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Part of the American
History & Genealogy Project |
Women in Business
Ella Maria Ballou 1852
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Miss Ballou was born in Wallingford, Vermont, November
15, 1852. She was educated in the Wallingford schools and
commenced life as a teacher, but finding the compensation for
women in this vocation so small, she took up the study of
shorthand and became so proficient that she went into the courts
and wrote evidence and arguments until she became noted among
attorneys, and in 1885, upon the numerous applications of the
Rutland County Bar, Judge W. G. Veazey in the Supreme Court of
that state appointed her Official Reporter of the Rutland County
Court. She was the first woman to hold such a position in the
state of Vermont, and it is believed, in the United States. She
has done some work in the line of literature, but her particular
claim to distinction is in the line of her profession.
Annie White Baxter 1864
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Mrs. Baxter was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on
the second of March, 1864. After graduating from the public
schools in 1882; she went to work as an assistant in the County
Clerk's office of Jasper County, Missouri. She performed these
duties with such satisfaction to everyone that in 1885 she was
appointed and sworn in as Deputy Clerk of the County Court, with
authority to affix the clerk's signature and the county seal to
all official documents, and performed other official acts. The
duties of this office embraced the tax levy and extension in a
county of five hundred thousand people, the custody, computation
and collection of interest on public school funds of over two
hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, keeping of the
accounts and making settlements with the State Treasurer, State
Auditor, County Treasurer, County Collector, and of the County
township officers entrusted with the collection and custody of
State and County revenues, the keeping of the records, and the
executing of the acts and orders of the County Court. She was
found equal to all of these arduous labors and demonstrated so
high a standard of mental ability, that she was soon appointed
and qualified as principal deputy. At the time of her marriage
in 1888, she withdrew from all public work, but owing to the ill
health of the County Clerk she was persuaded to again resume the
duties and in 1890 was nominated for County Clerk by the
Democrat County Convention and was elected in what had always
been a strong Republican district She was the first woman in the
United States elected by the people and qualified under the law
to fill the office of the Clerk of Court. Notwithstanding her
long occupancy of public office she is a modest; refined and
retiring woman, and has the respect and admiration of all those
who know her.
Mary Averill Harriman
Wife of the late Edward Henry Harriman, the great railroad
magnate. She takes a position among men through her ability as a
business woman. During her husband's life she was his constant
adviser and shared in all his great enterprises. He frequently
spoke of the regard which he had for her judgment and ability,
and after his death it was found that his will in a few simple
words had placed most of his great estate in her hands, and
directed that she should have control and management of more
than one hundred million dollars. Mrs. Harriman was the daughter
of a wealthy financier of Rochester, New York, and before her
marriage her name was Mary Averill. The management, not only of
this vast estate, is in the hands of Mrs. Harriman, but the
completion of their home at Arden, on the crest of the Ramapo
Hills, an estate half in New York and half in New Jersey, of
forty-six thousand acres. Mr. Harriman wished to give employ-ment
to the country people and he had laid out this estate on the
most extensive plans. This is being carried out in strict
accordance to his wishes. Mrs. Harriman is essentially a woman
of sound common sense and judgment. The tasks that confront her
she is handling with energy and courage. She is devoting much of
her time to the shaping of the career of her only son, Walter, a
student at Yale, whom his father had already apprenticed to the
railroad.
Ella Maynard Kelly 1857
~
Miss Ella Maynard Kelly was born in 1857 in Fremont, Ohio. She
began telegraphy at the age of fourteen, having been given
charge of a night office in Egg Harbor on the Lake Shore
Railroad. Here for four years she worked as a railroad operator
and was responsible for the safe running of the trains on that
road. Later, she was engaged in commercial telegraphy in
Atlantic City, N. J., Detroit, Michigan, and Washington, D. C,
and in the Western Union Office in Columbus, Ohio. She has won
unique rank as a woman distinguished in active telegraphy in the
United States, and had charge of the first wire of the
Associated Press circuit She was the first woman to use the
vibrator in the telegraph service.
