Part of the American History & Genealogy Project

Women Educators Adams to Lord

Jane Kelley Adams 1852 ~
Was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, October 13, 1852. She has always been active in the educational work of her city and state. Was one of the founders of the Woburn Home for Aged Women, president of many clubs and societies, and chairman of the Equal Suffrage League. Was president of the school board and is active among the various societies of college women in the cities near Boston.

Sarah Louise Arnold 1859 ~ 1942
Born in Abington, Massachusetts, February 15, 1859. Daughter of Jonathan and Abigail Noyes Arnold. Taught in the public schools of Massachusetts, New York and Minneapolis. Dean of Simmons College since 1902. Author of books for teachers, "Stepping Stones to Literature," "Reading: How to Teach It," "Waymarks for Teachers."

Catherine Esther Beecher 1800 ~ 1878
Author and educator. Was born in Easthampton, Long Island, September 6, 1800 and died in Elmira, New York, May 12, 1878. She was the oldest child of Lyman B. and Roxanna Foote Beecher. Her early education was received from her mother and a devoted aunt. When but nine years of age her parents removed to Litchfield, Conn. She early began to write and was a frequent contributor to the Christian Spectator under the initials C. D. D. Some of her poems interested one of the young professors of mathematics In Yale College, whom she later married. Her life was greatly saddened by his death. He perished in a storm off the Irish coast. She opened, with her sister, a select school in Hartford, Conn. Soon it became a question for the proper housing of the many students which applied for admission and her friends of Hartford assisted her in the purchase of the land and the erection of the buildings for the Hartford Female Seminary. Miss Beecher became its principal and they opened with a corps of eight assistant teachers. One of her writings "Suggestions on Education" attracted attention and brought additional interest in the Hartford Seminary. She wrote an arithmetic which she used as one of her own text-books; also a text-book, 'The Mental Philosopher." Later when her health broke down, she and her sister removed to Cincinnati and opened a school. Her later years she devoted to authorship and has written quite a good many books on domestic economy and other subjects, which are used as text-books in schools.

Elizabeth Powell Bond 1841 ~ 1926
Mrs. Bond was born in Clinton, New York, January 25, 1841. Is dean of Swarthmore College. Daughter of Townsend and Catherine Macy Powell. Her mother was a descendant of the "Goodman Macy" of whom Whittier writes. In 1660, he was driven from his home on the mainland to the Island of Nantucket. Mr. and Mrs. Powell made their home at Ghent, New York, and here Elizabeth spent her youth. She commenced her work as a teacher when but fifteen years of age in a Friends' school in Dutchess County. She taught in the different schools of the neighborhood, and at one time had a school in the home of her parents. She was connected with the abolition movement and the work done by the anti-slavery leaders. She taught gymnastics in Boston, and was in 1865 appointed instructor of gymnastics in Vassar College. About 1866, Miss Powell married Henry H. Bond, a lawyer of Northampton, and with him edited the Northampton Journal. After her husband's death in 1881, she returned to Florence, Massachusetts, and devoted herself to the education of her son, gathering about her a class of children. Later she accepted the position of matron in Swarthmore College, and in 1891, that of dean of this well-known school. She has written tracts on social purity, and has lectured quite extensively.

Nina Eliza Browne 1860 ~
Born at Erving; Massachusetts, October 6, 1860. Daughter of Charles Theodore and Nancy Smith Brown. Assistant librarian of the Columbia University Library, New York, also the State Library; librarian of the Library Bureau, Boston, in 1893; assistant secretary, then secretary, of the publishing board of the American Library Association, and the Massachusetts Free Public Library Commission. Is a compiler and bibliographer of Hawthorne; editor of the catalogue of graduates and non-graduates of Smith College.

Clara Bradley Burdett 1855 ~
College woman and active worker in women's club organizations, and federations, and in philanthropic work. First president of the California Federation of Women's Clubs, and first vice-president of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. Was the builder and donor of the Pasadena Maternity Hospital, trustee of the Polytechnic Institute of Pasadena, California, vice-president of the finance committee of the Auditorium Company, Los Angeles; member of the Social Science Society, Archaeological Institute of America, and National Geographic Society. Lectures on educational and social questions. She was born in Bloomfield, New York, July 22, 1855. Daughter of Albert H. and Laura C. Bradley. Married N. Milman Wheeler Burdett in 1878.

Ella Lyman Cabot 1866 ~ 1934
Born in Boston. Daughter of Arthur Theodore and Ella Lowell Lyman. Graduated from Harvard College in 1904, and took a special course in logic and metaphysics. Married in 1894 to Richard Clark Cabot Teacher of ethics in private schools and member of the State Board of Education, many reform associations, council of Radcliffe College, Massachusetts Society Civic League and German Educational Department of the Boston Woman's Municipal League. Has written books entitled "Every-Day Ethics," 'Teachers' Manual of Ethical Training," and other educational works.

