Helen Keller was an author, lecturer, and crusader for the handicapped. Born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, She lost her sight and hearing at the age of nineteen months to an illness now believed to have been scarlet fever. Join us at The Lives of Women in History Facebook group. Email womensettlers@gmail.com
Sarah Jane Woodson Early was an African American educator, author, and feminist. For 30 years she was a teacher and school principal in Ohio, and in the South after the Civil War. In 1866 she became the first African American woman professor when she was hired by Wilberforce University to teach Latin and English. email womensettlers@gmail.com Join our Facebook group The Lives of Women in History
Minna Canth was a Finnish writer and social activist. She began to write as a widow raising seven children. Her work addressed issues of women's rights and gender equality, particularly in the context of a prevailing culture she considered against permitting the expression and realization of women's aspirations. The Worker's Wife and The Pastor's Family are two of her best-known plays, but the play Anna Liisa was the most adapted to the films and operas. In her time, she became a controversial f...
Elizabeth Murray was born in Scotland and orphaned by the time she was 11. She eventually moved to the American Colonies and later became an independent business woman running her own shop in 18th Century Boston. She survived the turmoil of the American Revolution all while teaching young women how to run their own businesses. Join us on Facebook at The Lives of Women in HIstory Facebook group. Email womensettlers@gmail.com.
As a small child, she was stolen from her home. Placed aboard a dank, dark, disease-infested ship and chained to stranges for months. Somehow she managed to survive the journey. The young nameless girl, missing her two front teeth, was purchased by the Wheatley family and given the name of Phillis. The Wheatleys soon discovered how bright the little girl was and decided to educate her. She grew into an amazing Poet at a time when women and especially enslaved black women were seen as inferior an...
Mary Church was born to enslaved parents in 1863. Her mother and father both had white fathers who took interest in their lives and made sure they were educated. The family was eventually free of their bondage and went on to be business owners and gain significant wealth. Mary attended unsegregated schools and eventually went to college and graduated with both bachelor's and master's degrees. She started her career as a teacher and eventually became an activist for both racial equality and women...
Kate Bender gained a reputation as an attractive but dangerous woman in her Labette County community. Living with her mother, father, and brother while helping them run an isolated grocery and roadhouse she felt somewhat like an alien. She was the only one to culture social skills. It was even said that she had an alleged gift for second sight and spiritualism and distributed advertising circulars throughout the county proclaiming her abilities. Her enduring fame wouldn't come from her supposed ...
Happy Halloween. In this episode, we discuss the history of some of the witch trials and the self-proclaimed Witchfinder General Mathew Hopkins! along with a quick bonus of Faries, brownies, and Hobgoblins.
Ann Hutchinson was an influential Puritan spiritual leader in colonial New England who challenged the religious doctrines of her time. She was one of the earliest American feminists. She challenged male authority and this indirectly challenged gender roles. She preached to both women and men and questioned Puritan teachings about salvation.
Young Martha Canary had a rough early life and didn't make things easier on herself as she grew into womanhood. She traveled from place to place looking for somewhere that she could call home. She quickly found that she preferred men's work to women's work and forgetting was in a bottle. She tried to be respectable but after years of living a life as Calamity Jane, it was hard to settle down and change. She had a heart of gold and a soul meant to wonder. Join the conversation in The Lives of Wom...
Pocahontas was the daughter of Chief Powhatan. She was around 11 years old when the English came from England to try and build a colony they would call Jamestown. Many myths surround the short life of Pocahontas, and many if not most of them are due to John Smith. In this episode of The Lives of Women in History I do my best to factually tell the story of this young Powhatan woman and how she came to be such an essential part of Native American history. In this episode kidnapping and rape are me...
Etta Place was the love interest of Harry Longabaugh aka the Sundance Kid. She was and where she was from is a mystery to this day. The P inkerton Detective Agency described her, in 1906, as having, "classic good looks, 27 or 28 years old, 5'4" to 5'5" [163–165 cm] in height, weighing between 110 and 115 lb [50 and 52 kg], with a medium build and brown hair." Join the conversation in The Lives of Women in History Facebook group. Eamil at womensettlers@gmail.com. Twitter @womensettlers...
Delta Moore, aka, Annie Rogers, was a soiled dove in Hell's Half Acre, in a brothel owned by Fanny Porter. This short episode tells all that we know about Annie. A well-read, intelligent, beautiful woman who kept the company of a brutal outlaw. Join The Lives of WOmen In History Facebook group or send me an email at womensettlers@gmail.com Follow on Twitter @womensetlers
Laura Bullion was born in Texas in 1876. Her father was an outlaw who died too soon and her mother was a wild lady who like to live it up with random boyfriends. Often dropped on the doorstep of her maternal grandparents Laura learned to fend for herself. Finding love in the arms of two infamous outlaws. Join the discussion on Facebook in the Group The LIves Of Women In History or email comments or suggestions to womensettlers@gmail.com.