Margaret V. Kelly
Miss Margaret V. Kelly holds a position in the office of the
Director of the Mint in the United States Treasury Department,
and draws one of the largest salaries paid a woman by the
government. She is third in rank in the big mint establishment
presided over by George E. Roberts. She has been for many years
in the office of the Director of the Mint, and recently
Secretary MacVeagh designated Miss Kelly as Acting Director in
the absence of Mr. Roberts and Mr. Preston. This is the first
time her position has been officially recognized, she being
placed on an absolutely equal footing with her chief.
Lucy Stedman Lamson
1857 ~
In defiance of the tradition of women's inefficiency in money
and business matters, the career of Miss Lucy Stedman Lamson
stands out as a woman educator and business woman. Born in
Albany, New York, June 19, 1857; in 1886 she was graduated from
the state normal school in Albany, New York, and in the
following years she studied with special teachers in New York
City. In September, 1888, she accepted a position in the Annie
Wright Seminary, Tacoma, Washington, but during 1888-89, much
excitement prevailed in regard to land speculations, and Miss
Lamson borrowed funds and purchased city lots, which she sold at
a large profit. In March, 1889, she filed a timber claim and a
pre-emption in Skamania County, Washington, and in June, at the
beginning of her summer vacation from school, she moved her
household goods to her pre-emption and, accompanied by a young
Norwegian woman, began the six months residence required by the
government to obtain the title to the land. Having complied with
the law and gained possession of the timber claim and
pre-emption, Miss Lamson sold both at an immense advantage,
investing the proceeds in real estate. On this as Tacoma
advanced, she also realized handsomely, and the home of this
shrewd business woman became one of the landmarks in that
prosperous western city.
Miss C. H. Lippincott
1860 ~
Was born September, 1860 at Mount Holly, New Jersey. In 1801 she
entered a new field for women, opening a seed business and
issuing a circular which in two years brought her twenty
thousand orders. She originated the plan of stating the number
of seeds contained in each packet, which compelled all prominent
seed houses to follow her example.
Mary D. Lowman 1842 ~
Was born January, 1842, in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. In 1866
she became the wife of George W. Lowman, and removed to Kansas.
In 1885 she served as Deputy Register of Deeds in Oskaloosa, and
was elected mayor of that city in 1888; with a Common Council
composed entirely of women and they were again re-elected in
1889. During her administration the city was freed from debt and
many public improvements were brought about.
Cassie Ward Mee 1848 ~
Much has been written in recent years of the relative rights and
wrongs of capital and labor. But there have been few people who
could discuss in private or from the platform these matters in
an unprejudiced way. Yet such a platform speaker was Mrs. Cassie
Ward Mee, labor champion. She was born in Kingston, Ontario,
Canada, October 16, 1848. Her parents and ancestors belonged to
the Society of Friends, and many of them were prominent
accredited ministers of the society. She came with her husband,
Charles Mee, to the United States in 1882 and settled in
Cortland, N. Y., where she gained considerable prominence by her
writings. She first appeared on the public platform in the cause
of temperance. It was in August, 1885, that she first spoke on
the labor question. On the twelfth of August, 1886, she
addressed ten thousand people on Boston Common, and she received
a splendid illuminated address from the Knights of Labor, in
token of their appreciation of an address made by her in March,
1887. After lecturing extensively among the miners of
Pennsylvania, she finally settled to her life work, which is the
education of the members of that powerful organization, "The
Knights of Labor."
Vivia A. Mowat
Mrs. Vivia A. Mowat deserves mention as one of the self-made
women of America. She has demonstrated her ability by the
success which she made of a small farm in the San Joaquin
Valley, California. On this she has grown the grapes which have
established for her a large raisin business. The women of this
valley are among the controllers of this product in our country.
Mrs. L. H. Plumb 1841 ~
Mrs. Plumb was born June 23, 1841, in Sand Lake, New York, but
has been a resident of Illinois since 1870. Her husband was a
prominent business man and politician of Illinois, at one time a
member of the Legislature of that State. Her husband's death
occurred in 1882; when Mrs. Plumb took the active management of
his large estate. She was elected vice-president of the Union
National Bank of Streator, Illinois, of which her husband had
been president for years. In 1890 she moved to Wheaton,
Illinois, to give greater advantages of education to her
children. Mrs. Plumb is a woman of liberal education, sound
business judgment, great tact and wade experience. In practical
affairs. She has always been one of the foremost workers for the
cause of Temperance in her state, being one of the charter
members and originators of the Temperance Hospital in Chicago,
Illinois.
