A Timeline of Trailblazing Women
Photograph: Lucy Nicole Poolaw; Collections of Maine Historical Society, MaineMemory.net item #105027
It’s no doubt that Maine is, and has been home to some amazingly fierce females. The following articles highlight an assortment of astonishing Maine women and the many outstanding achievements they have accomplished.
Dorothea Dix
1802-1887, Hampden
Advocate, lobbyist, teacher, writer
Dorothea Dix began teaching at a school for girls at age fourteen. Before she was twenty, she had opened her own school in Boston. Dorothea suffered from debilitating depression, which eventually led to her leaving the teaching field. During a visit to Europe, she was introduced to the idea that the government should play an active role in social welfare. She went on to aggressively and tirelessly lobby the United States government to improve the care of the mentally ill. Dix is credited with creating the first generation of American public mental asylums.
Elizabeth Oakes Prince Smith
1806-1893, North Yarmouth
Poet, fiction writer, editor, lecturer, women's rights activist
Elizabeth Oakes Prince Smith is best known for her feminist writings, including a series of essays published in the New York Tribune called ‘Woman and Her Needs.’ Elizabeth also wrote the first woman’s account of an ascent of Mount Katahdin’s Pamola peak. About her September 26, 1849 hike, she wrote, "The view from the summit of Katahdin is indeed sublime [...] and the prevailing impression from Mt. Katahdin is one of immense and desolate grandeur.”
Harriet Beecher Stowe
1811-1896, Brunswick
Author, abolitionist
Raised in a deeply religious family, Harriet Beecher Stowe received a rare formal education at the Hartford Female Seminary. In her early twenties, she witnessed the Cincinnati Race Riots of 1829 and the Lane Debates on Slavery. Both significantly influenced her fierce opposition to slavery. The Stowe’s home in Brunswick was part of the Underground Railroad, and it was there she wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The book depicted the inhumane conditions of slavery, invigorating abolitionists in the north and enraging proponents of slavery in the south. In its first year, Stowe’s book sold over 300,000 copies, a remarkable number for the time.
Theodora Sarah Orne Jewett
1849-1909, born in South Berwick
Novelist, short story writer, poet
Sarah Orne Jewett was a leader in the style of American literary regionalism, a writing genre in which setting and local details play an important role. She is best known for her stories set on the southern coast of Maine and for her descriptive writing that brought the voices of women to life. In 1901, Jewett became the first woman to be granted an honorary degree by Bowdoin College.
Catherine Furbish
1834-1931, Brunswick
Botanist, scientist, illustrator
As a child, Catherine 'Kate’ Furbish was introduced to the Maine woods by her father who took her on long walks and pointed out local flora. Kate studied painting and drawing in Portland, Boston, and Paris and attended George L. Goodale’s botany lectures in Boston. After inheriting money upon her father’s death, she set about collecting, classifying, and illustrating Maine’s native plants. Kate traveled over thousands of miles throughout the state, often through untouched wilderness and usually alone. She discovered two plants that bear her name: Pedicularis furbishiae (Furbish lousewort) and Aster cordifolius.
Cornelia ‘Fly Rod’ Crosby
1854-1946, Rangeley Lakes
Outsoorswoman, writer, angler, hunter
An early bout of tuberculosis left Cornelia Crosby in poor health for much of her young life. After a particularly bad lung ailment, she went to the foot of Mount Blue to spend her final days outside. Not only did she recover, she caught her first trout. Cornelia began writing a popular column promoting Maine’s outdoor sports, attracting thousands of new tourists to the state and earning her the nickname Fly Rod. She was an early advocate of catch and release fishing, and when Maine began requiring hunting and fishing guides to register with the state, Fly Rod was given the first registered Maine Guide license. She is credited with coining the Maine promotional tagline: The Nation’s Playground.
