HE1-323 C O O P E R A T I V E E X T E N S I O N S E R V I C E U N I V E R S I T Y O F K E N T U C K Y • C O L L E G E O F A G R I C U L T U R E FAMOUS WOMEN he accomplish- However, women T ments of Ken- interested in medi- tucky women and cine, government, the many contribu- or the arts faced tions they have more difficulties as made to the growth they tried to enter and development of these traditionally the commonwealth male-dominated are significant. fields. During the Kentucky’s past 200 years, early social re- Lucy Harth Smith most women’s suc- formers and edu- cesses came only cators were prima- after hard fights. rily female. As a This publica- result of their hard tion provides some work and determi- highlights in the nation, the legal lives of a select position of all group of Kentucky women improved women achievers. and educational Hopefully, it will opportunities ex- whet an interest to panded for chil- search out the sto- dren and adults. Mary Todd Lincoln ries of others.

AGRICULTURE • HOME ECONOMICS • 4-H • DEVELOPMENT FAMOUS KENTUCKY WOMEN 2

IONEERS JANE COOMES JENNY SELLARDS WILEY P (c. 1750-1816) (1760-1831) ven though few were recorded in Ehistory books, stories of pioneer ane Coomes moved to enny Sellards Wiley, the well- women were handed down through JFort Harrod with her husband, Jknown captive of Indians, was diaries, letters, and word of mouth William, in 1775 as a member of a born on the border between Virginia from one generation to the next. group of Catholics from Maryland. and Kentucky. She, too, was well Every family could name a female Two years later she became prepared for the rough life on the member who was a keystone to the Kentucky’s first schoolteacher. frontier, having learned from her family structure. These hardy, Jane used the primitive version of father to do almost any kind of resourceful, persistent women helped the old English Horn Book. The work. She was a strong wilderness make permanent settlement of the “book” was made of clapboard and woman—she knew the woodlands area that became Kentucky. was paddle-shaped with the handle and was an expert with the rifle. whittled to fit little fingers. The In October of 1789, Indians alphabet and the Lord’s Prayer were attacked the cabin in which she, her REBECCA BRYAN BOONE written crudely with berry juices and husband, her four children, and her (1739-1813) charcoal. Jane taught school at Fort brother lived. Three of the children magine what it must have been like Harrod about 10 years until she and her brother were scalped. Jenny, Ito settle Kentucky during the resettled in Nelson County. who was pregnant, and her 15- 1700s. It wasn’t easy, especially for month-old baby were taken captive Rebecca Bryan Boone and her ANN MCGINTY by the Shawnee. Later, after seeing daughter, Jemima, who are said to (? -1815) both babies killed, she was sold to a have been the first white women to Cherokee who planned to take her become residents of Kentucky (others ioneer women needed imagina- away with him to his home on the followed soon after). Ption and skills to create clothing Little River. Hardships and tragedies accom- for their families. Sewing began One night she was left alone, panied their arrival at Boonesborough only after the yarns were spun and bound with strips of buffalo skins. on September 8, 1775. While en route woven into fabric. Ann McGinty, During a dream, a white man she from , Rebecca’s son Kentucky’s first clothing manufac- had watched burn at the stake James was killed by Indians. Within turer, arrived at Fort Harrod in 1775 appeared, told her it was time to three years, Rebecca’s husband, prepared to cope with the hardships escape, and gave her directions to a , was captured by of the new land. She came with her frontier settlement. That night it Indians. Thinking him to be dead, she precious spinning wheel tied to her rained and the wet thongs stretched returned to North Carolina with her horse and plans for a loom folded in enough for her to escape. She took children. After his escape from her pocket. with her a tomahawk and a knife. captivity in 1780, he brought his Ann wasted no time before she After 18 hours of wading creeks, family back to Kentucky. They lost a experimented with the many weeds being pursued by Indians, and son and another was seriously and grasses that grew around the coping with many obstacles, she wounded in the massacre at Blue Lick fort, searching for one strong reached the settlement. Springs. enough to be woven into cloth. Jenny returned to her husband Rebecca died in 1813 in Mis- Until flax could be grown, she made and home in Virginia where they souri. Later, her remains and those of a thread from nettle. She and her lived for 12 years. They then resettled her husband were returned to Ken- husband built a loom so she could in Kentucky near the area where she tucky to be buried in Frankfort. weave fabric much like linen or was held captive. A state park bearing The historical notice Rebecca linsey cloth. The cloth was dull in her name is now located nearby. Boone has received has been through color so she used bark, berries, and Jenny, who gave birth to five her husband, but she was a represen- nuts to give it brighter hues. more children, died in 1831 at the age tative of the wives and mothers who Ann shared her skills with other of 71, a remarkable age for a frontier lived lonely and heroic lives, endur- women at Fort Harrod. She taught woman. ing heart-rending bereavements in the them to spin, weave, and sew; to settlement of the commonwealth of make household items from corn Kentucky. husks; and to make baskets from willow twigs. 3 FAMOUS KENTUCKY WOMEN