Ida Hall Roby 1867 ~
Was born March 8, 1867, in Fairport, New York. She graduated
from the Illinois College of Pharmacy in the Northwestern
University of Evanston, Illinois. Her father's death occurred
one year before she graduated, which necessitated her providing
for her own support. Having a natural fondness for chemistry,
she held a position in a drug house for several years, then
started a pharmacy in Chicago, attending the college on
alternate days. She is the first woman to graduate from the
Pharmaceutical Department of that institution, and has won a
unique reputation as a successful woman in a line of business
generally left to man.
Ellen Alida Rose 1843
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Born June 17, 1843, in Champion, New York. In December,
1861, she married Alfred Rose, and in 1862 they moved to
Wisconsin, where her life has been spent on a farm near
Broadhead. She is one of the first and most active members of
the Grange. Through Mrs. Rose's efforts and the members of the
National Grange Organization, the anti-option bill was passed.
She was a prominent member of the Patrons of Industry and by her
voice and pen has done much to educate the farmers in the
prominent reforms of the day, in which the advancement of women
is one which has always claimed her first interest. Mrs. Rose
has been an active worker in the Woman's Suffrage Association,
and in 1888 was appointed District President of that
organization.
Mary Sophie Scott 1858
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Born October 17, 1858, in Freeport, Illinois. Her father Orestes
H. Wright was a native of Vermont, her mother, Mary M. Atkinson,
of England. In 1863 Miss Wright became the wife of Colonel John
Scott, of Nevada, Ohio. In 1875 she was invited to collect and
exhibit the work of Iowa women at the Centennial Exhibition at
Philadelphia. Later she performed a like service for the Cotton
Exposition in New Orleans. Her most useful work was the
publication of her book ''Indian Corn as Human Food.''
Ina Shepherd
Miss Ina Shepherd, of Birmingham, Alabama, is the only woman who
holds the place of secretary to a clearing-house association in
this country. She has held this position for the city of
Birmingham for over five years, handling the clearings of eight
banks, amounting to between ten and fifteen million dollars a
month. She is a fine musician and a most accomplished woman.
Jessie Waterhouse
Is president of the Women's Association of Retail Druggists.
Other officers are: Mary S. Cooper, Gertrude Gammon, Winifred B.
Woodrow.
Charlotte Fowler Wells
1814 ~
Born August 14, 1814, in Cohockton, New York. Her father, Horace
Fowler, was an able writer. Her brothers, O. S. and L. N. Fowler
were among the first to study and believe the doctrines of Gall
and Spuzsheim and to develop an interest in the science of
phrenology. Their sister Charlotte became deeply interested in
this subject, teaching the first class in phrenology in this
country, and joining her brothers in New York City they
established the Fowler-Wells Publishing House. O. S. Fowler
entered the lecture field, and L. N. Fowler established a branch
of their house in London, leaving Charlotte to manage the large
and complicated business in New York. In 1844 she became the
wife of Samuel R. Wells, one of the partners in their business.
On her husband's death, in 1875 she was left sole proprietor and
manager, and later when this business was made a stock company,
she was its president. She was vice-president and one of the
instructors of the American Institute of Phrenology, which was
incorporated in 1866. She was one of the founders and later one
of the trustees of the New York Medical College for Women, which
was founded in 1863.
Nettie L. White
Born near Syracuse, New York. She is descended from old
Revolutionary stock of Massachusetts. About 1876 she began her
first regular work with Henry G. Hayes, one of the corps of
stenographers with the House of Representatives, Washington, D.
C, at a time when very few women were engaged in practical
stenography in Washington. She was engaged in this work for
thirteen years. After several years of the most difficult work
in the Capitol, she desired to work as official stenographer for
one of the Congressional Committees and decided upon the
Committee on Military Affairs, of which General Rosecrans was
the chairman. Her first work was a report on heavy ordnance
which was being made to the committee by General Benet. When
finished her report was accepted by the committee, and she had
no further difficulties to overcome because she was a woman.
Miss White served with Clara Barton in the Red Cross work for
the relief of the flood sufferers in Johnstown, and while here
she received her appoint-ment to the Pension Bureau as an expert
workman gained through civil service examination.
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.
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