Abbie ‘Gail’ Hill Laughlin
1868-1952, Portland
Lawyer, suffragist, politician, writer
Upon graduating Portland High School with honors (and the best grades of all females in her class,) Gail was offered a partial scholarship to Colby but could not afford the remainder. She worked as a bookkeeper until she saved enough to attend Wellesley College, after which she wrote for American Economist for two years to pay for Cornell Law School. Gail was one of four women in the 127 person class of 1898. She became the first woman to practice law in Maine and was hired by the United States Industrial Commision to investigate the working conditions of domestic servants. The injustices she discovered based on gender inspired her to devote herself to the suffrage movement. Gail served three terms in the Maine Legislature, where she routinely submitted bills promoting women’s rights.
Lucy Nicolar Poolaw
Wa-Tah-Wa-So & Princess Watahwaso
1882-1969, Penobscot Indian Island Reservation
Performer, artist, businesswoman, political activist
Lucy Nicolar Poolaw was exposed to politics at a young age. Her father was a lecturer, writer, and representative to the Maine Legislature. As a young adult, Lucy began performing at sportsman’s shows and was offered an opportunity to study music in Boston and New York City. She toured the United States using the stage name Princess Watahwaso, often combining political activism and entertainment, and recorded with Victor Records. After retiring from shows, Lucy opened Chief Poolaw's TeePee, a store featuring Penobscot art, while working to improve the lives of native people in Maine. Lucy and her sister led the demand for voting rights, and when the state extended suffrage to people living on native land in 1955, Lucy cast the first ballot.
Toy Len Goon
1895-1941, Portland
Businesswoman, homemaker, public figure
When Toy Len Goon immigrated to Maine in 1921, she spoke no English. Together, she and her husband ran a successful laundry business and raised eight children. When her husband died, Toy was determined to keep the business running and ensure all her children received an education. In 1952, a family friend nominated Toy as Maine’s Mother of the Year, a title she won. Her name was then submitted to the national contest run by American Mothers Committee of the Golden Rule Foundation. She was selected as the 1952 Mother of the Year.
Margaret Chase Smith
1897-1995, Skowhegan
Politician
After marrying Clyde Smith, a well-established local politician, Margaret Chase Smith became active in politics. Her husband was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and she accompanied him to Washington DC where she managed his office. When Clyde fell ill in 1940, he asked Margaret to run for his seat. She won the special election and the following general election, becoming Maine’s first female Congresswoman. Margaret was elected to the Senate in 1949, the first woman to serve in both houses. Throughout her career, she was considered a moderate Republican and became the first woman to have her name put in for presidential nomination at a major party’s convention (1964.) She was the longest-serving woman in the Senate until Susan Collins was sworn in for a fifth term in 2021.
Molly Spotted Elk
Mary Alice Nelson Archambaud
1903-1977, Penobscot Indian Island Reservation
Dancer, artist, actress, writer, anthropologist
The first daughter of a renowned basket maker and governor of the Penobscot Nation, Molly began performing traditional dances to help support her family at a young age. After studying anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, Molly pursued a career on the stage. She toured the country with vaudeville troupes and starred in one of Paramount’s last silent films. Molly spent time in France where she lived in an artists colony, danced, researched, wrote, and eventually married. Her husband, an outspoken anti-Nazi, vanished during WWII. Molly and her daughter fled over the Pyrenees Mountains into Portugal on foot and made their way back to Indian Island.
Mildred Brown ‘Brownie’ Schrumpf
1903-2001, Readfield Depot
Home economist, food educator, author
After graduating from the University of Maine, Mildred Brown Schrumpf began her culinary career as a tester for home gas stoves. She went on to work for the Maine and United States Department of Agriculture, educating the public on food preservation, traditional Maine recipes, and home economics. Mildred began a weekly food column called Brownie’s Kitchen for the Bangor Daily News in 1951 and continued writing it until 1994. She is well known for claiming chocolate brownies were invented in Bangor, an assertion that was initially dismissed and later supported based on recipe evidence. The Maine Department of Agriculture named Mildred the ‘Unofficial Ambassador of Good Eating.’
Mabel Sine Wadsworth
1910-2006, Bangor
Birth control activist, women's health educator
While in nursing school, Mabel Sine Wadsworth became familiar with the work of birth control advocate Margaret Sanger and subsequently dedicated her life to reproductive rights education. After graduating from the University of Rochester School of Nursing, Mabel eventually moved to Bangor where she established Maine’s first family planning program, organizing teams of outreach workers to go door-to-door in rural Maine to educate women about birth control. She helped found the Maine Family Planning Association and successfully lobbied to expand reproductive rights for Maine women.