Only half of the Donner-Reed party survived that horrible winter at Truckee Lake and Alder Creek and most of them were women and girls. Those that did survive went on to create a good life for themself in California. Most achieved their goals and obtained land, opportunities, and prosperity. That horrible winter shadowed them and made them famous insofar as fame existed at that time. Still, they did not let it rule their lives. Each survivor had their own life to live and outside of their family...
James Reed and Aquilla Glover each lead a rescue team into the deeply snow-covered mountains in hopes of rescuing the remaining pioneers. For many, it was too late but for the survivors, the rescue parties were a sight for weary eyes. The pioneers at Truckee Lake and Alder Creek had both reached the deepest darkest depths of desperation and given in to the last resort of cannibalism. James Reed was reunited with his family and thankful they were all still alive. Episode Cover Art: Tamsen Donner...
Forlorn Hope has left the Donner-Reed party 15 strong, 5 women and 10 men. They had enough scraps of food to last 5 days which is what they estimated it would take to reach help. 30 days later they were down to 5 women and 2 men and had resorted to acts of cannibalism. Cover photo is
The Donner and Reed parties find themselves trapped near Truckee Lake. It is only November but winter snow has come early and trapped the pioneers in what can only be called hell. Freezing and starving the families struggle to survive while clinging o the hope that a rescue party is not too far away. A group of pioneers known as Forlorn Hope take the chance and go for help. Off in the distance, the Paiute quietly watches in fear as the white settlers face death and an uncertain future. Cover Art...
James Reed has been banished from the group and had to leave his wife and children in the care of the others in the Donner Party. Just when the group thinks things are about to get better it starts all over again. Teachers desserts to traverse with no food or water. Then steep rocky mountains put the pioneers into even more danger. The snow begins to fall and the Donner-Reed party is trapped.
The Donner Party has fallen even more behind. As summer begins to fade into fall and the worry of winter quickly approaches the pioneers know they need to move fast. They continue to follow the directions of Lansford Hastings and find themselves in the middle of the Great Salt Lake Desert with no water and little hope of making it out alive. Tempers flair and James Reed is banished from the group to find his own way to California.
James Reed insists on taking the Hastings cutoff when most everyone is warning him not to. The party faces weeks of hardship traveling a path that no one knows and following the advice of a man who himself had not traveled the so-called shortcut.
The Donner and Reed families have made it to Independence, Missouri. they joined a larger wagon train for safety and continued traveling west. Passing large landmarks like Courthouse Rock, Scott's Bluff, and Independence Rock they made it Fort Laramie.
Meet James Reed and his family and George Donner and his family, plus several other families and hired hands as they prepare to travel 2500 miles across the country to California. The journey is full of excitement and danger. We will watch through the eyes of soon-to-be 13-year-old Virginia Reed as the families find themselves hopelessly lost in the Snow-covered land.
Pearl Starr Reed moves to Arizona where she makes the decision to find and write her daughter Mamie (Flossie Pearl). A year after meeting her daughter that was given up for adoption Pearl dies.
We now transition to the life of the beloved daughter of Belle Starr Pearl Reed. After her mother's death, Pearl moved to Arkansas to look for work. With limited options for employment Pearl found success. She owned and operated her own business, bought property, was married three times, and gave birth to three children.
In part 5 of the series on Belle Starr, we learn of Pearl Reed's pregnancy and she quickly is pressured into marrying a much older man whom she has no interest in. Sam and Belle Starr serve a year in prison for horse theft. Sam Starr is killed on Christmas Eve and Belle wastes no time marrying a much younger man named Jim July whose name she refuses to take. Belle becomes concerned that someone she knows is going to try and kill her.
Welcome to Part 4 of the Belle Starr series. I hope you are enjoying this extended biography. In this episode, Belle travels to Kansas border towns racing horses. She meets and marries Bruce Younger and three weeks later moves to Indian Territory and goes from being Bellel Reed to Belle Younger to the legendary Belle Starr. Also during this time the infamous hanging judge Issac Parker takes the bench in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
We continue the story of Belle Starr. Belle and her husband Jim moved to California hoping to hide out and start a new life. But Jim is soon recognized and heads back to Indian Territory to hide out. Belle follows and goes back to business as usual in Dallas and Scyene.
We continue our multi-episode series on Belle Starr. In this episode, Belle marries Jim Reed and she gives birth to her daughter Pearl.
Myra Maybelle Shirley was born on February 5, 1848, in Carthage, Missouri. She was well educated and grew up in a family of SOuthern sympathizers and supporters of Slavery. She eventually found her way to a life of petty crime, or really more like she just befriended a crowd of criminals. Over the next few episodes, we will learn about the life of Belle Starr and then her daughter Pearl.