Luella Clay Carson 1888 ~ 1909
Miss Carson was born in Portland, Oregon, March 12, 1856. Is the daughter of John Crosthwaite and Elizabeth Talbot Carson. Graduated from one of the private schools of Portland, receiving a state diploma in 1888 and a life diploma in 1890. Studied in Boston at one of the schools of expression of that city; Harvard College; University of Chicago; University of California, and Cambridge, England. Was preceptress of the Taulatin Academy and Pacific University; vice-president of the Couch School, Portland, Oregon; professor of rhetoric and elocution, English literature, American literature, and dean of women of the University of Oregon; president of Mills College, California since 1909. Is the author of "Public School Libraries," and "A Reference Library for Teachers of English,' "Handbook of English Composition," and is one of the conspicuous educators of the country.

Eleanor Colgan
Enjoys the distinction of having had conferred upon her by the Pope, for her excellent work among the Italian children of this country, the order of Knighthood of the Church and the Papacy, and is the first woman in America entitled to wear the gold cross of the order. She is an instructor in the Brooklyn Training School for Teachers.

Katherine Coman 1857 ~ 1915
Born at Newark, Ohio. November 23, 1857. Daughter of Levi P. and Martha Seymour Coman. Was professor of economics since 1900 at Wellesley College; author of "The Growth of the English Nation." "History of England," "History of England for Beginners" "Industrial History of the United States" and other books.

Mary Bernardine Corr
Was born October 3, 1858 in Dubuque, Iowa. Is a teacher in the Boston Grammar and Normal Schools, and is a contributor to the Sacred Heart Review and Donahoe's Magazine.

Mary Isabel Cramsie 1844 ~
Was born in Friendsville, Pennsylvania, May 5, 1844. President for ten years of the Sacred Thirst Total Abstinence Society. Superintendent of the Catholic division, Newsboys' Sunday School for some years; secretary of the Diocesan Union for many years, and organized one of the first total abstinence societies for boys and girls under twenty years of age. Is the author of poems and has written for the Catholic World, the Northwestern Chronicle and local newspapers.

Sarah Platt Decker 1922 ~ 1908
President of the Woman's College of Denver and ex-president of the General Federation of Woman's Clubs. One of the most important women in the country.

Mary Lowe Dickinson 1839 ~ 1914

Katherine Elizabeth Dopp 1863 ~ 1944
Born at Belmont, Wisconsin, March 1, 1863. Daughter of William Daniel and Janet Moyes Dopp. Student of the schools of Wisconsin and of the University of Chicago. Principal and teacher in several of the normal schools of Wisconsin and Illinois. Principal of the Training Department of the State Normal School, Madison, South Dakota, in 1896, and of the training department of the Normal School of the University of Utah in 1898. Instructor in Correspondence Study Department of Philosophy since 1902; lecturer in Educational Extension Division since 1894 of the University of Chicago. Has written several educational works, industrial and social histories, The Tree Dwellers," "The Early Cave Men," and "The Later Cave Men," articles and reviews in educational and sociology journals.

Mary Hickey Dowd 1866 ~
Was born at Manchester, New Hampshire, January 22, 1866. Daughter of John and Mary Joy Hickey, and in 1889 married Dr. John F. Dowd. Taught in the public schools of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Delivered lectures on her travels in England. Associate editor of the Guidon for years, and author of "Life of Rt Rev. Denis Bradley." Contributor to the various Catholic journals.

Mother Katherine Drexel 1858 ~ 1955
Daughter of Francis A. Drexel of the well-known Philadelphia family. She early became interested in the welfare of the Indians and Negroes, and through Bishop O'Connor of Omaha she was lead to the founding of the community for these people and became its first superioress. She was for a while with the Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburgh, but gave her entire fortune to the new order which she had founded. The first novitiate of this order was located temporarily at the Drexel homestead at Torresdale, Pennsylvania, and she established also a boarding school and home for colored children at St. Elizabeth's, Cornwells, in 1892, and a boarding school for Pueblo Indians in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1894; an industrial boarding school for colored girls at Rock Castle, Virginia, in 1899; a boarding school for Navajo Indians in Arizona, in 1903, and an academy for the higher education of colored girls in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1905, with a preparatory annex school in 1906, and a day school for colored children at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The order which Mrs. Drexel established is known as the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, of which she is at present superioress.

