Maine Women in History Rediscovering Their Lives and Legacies The first woman admitted to the Maine bar more than a century ago was a sharp-eyed Rockland resident who was just as comfortable hunting rabbits as she was in a courtroom. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define… Read More
While Maine’s notable men constructed the bones of a solid economy and government, its notable women added flesh in the forms of schools, hospitals, libraries, churches and community outreach. Neither could have existed without the other, and together the men and women of historic Maine have left today’s… Read More
Former Rep. and Sen. Margaret Chase Smith encouraged many of Maine’s female political leaders during her life, and her legacy continues to inspire women in leadership roles today. “I think Margaret Chase Smith paved the way for Olympia Snowe and for me to be in… Read More
Fannie Pearson Hardy was born June 18, 1865, in Brewer to Manly and Emmeline Freeman Hardy. Her father was a fur trader, and Fannie took numerous trips into the northern Maine woods with him. In these trips she first heard the folk tales and folk… Read More
Capt. Lincoln Alden Colcord and Jane French Sweetser Colcord, two newlyweds from Searsport, sailed the bark Charlotte A. Littlefield around the world. When they returned home three years later, they were parents of two children, Joanna “Nan” Carver Colcord, born in 1882 in the South Seas, and Lincoln… Read More
Cornelia Thurza “Fly Rod” Crosby (1854-1946) was a writer, hunter, outdoor enthusiast, publicity agent and precedent-setter. Fly Rod, as she was known in sporting journals and newspapers across the country, was the first registered guide in Maine, the first Maine woman to shoot a caribou, Maine’s first paid… Read More
The life of Penobscot Indian Molly Molasses began on the eve of the American Revolution. She was born in 1775, as she told it, in a canoe on Green Lake. This long sweep of water, located in the Union River valley just northwest of Ellsworth, is on the… Read More
It should be no surprise that Sarah Jane Farmer (1847-1916) did something special during her lifetime. Her father, Moses Gerrish Farmer (1820-1893) of Eliot, invented a fire alarm pull box, the design of which is still in use today. In 1847 he invented the first… Read More
From 1854 to 1875, Abbie Burgess Grant served as an assistant lighthouse keeper at Matinicus Rock Light Station on Matinicus Rock, an isolated, rocky island about 15 miles off the coast of Maine. Abbie Burgess was born in 1839 and moved to Matinicus Rock with… Read More
Maine Women in History Rediscovering Their Lives and Legacies Kate Furbish was born Catherine Furbish in Exeter, N.H., on May 19, 1834, to Benjamin and Mary Lane Furbish. When she was barely a year old, the family relocated to Brunswick, Maine, where she developed a… Read More
Maine Women in History Rediscovering Their Lives and Legacies The roster reads like a Who’s-Who of women’s literature: Edna St. Vincent Millay got her start in Midcoast Maine. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” during a three-year stint in Brunswick. And Sarah Orne Jewett… Read More
Maine Women in History Rediscovering Their Lives and Legacies Jane Jeffrey (later Ricker) was a British citizen who served as a nurse with the American Red Cross at a U.S. Army hospital in France during World War I. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
Mary Lane McMillan, an artist and illustrator, and her husband, George McMillan, a musician, established the McMillan School of Fine Arts Vacation School at their summer home in Rome, Maine. The home on Crystal Springs Camp Road was used during the 1920s and 1930s as a camp for… Read More
Maine Women in History Rediscovering Their Lives and Legacies Mary Caffrey Low was born March 22, 1850. In 1871, Low became the first female student to enter Colby College, and by 1873, had been joined by four more women. Her status prompted Colby College to… Read More
Florence Brooks Whitehouse was a leader in the women’s suffrage movement in Maine from 1913 to 1920. An early feminist, she supported many important social and political causes in addition to suffrage, including the “mother’s pension” – Social Security, fair labor laws, the Equal Rights… Read More
Maine Women in History Rediscovering Their Lives and Legacies The daughter of George and Henrietta Goodall, Marion C. Goodall was born in Sanford on May 24, 1875. She married William Henry Marland in 1903. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var… Read More
Mabel Antoinette Sine Wadsworth, a pioneer in the advancement of women’s health care and birth control in Maine, was 95 years old when she died at her Bangor home on Jan. 11, 2006. She was born Oct. 14, 1910, in Rochester, N.Y., one of six children of David… Read More