Judith Magyar Isaacson
1925-2015, Auburn
Educator, speaker, author
Born in Hungary into a Jewish family, Judith Magyar Isaacson was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944. After liberation, she married an American intelligence officer and moved to Maine. Judith studied mathematics, obtaining a bachelor’s degree from Bates College and a master’s degree from Bowdoin College, and went on to teach at Lewiston High School. She became the first computer science teacher at Bates and the Dean of Women. In 1990, Judith’s memoir, Seeds of Sarah: Memoirs of a Survivor, was published.
Olympia Jean Snowe
1947-, Augusta
Businesswoman, politician
By the time she was ten, Olympia Jean Snowe had lost both parents to disease. She was raised by an aunt and uncle in Auburn and earned a degree in political science from the University of Maine at Orono. After graduating, Olympia married state legislator Peter Snowe. When her husband died tragically in a car accident, Olympia ran for and won his seat in the Maine House of Representatives at age 26. Three years later, she was elected to the Maine Senate and then the U.S. House of Representatives, where she represented Maine’s 2nd Congressional District from 1979-1995. During that time, she married Maine governor John McKernan and was First Lady of Maine. Snowe became a Senator in 1995 and served Maine until 2013. In all three elections Snowe ran in, she won every county in the state. Throughout her Senate career, she was known for influencing the outcomes of close votes and was considered one of the most moderate members of the chamber. When she chose not to run for reelection in 2012, Snowe said hyper-partisanship had created a dysfunctional Congress, leading to her choice to retire. In 2006, Senator Snowe was named one of America's Best Senators by Time magazine.
Susan Margaret Collins
1952-, Augusta
Politician
Susan Collins was born in Caribou where both her parents served as mayor. During her senior year of high school, she visited Washington DC with the Senate Youth Program and met Magraret Chase Smith, Maine’s first female senator. Collins went on to graduate magna cum laude from St. Lawrence University with a degree in government. Her first political job was as a legislative assistant to William Cohen. In 1994, Collins was a gubernatorial candidate, the first woman in the state to be nominated by a major party. She lost to her future Senate colleague Angus King. It would be the only race Collins lost in the state. She was elected to the US Senate in 1996, and upon her reelection in 2020, Collins became Maine’s longest-serving member of Congress and the longest-serving Republican woman in the Senate. Throughout her career, Collins has been known as a centrist Republican and an influential member of the Senate.
Joan Benoit Samuelson
1957-, Freeport
Marathon runner, Olympian, writer, coach
After injuring her leg in a slalom skiing accident, Joan Benoit Samuelson took up long distance running to help her recover. She was attending Bowdoin college at the time, and during her senior year, she entered the 1979 Boston Marathon. Joan won in 2:35:15, setting an American record that would stand for 28 years. While training for the first Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials, she injured her knee and underwent surgery 17 days before the qualifying race. She competed anyway, won, and went on to win the first Women’s Gold Medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The following year she set a woman’s record at the Chicago Marathon that stood for 32 years. Joan wrote two books about her running experiences and founded the Beach to Beacon 10K Road Race that takes place in Cape Elizabeth every year. A lifelong runner, Joan still competes, wins, and breaks records at age 65.
Theresa Secord
1958-, Bar Harbor
Artist, basketmaker, activist, geologist
An elder in the Penobscot community taught Theresa Secord how to weave traditional Wabanaki baskets using tools passed down from her great grandmother. Theresa is the founding member of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance in Bar Harbor, an organization credited with saving the art of ash and sweetgrass basketry by lowering the average age of basketmakers from 63 to 40 and increasing the number of weavers from 55 to more than 150. Among other honors, Theressa received the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2016, and her work is shown throughout the country. She also served as staff geologist for the Penobscot Nation and is the great niece of Molly Spotted Elk, the famous Penobscot performer and writer.
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