Sister Mary Julia (Elizabeth Ann Dullea) 1866 ~
Was born April 8, 1886, in Boltonville, Wisconsin. Her father and mother were natives of Ireland. Sister Julia has spent her life in teaching in Catholic schools. Is a writer of prose and poetry. She is an accomplished musician and linguist. Is very active in work for children, especially in the advancement of their physical, mental, and spiritual interests.

Mary Frances Farnham 1895 ~ 1943

Florence Amanda Fensham 1861 ~ 1912
Bora in East Douglass, Massachusetts, May 35, 1861. Daughter of Hon. John and Sarah Alice Fensham. Student of the Chicago Theological Seminary, Mansfield College, and at Oxford and Cambridge, England and Edinburgh. Teacher in the American College for Girls in Coustan, Turkey, in 1893. Was professor of Biblical literature and dean until 1905, and instructor in Christian Instruction of the Chicago Theological Seminary in Chicago from 1906 to 1909 and dean of the training school for women in Chicago since October, 1909.

Virginia C. Gildersleeve 1877 ~ 1965
Virginia C. Gildersleeve was born in New York City, October 5, 1877, and prepared for college at the Briarly School, and graduated from Barnard College in 1899. In 1900 she received the degree of A.M. from Columbia University, and that of Ph.D. in 1908. During the years from 1900 to 1907, and from 1908 to 1910, she was instructor in the department of English, Barnard College, Columbia University. In 1910 she was promoted to the rank of assistant professor of English, and in 1911 made dean of the College. Virginia C. Gildersleeve is the author of ''Government Regulations of the Elizabethan Drama" and has contributed articles to several of the leading magazines.

Mother Irene (Lucy M. T. Gill) 1858 ~
Was born in Galway, Ireland, March, 1858. Her father, Joshua Paul Gill, was secretary of the Galway branch of the Bank of Ireland, and came to this country in 1864. In 1876 Miss Gill entered the Ursuline Convent and was later transferred to the Convent of St. Teresa, New York City, where for twelve years she was teacher and principal of the parish school. From this school many of the teachers in the public schools in New York City have graduated. In 1893 she was made superior of the community and established the Normal School at Teresa's Academy.

Eliza Maria Gillespie 1824 ~ 1887

Helena Theresa Francesca Goessmann
Daughter of Charles. Anthony Goessmann, the well-known scientist. Was born at Syracuse, New York. Received degrees from the Ohio University. Was the organizer and first president of the Woman's Auxiliary Catholic Summer School, Cliff Haven, New York. Head of the department of history, Notre Dame College, Baltimore, from 1897 to 1899; head of the department of Catholic higher education, New York, from 1904 to 1907. Has lectured in the United School of New Orleans and the Summer Catholic Schools, and lectured before non-sectarian organizations on education and culture in New England. She has written a number of songs and books on philanthropic Christianity. Contributor to the press and magazines of the United States, but is known principally through her lectures. After her father's death, she was elected professor of English in the State College of Massachusetts, at Amherst

Ellen Hayes 1851 ~ 1930
Bora in Granville, Ohio. September 23, 1851. Daughter of Charles C and Ruth Wolcott Hayes. Was lecturer and writer on astronomy and other subjects; professor of mathematics, applied mathematics and astronomy since 1904 of Wellesley College. Author of "Elementary Trigonometry,' "Algebra." "Calculus with Applications,' etc.

Caroline Hazard 1856 ~ 1945

Rev. Mother Mary Agnes Hines
Was born in Avon, New York. Is of French and German ancestry. In 1869 she entered the Order of the Sisters of St. Joseph, in Rochester, New York, being received into the order in 1871. She is a woman of most remarkable character, notable business ability, and a great talent for art. She was made assistant superior in 1882. Through her active efforts the Nazareth Convent and Mother House, and the academy were gradually enlarged; a Nazareth Normal School the community's house of studies, was erected.
The Nazareth Hall and Preparatory School for boys under twelve years of age, the St. Agnes Conservatory of Music and Art, the Home for the Aged, and St Joseph's Hospital in Elmira, all owe their existence to Mother Agnes' untiring efforts and interest in the cause of education. The schools of this sisterhood are under the regents of the University of New York, and many of their teachers have had their course of instruction in the art centers of Europe.

Amy Morris Homans 1848 ~
Born at Vassalboro, November 15, 1848. Daughter of Harrison and Sarah Bliss Bradley Homans. Prominent educator. Principal of the Hemenway School and McRae and Chadbourn private school; in charge of the educational work founded by the late Mrs. Mary Hemenway from 1877 to 1909. Organized and directed the Boston Normal School of Household Arts, Boston School of Gymnastics; director of Hygiene and Physical Education in Wellesley College since 1909.