Maine Women in History Rediscovering Their Lives and Legacies Rebecca Clarke, considered American’s first writer for children because of the way she wrote for children and not for small adults, was born Feb. 22, 1833, in Norridgewock the daughter of Asa and Sophia (Bates) Clarke. Read More
Sculptor Louise Nevelson was born Leah Berliawsky in 1899 in Kiev, Russia, and moved with her family to Rockland in 1905, according to the Louise Nevelson Foundation Web site. She was married in 1920 and moved to New York City, where she lived until her death in 1988. Read More
It’s easy to drive right past the woodsy little roadside park in Hampden that marks the birthplace of Dorothea Dix. And perhaps that’s the way she’d want it. By all accounts, Dix was averse to publicity and during her lifetime turned down several opportunities to have her name… Read More
Maine Women in History Rediscovering Their Lives and Legacies Elizabeth Oakes Smith, the daughter of David and Sophia Prince, was born Aug. 12, 1806, in North Yarmouth, Maine. At 16, she married Seba Smith, 31, a Portland newspaper editor who is best known for his… Read More
Maine Women in History Rediscovering Their Lives and Legacies Lillian Nordica, born Lillian Norton on Dec. 12, 1857, in Farmington, was America’s first and most glamorous soprano opera singer to attain true international prominence. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var… Read More
Maine Women in History Rediscovering Their Lives and Legacies The woman most responsible for creation of the National Federation of Republican Women in 1937 was Marion E. Martin of Maine. In 1944 she estimated that she could mobilize 1 million Republican women through the clubs… Read More
Lillian Stevens, born Lillian Marilla (or Marion according to some sources) Nickerson Ames on March 1, 1844, in Dover, was concerned about many of the social issues of her time. Her parents, school teacher Nathaniel Ames and Nancy Fowler (Parsons) Ames, made sure their daughter had the religious… Read More
Maine Women in History Rediscovering Their Lives and Legacies Rachel Carson, writer, scientist, and ecologist, was born May 27, 1907, and grew up in the rural river town of Springdale, Pa. Her mother bequeathed to her a lifelong love of nature and the living world… Read More
Born Jessie Carolyn Dermot in Rockland in the late 1860s or early 1870s, Maxine Elliott traveled to many overseas destinations including Europe and India with her father, Capt. Thomas Dermot, as a child. She became interested in theater while a student at Notre Dame Academy,… Read More
Adelaide C. and Alan L. Bird, professor of history, will discuss the different ways people experienced and dealt with illness in the antebellum South through the research of Marli Weiner for her book “Defining the Body: Race, Sex and Place in the Antebellum South,” which is the first… Read More
Maine Women in History Rediscovering Their Lives and Legacies Sarah Sampson was one of several hundred women from Maine who volunteered to care for wounded and sick soldiers during the Civil War. There was no professional training, so she had to rely on her experience… Read More
Maine Women in History Rediscovering Their Lives and Legacies It is not unusual in 2008 to see women as corporate presidents, construction workers or high-profile politicians. The glass ceiling, for the most part, has been shattered. But how did we get here? Maine’s history is… Read More
Maine Women in History Rediscovering Their Lives and Legacies Miss Clara Stimson was called the Lumber Queen of Maine a century ago. She owned sawmills in Smyrna Mills, New Limerick and Ashland. She managed timberlands. Her success enabled her to build one of the finest… Read More
1. Fanny Hardy Eckstorm (with hat); circa 1900. Eckstorm (1865-1946); a Maine folklorist and writer; collected American Indian stories and legends and wrote about the Maine woods and woodsmen. One well-known work is “The Penobscot Man.” Courtesy of the Maine historical society googletag.cmd.push(function () {… Read More
Molly Nelson Archambuad, better known by her stage name Molly Spotted Elk, was a famous dancer and vaudeville star in the early 20th century. She was born Molly Alice Nelson on Nov. 17, 1903, on Indian Island. As a Penobscot Indian performer, Spotted Elk achieved fame for her… Read More
ORONO – Is there a Jewish mother in Jewish folklore? Dan Ben-Amos, a professor of folklore and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, will discuss his recent publication “Folktales of the Jews” from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 26, in the Bangor Room… Read More
About the series Editor: Julie Murchison Harris googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0] googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More