, Munich-based composer, vocal / choral / instrumental / electronic / orchestral / chamber music creator
Judith Ann [Judy] Becker Goldsmith (26 nov 1938 – Manitowoc WI) activist, academic, feminist, former president of NOW [National Organization for Women]
1940s
Judith Walzer Leavitt (22 jul 1940 – Madison WI) author, historian, history of science / medicine / women’s studies professor
Claudia Falconer Card (30 sep 1940 – 12 sep 2015 | Pardeeville WI – Fitchburg WI) author, essayist, philosopher, professor of philosophy, teaching affiliations in LGBT / Jewish / Women’s / Environmental Studies
Maxine Hough (07 jan 1942 – East Troy WI) educator, politician
Bernardine Ohrnstein Dohrn (12 jan 1942 – Milwaukee WI) author, law professor, former radical / revolutionary activist, SDS / Weather Underground leader
Mary Willis Walker (24 may 1942 – Fox Point WI) crime fiction writer
Doris Maria Meissner (03 nov 1942 – Milwaukee WI) immigration policy expert, former US Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization Service
Rita M. Gross (06 jul 1943 – 11 nov 2015 | Rhinelander WI – Eau Claire WI) author, Buddhist, feminist, theologian, professor of comparative studies in religion
Therese May (05 aug 1943 – Madison WI) author, fine quilt artist, fantasy painter
Kay Koplovitz (11 apr 1945 – Milwaukee WI) USA network founder, first US female tv network president
Karla Huston (11 feb 1947 – La Crosse WI) poet, novelist, former Poet Laureate of Wisconsin
Dorothy Maynard Bradley (24 feb 1947 – Madison WI) teacher, former Montana State politician, wildlife preservationist, American Prairie Foundation National Council member
Elizabeth Aileen Aldrich (26 feb 1947 – Appleton WI) curator, author, archivist, lecturer, consultant, choreographer, dance historian, workshop leader
Miriam Ben-Shalom (03 may 1948 – Waukesha WI) activist, educator, creative writer, first openly gay / lesbian reinstated after military discharge
Carol Ann Bartz (28 aug 1948 – Winona WI) author, memoirist, business executive, former CEO / president of Yahoo
Susan Firer (14 oct 1948 – Milwaukee WI) poet, author, former Milwaukee Poet Laureate, former editor Shepherd Express online poetry column
Ann Mary Devroy (09 oct 1948 – 23 oct 1997 | Green Bay WI – Washington DC) journalist, political reporter
Barbara M. Joosse (18 feb 1949 – Grafton WI) children’s author
Terry Anne Meeuwsen Friedrich (02 mar 1949 – De Pere WI) singer, author, Christian, adoption advocate, television co-host
Stephanie Klinzing (31 oct 1949 – Superior WI) politician, journalist
1950s
Susan McEachern (07 apr 1951 – Wausau WI) American-Canadian artist, feminist, professor at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University
Kathleen Troia [K. T.] McFarland (22 jul 1951 – Madison WI) political commentator, government official, future US Ambassador
Susan Shannon Engeleiter (18 mar 1952 – Brookfield WI) lawyer, politician, first female Administrator of US Small Business Administration
Bunita Marcus (05 may 1952 – Madison WI) composer, lecturer, music coach, music writer, focus on partner / collaborator Martin Feldman’s music
Nancy Zieman (21 jun 1953 – 14 nov 2017 | Neenah WI – Beaver Dam WI) author, seamstress, Bells palsy awareness advocate, public television sewing show host / producer
Ellen D. Williams (05 dec 1953 – Oshkosh WI) scientist, researcher, focus on surface properties and nanotechnology
MaryAnn T. Lippert (21 dec 1953 – Marshfield WI) health educator, health administrator, former state politician, executive assistant to Secretary of Wisconsin Department of Children and Families
Nancy Ann Lange Kuczynski (20 jan 1954 – Rock Springs WI) former First Lady of Peru, civic / social activist, investment and marketing professional, first public act: organized march protesting violence against women
Karole Armitage (03 mar 1954 – Madison WI) dancer, choreographer, opera director, aka the Punk Ballerina, artistic director of Armitage Gone! Dance company
Greta Van Susteren (11 jun 1954 – Appleton WI) commentator, tv personality, Scientologist
Riki Ott (08 aug 1954 – Wisconsin US) nonfiction author, marine toxicologist, oil spill expert commentator
Mary La Chapelle (28 apr 1955 – Milwaukee WI) short story writer
Konstance K. Knox (14 oct 1955 – Wisconsin US) virologist, biotech entrepreneur, laboratory ecconomist, founded Viracor / Wisconsin Viral Research Group (WVRG) / Viracor’s Institute for Viral Pathogenesis (IVP), first US company to correlate multiple sclerosis (MS) with human herpesvirus (HHV-6)
Tonette Marie Tarentino Walker (19 oct 1955 – Milwaukee WI) social activist, First Lady of Wisconsin, trauma-education activist and advocate
Annie Laurie Gaylor (02 nov 1955 – Madison WI) editor, author, co-founder / co-president Freedom From Religion Foundation
Mary Williams Walsh (01 dec 1955 – Wausau WI) investigative journalist
Nancy B. Jackson (01 mar 1956 – Eau Claire WI) chemist, researches development of alternative fuels, chemical nonproliferation advocate / educator
Mona Elizabeth Jandali Simpson (14 jun 1957 – Green Bay WI) novelist, essayist, professor
Jackie Allen (19 feb 1959 – Milwaukee WI) jazz vocalist, composer, educator
Mary Patricia Burke (30 apr 1959 – Madison WI) politician, philanthropist, social activist
Beth Meyers (29 may 1959 – Bayfield WI) social worker, state politician
Amy McKenzie (02 aug 1959 – Appleton WI) actress, producer, director
Mary [M.] Rickert (11 dec 1959 – Port Washington WI) fantasy fiction author