Matilda Theresa Karnes
Was born in Rochester, New York. Daughter of James Kames of Middleton, England, and his wife, Ellen Brady, a native of Ireland. She taught industrial drawing and later astronomy, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and is head teacher of the mathematical department in the high schools of Buffalo, New York. For many years Miss Kames' classes in English composition have won the medals offered by the Sons of the Revolution for original essays on Revolutionary subjects. Miss Kames is the first vice-president of the Buffalo Women's Civil Service Reform Association, a subject to which she has given much study. Also on the committee of the Buffalo Humane Society. Is president of the Catholic Women's Saturday Afternoon Club a literary, musical, and social organization of the Catholic women of Buffalo.

Lucy Ann Kidd 1839 ~ 1916
Mrs. Lucy Ann Kidd was born June 11, 1839, in Nelson County, Kentucky. Her father, Willis Strather Thornton, was a descendant of an old English family and one of the early residents of Virginia. She was at one time president of the North Texas Female College, in Sherman, Texas, being the first woman in the South to hold such a position.

Mary Elizabeth Litchfield 1854
Born at Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, May 9, 1854. Daughter of Lawrence and Sarah Minot Litchfield. Author of 'The Nine Worlds; Stories from Norse Mythology."

Sarah F. Coles Little 1838 ~
Was born March 6, 1838, in Oberlin, Ohio. Daughter of Professor Henry Coles of Oberlin Theological Seminary. Her mother, Alice Welsh, a woman of superior character and education, was for several years principal of the ladies' department of Oberlin College. Her education was obtained in Oberlin, from which college she graduated in 1859, with the degree of B.A. After graduating she taught school for several years. In 1861 she was principal teacher in the Wisconsin School for the Blind at Janesville, Wisconsin, of which Thomas H. Little was superintendent. In 1862 Mr. Little and Miss Coles were married. On the death of her husband in February, 1875, Mrs. Little was chosen by the board of trustees as his successor. At this time no other woman in the United States was in charge of so important an institution as the Wisconsin School for the Blind, and during her superintendency it was one of the best managed institutions of the country, and Mrs. Little is recognized as a leading educational authority in this particular line of work. Mrs. Little was a zealous Christian and thorough Bible student. One of her daughters was a missionary, and on the opening of the Oberlin Home for Missionary Children in 1892, Mrs. Little assumed charge. In this school the children of missionaries are educated.

Eleanor Louise Lord
Miss Lord, dean (1907) of the Goucher College, a girls' educational institution of Baltimore, Maryland, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Clay Lord, of Maiden, Massachusetts. She is a graduate of Smith College, and was at one time a teacher there. She pursued a course of study at Cambridge University, England, and was the holder of a scholarship given by the Boston Women's Educational and Industrial Union in 1894. She received in 1898, at Bryn Mawr College, the Ph.D. degree. Miss Lord was for four years a professor at the Goucher College. She is a member of the American Historical Association and the author of several valuable historical works. As a college educator, trained especially in the needs and essentials which aid the modern education of the girl. Miss Lord has had an experience which admirably fits her for the position which she now holds.

Elizabeth W. Russell Lord 1819 ~
Was born in Kirtland, Ohio, April 28, 1819. Her parents were natives of Massachusetts and prominent among the early settlers of the Western Reserve. She was a student of Oberlin College, and in 1842 became the wife of Asa D. Lord, M.D. In 1847 Dr. Lord removed to Columbus, Ohio, and established the first graded school in that state, and Mrs. Lord was the first principal of the first high school, to be opened in Ohio. Dr. Lord later assumed charge of the Institution for the Blind, a work in which he was greatly interested. In 1868 he was induced to go to New York State to organize the State Institution for the Blind. Mrs. Lord aided her husband in all this work, and met with great success in teaching the adult blind to read. It is believed she has taught more blind persons to read than any other teacher in the country, probably in the world. On the death of Dr. Lord in 1875, Mrs. Lord was unanimously made superintendent of the institution which Dr. Lord had so successfully organized. Later Mrs. Lord became assistant principal of the women's department of Oberlin College, which position she has held for some years. She has given liberally from her means for all charitable and educational institutions. Her best gift was that in 1890 of $10,000 to Oberlin College, to build, with the aid of other friends, the "Lord Cottage" for the accommodation of young women. Mrs. Lord may be regarded as one of the noble women of America.

Mary Lyon 1797 ~ 1849

Women Educators Martin to Young

Women of America

Source: The Part Taken by Women in American History, By Mrs. John A. Logan, Published by The Perry-Nalle Publishing Company, Wilmington, Delaware, 1912.