Women's History Month began with a week long "Women's History Week" in schools in California in 1978. This initiative eventually led to March being declared Women's History Month in March of 1987.
Here's a list of some of the notable topics from our area, focused on local women's history:
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America's Foremost Woman Architect, Born in Milton PA
In the late 1890s, Fay Kellogg was described as “the foremost woman architect in the United States”, and known for staying on the job site “until the last brick is laid and the last nail is driven.”. Her family left Milton after the great fire of 1880 (which destroyed the entire town), but Kellogg returned often to visit.
When A 28 Year Old Dancer From Williamsport, & A Groundhog, Died In A Flight For Science, 1932
Julia Collins
The Williamsport Woman Known As the First Black Woman to Publish A Novel, 1865
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"Twinkum, twunkum, twankum, twerry;
Here's a peach, and there's a cherry;
Here's an apple, and there's a pear;
Here's a monkey, there's a bear.
Twinkum, twunkum, twankum, twerry,
This is funny, ain't it? Very."
Mary Wiley Staver, of Jersey Shore Pa, published a book of childrens rhymes in 1891.
It was the first of two books published by Wiley, the second being a journal of her foreign travels, published in 1899.
See more of the books, and find where to read them online for free, here: https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2022/10/mary-wiley-straver-jersey-shore.html
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When The Women's Suffrage Bell Toured The Valley
Suffragette Kate Heffelfinger of Shamokin PA
Heffelfinger was one of the silent sentinels in the pickets targeting President Wilson in 1917, and took part in the hunger strike at Occoquan, before traveling on the "Prison Tour".
W.C.T.U. Drinking Fountains
The Women's Christian Temperance Union raised money to establish public drinking fountains in towns, including almost every town in our area, in an effort to provide an alterative to stopping into a tavern for a drink after a long journey.
The Legend Of The Widow Catherine Smith, White Deer Pa
A woman who helped the revolutionary cause with her boring mill, to make rifles, and then had her land & mills taken from her, even after walking barefoot to Philadelphia and back thirteen times to plead her case.
Mrs Bucknell Sailed On The Titanic, And Lived To Tell About It
Annie M. Snyder - Artist From Clinton County
Milton Silk Mill Worker Seeks $10,000 Husband
Mrs H.T. Smith of Hughesville accidentally swallowed the snap and wire of a suspender in 1895, and after years of suffering tuberculosis like symptoms, coughed up the debris in 1900.
Upon hearing of the condition of the Friends Meeting House & burial grounds in Catawissa, where her parents were buried, Miss Emma Walter moved to the town and took over the care and maintenance of the property. For 30 years, she was frequently the only one to attend the weekly meetings.
"Though naturally retiring, and of gentle disposition, Miss Walter did not hesitate when she found it necessary to obtain certain rights in her line of duty in a more or less public manner, and when she found she could not oust the intruders alone she went to the town council to state her grievances. She was given a courteous hearing and proper aid, and through her perseverance and untiring efforts the grounds were finally cleared of objectionable features."
Danville Morning News May 1913
Mrs. Louis Rhawn's Busy Day
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Esther McDowell was found in October of 1803 tied to a tree. Sheltered in the home of a local reverend, she told a story of a companion who robbed her while possessed by evil spirits. Actually, as it was later discovered, Esther had tired of her Quaker lifestyle, and ran off to work as a local tailor, while pretending to be a man. Tiring of her ruse, she faked the robbery and tied herself to a tree, waiting to be discovered.
Her story is told in
Otzinachson
A History of the West Branch Valley of the Susquehanna
By John Franklin Meginness · 1889
Read it here:
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Rachel Silverthorne's Ride
The Journal Of Marie LeRoy, Held Captive By Indians from 1755-1759
Margaret Junkin Preston, Poetress-Laureate of the South"
Born in Milton Pa.
"It is a matter of just pride that the most brilliant and beloved poetress of yesteryear was none other than a Pennsylvania girl, Margaret Junkin Preston, who through her writing both in prose and poetry, attained nation- wide distinction and won for her the title "Poetress-Laureate of the South". Frederick Godcharles, writing about Milton native, and sister in law of Stonewall Jackson, Margaret Junkin Preston.
Mrs. Margaret Dunham Survived A Scalping, and the surgery to repair her skull - in 1778.
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QUEEN ETTA, THE SENECA
LIFE AND VIOLENT DEATH OF A SOCIAL OUTCAST
1883
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The beautiful bridge between Watsontown is the Nurse Helen Fairchild bridge, in honor of a World War 1 nurse who died in France in 1917.
Eight years before the Salem Witch Trials, two women in Pennsylvania were tried for witchcraft.
Pennsylvania's Witch Trial
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Women In Business Feature, The Daily Item 1988
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