Civil War Women, Famous Firsts, First Ladies, Philanthropists

Harriet Lane

• Maggie

First Lady for Her Bachelor Uncle, James Buchanan Harriet Lane (1830-1903) was the niece of lifelong bachelor and 15th United States President James Buchanan. At age 26 she moved into the White House and acted as First Lady of the United States from 1857 to 1861, one of the few women to hold that position while not being married to the president. Known as the Democratic Queen, Lane was admired for her beauty and vivaciousness, and she used her position to advocate for better living conditions for Native Americans. Harriet Lane was born May 9, 1830 in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, the youngest child of merchant Elliott Tole Lane and Jane Ann Buchanan Lane. Harriet’s mother died when she was nine…

Read Article
Women in Education, Women in Religion

Elizabeth Ann Seton

• Maggie

Educator and Founder of the Sisters of Charity Elizabeth Seton (1774–1821) was the first native born American to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church (September 14, 1975). She established the first Catholic school in the nation at Emmitsburg, Maryland, where she founded the first American congregation of Religious Sisters, the Sisters of Charity. Her enduring legacy now includes six religious communities with more than 5,000 members, hundreds of schools, social service centers and hospitals throughout America and around the world. Image: Monument in St. Raymond’s Cemetery Bronx, New York Childhood and Early Years Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born on August 28, 1774, the second child of a socially prominent couple, Dr. Richard Bayley and Catherine Charlton of New York…

Read Article
Civil War Women, Famous Firsts, Feminists

Frances Willard

• Maggie

First Woman College President in the United States Frances Willard was an author, educator, public speaker, social reformer and suffragist. A pioneer in the temperance movement, Frances Willard is also remembered for her contributions to higher education. From the time she assumed presidency of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in 1879 until her death, Willard used her powerful position to pursue her broad vision for sweeping social reforms to benefit women, including women’s suffrage, women’s economic rights, as well as prison, education and labor reform. Willard captivated the imaginations and mobilized the sentiments of countless women. Her vision progressed to include federal aid to education, free school lunches, unions for workers, the eight-hour work day, work relief for the poor,…

Read Article
Poets and Writers, Women in Business, Women in Education

Lydia Sigourney

• Maggie

Poet, Author, Educator and Businesswoman Lydia Sigourney (1791–1865) was a popular poet, essayist and travel writer during the early and mid 19th century. Most of her works were published with just her married name Mrs. Sigourney. Her poetry, like her prose, was about public subjects – history, slavery, missionary work and current events – or treated personal matters, especially loss and death, as experiences common to all. In contrast to Emily Dickinson or Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sigourney wrote for popular consumption, and was among the first American women to establish a successful writing career. Childhood and Early Years Lydia Huntley was born in Norwich, Connecticut, on September 1, 1791, the only child of a gardener-handyman and his wife. Lydia’s commitments…

Read Article
Civil War Women, Women Artists

Lilly Martin Spencer

• Maggie

Portrait and Genre Artist of the Mid-19th Century Probably the most famous woman painter of her time, Lilly Martin Spencer was known for her sentimental scenes of family life. While living in New York City with her husband and children, she attended night classes at the National Academy of Design and supported her family through the sale of her art. Today she is acknowledged as one of America’s premier genre painters. Image: Self-portrait of the artist Angelique Marie Martin, nicknamed Lilly, was born on November 26, 1822 in Exeter, England, the only daughter of Gilles Marie Martin and Angelique Perrine LePetit Martin. Her parents had grown up in late eighteenth century France when women were first admitted to the French…

Read Article
Famous Mothers

Nancy Hanks Lincoln

• Maggie

Mother of Abraham Lincoln Judging from this painting of Nancy Hanks Lincoln by Lloyd Ostendorf, Lincoln did resemble his mother, who was described as being slender and about 5 foot 7 inches tall. Nancy Hanks Lincoln (1784-1818) was the mother of Abraham Lincoln (the 16th President of the United States) through her marriage to Thomas Lincoln. After more than ten years of marriage, the family moved from Kentucky to Spencer County, Indiana. When Abraham was nine years old, Nancy Lincoln died of milk sickness at the Little Pigeon Creek settlement. Actor, producer, writer and director Tom Hanks is her third cousin four times removed. Childhood and Early Years Nancy Hanks was born on February 5, 1784 in Campbell County, Virginia,…

Read Article
Civil War Women, Famous Firsts, Women Lawyers

Arabella Mansfield

• Maggie

First Woman Lawyer in the United States Arabella Mansfield (1846-1911) became America’s first woman lawyer when she was admitted to the Iowa bar in 1869. She was allowed to take the bar exam and passed with high scores, despite a state law restricting applicants to white males over the age of 21. Mansfield also became one of the first female college professors and administrators in the United States. She was born Belle Aurelia Babb on May 23, 1846 on a family farm in Burlington, Iowa, the second child of Mary Moyer and Miles Babb. Her older brother Washington Irving Babb was Arabella’s lifelong friend. While she was still young, her father Miles Babb left for California and the Gold Rush….

Read Article
Authors, Civil War Women

Ann Stephens

• Maggie

Writer and Magazine Editor in the Civil War Era During the mid-nineteenth century, Ann Stephens (1810-1886) enjoyed a long, lucrative career as one of America’s best known and most respected women writers. In addition to serving as editor for six popular magazines for more than twenty-six years, she wrote some forty-five works of fiction and manuals on the domestic arts. Stephens was one of the first generation of women to assert themselves as professional writers, entering the literary field for the sake of earning a living. Childhood and Early Years Ann Sophia Winterbotham was born on March 30, 1810 in Humphreysville, Connecticut, the daughter of Ann and John Winterbotham, manager of a woolen mill. Ann’s mother died when Ann was…

Read Article
American Women Editors, Feminists, First Women, Journalists, Poets and Writers

Margaret Fuller

• Maggie

America’s First True Feminist Author, editor, and journalist, Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) holds a distinctive place in the cultural life of the American Renaissance. Literary critic, editor, author, political activist and women’s rights advocate – she was also the first full-time American female book reviewer in journalism. Her book Woman in the Nineteenth Century is considered the first major feminist work in the United States. Her death at sea was a tragedy for her family and colleagues, and the loss of her many talents to womankind, then and now, is immeasurable. Childhood and Early Years On May 23, 1810, Sarah Margaret Fuller was the first-born child of Margarett Crane and Timothy Fuller, Jr. of Cambridgeport, Massachusetts. A lawyer and a Republican…

Read Article
Journalists, Women in Business

Hannah Watson

• Maggie

One of America’s Earliest Female Publishers In 1777 a fledgling nation of United States was emerging, and its patriots looked to their newspapers to keep them informed about the Revolutionary War. Boston papers had been shut down by the British, and in New York only Tory papers were being published. After her husband’s death Hannah Watson (1749-1807) assumed responsibility for publishing the Connecticut Courant, the oldest and largest newspaper in the colonies, becoming one of the first female publishers in Ameica.