Women’s History

The biographies below highlight notable women in California and CFWC history. CFWC appreciates and thanks California clubwoman Deborah Bushnell for compiling these informative biographies.

NEW FOR 2022
Ellen Clark Sargent (Friend of Susan B. Anthony; president of Calif Women Suffrage Assn)
Mary Gilmore Barnum (Graduate of UC Los Angeles; 1913 CA Board of Education)
Sarah Ingersoll Cooper (Helped establish kindergarten in San Francisco schools; GFWC treasurer 1894)
Sarah Platt-Decker (GFWC president 1904-1908; inducted 1990 to Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame)

Clara Wheeler Burdette (1900-1902 1st CFWC President; 1902-1904 GFWC Officer)
Adella Tuttle Schloss (CFWC President 1920-1921)
Annette Abbott Adams (1942 Presiding Justice, Calif Court of Appeal)
Dr. Aurelia Henry Reinhardt (GFWC Education Chair 1928-1930)
Beatrice Reynolds Kinkead (American Suffragist)
Caroline Seymour Severance (19th Century Champion of Women’s Rights)
Dr. Mariana Bertola (CFWC President 1926-1927)
Eleanor Joy Toll (Educator; Clubwoman; Founder of Glendale Symphony Orchestra)
Flora Rawson Stephens (1888 Graduate of “UCLA”; Served as a First Lady of California)
Florence Prag Kahn (1925 Elected to U.S. Congress; Re-elected 5 times)
Helen Gahagan Douglas (Opera singer; Actress; U.S. Congresswoman)
Ione Hill Cowles (GFWC President twice – during and after World War I)
Elizabeth Lathrop Stanford (Co-Founder of Stanford University; Advocated to Admit Female Students)
June Robertson McCarroll (1917 Painted the 1st White Stripe on a California Highway)
Laura Lyon White (1900 Co-Founder of CFWC; Protector of Coastal Redwoods & Giant Sequoias)
Laura Perrott Mahan (1923 CFWC Convention in Her Hometown Led to Saving California’s Redwoods)
Lotta Hetler James (from CFWC President to Candidate for California Governor)
Mae Ella Nolan (Only Female in 68th U.S. Congress: “A capable woman is a better representative than an incapable man…”)
Maud Younger (Millionaire; Waitress; Champion of Women’s Rights; Adventurer)
Oda Hunt Faulconer (In Other Words: A Variety of Purpose is the Spice of Life!)
Eliza Orr/Helen Kimberly/ Mary Shirk (3 Women: A CFWC President and Mom-Daughter Duo Vital to GFWC Juniors)
Phoebe Apperson Hearst (1897 Helped Establish the National PTA; mother of William Randolph Hearst)
Sarah Bixby Smith (Author, Historian, Advocate for Women’s Education)
Sarah Knox-Goodrich (1876 Led a Suffrage Brigade in a 4th of July Parade)
Susan Tolman Mills (mid-19th Century Missionary to Sri Lanka & Hawaiian Islands; founder of 1st West Coast Women’s College)