in Garrard County and lived for loudly for the abolition of slavery, REFORMERS short periods in Boyle and he had no such concerns for the lways extremely conservative, Woodford counties. rights of women. During Clay’s A Kentucky approached social Carry’s dislike for alcohol was long absences abroad (he was reforms very cautiously. Suffrage, the probably influenced by her obser- ambassador to Russia), the family right for women to vote, was largely vance of the effects of heavy drinking estate, White Hall in Madison an upper-class issue, and the Ken- on her neighbors and family. Her first County, became a profitable tucky women who were leaders for husband was an alcoholic who died enterprise due to Mrs. Clay’s reform were wealthy, influential, and young. Her daughter also had a shrewd management of her time and educated. Most of them had graduated problem with alcoholism. money. from Eastern colleges. (The temper- Carry Nation became famous for When Clay decided to divorce ance movement—the fight to eradi- her “hatchetations,” her name for his wife after a 45-year marriage, cate alcohol—was closely allied with smashing saloons as she carried her she had no legal rights and was left the early suffrage movement.) hatchet and sang hymns. She some- with nothing to show for her years As early as 1800, women pushed times was accompanied by a hand of work. This had a strong effect on for a better legal position, but organ playing an entirely different Laura and her sisters and prompted Kentucky was backward in regard to song. Her opinion of the law was them to become fervent workers for women’s rights. Since Kentucky had reflected in her practice of addressing women’s rights. Laura became a not seceded from the Union, after the judges as “your dishonor.” leader of the Kentucky Equal Rights Civil War it did not have the favor- Carry was a journalist as well, Association and served as its able constitutional revisions that publishing The Hatchet and The president for 24 years. She also was women in the Confederate states had. Smasher’s Mail. She also wrote her a supporter of the temperance In Kentucky, a married woman autobiography, The Use and Need of movement. had no property rights. She couldn’t Carry A. Nation. make a will. If she did own prop- SOPHONISBA PRESTON erty, all of it became her husband’s. LAURA CLAY BRECKINRIDGE She could not make contracts, sue, (1849-1941) (1866-1948) or be sued. If she took a job, her husband had the right to collect her ophonisba Preston Breckinridge wages. He had sole guardianship Swas a sister to Madeline over their children, even if she left Breckinridge’s husband, Desha. A him and even over an unborn child. brilliant woman, she was a lawyer The husband could separate the and a pioneer in social work. She children from their mother if he was the first woman admitted to the wished and, in case of his death, Kentucky bar. After practicing law could will their guardianship to in Lexington, she went to Chicago, some other male. where she earned a Ph.D. in politi- In 1894, decades behind most cal science. She was the first woman other states, Kentucky passed a in her field to receive that degree. married women’s property law, as She served as dean and director of well as laws that allowed women to research at the Chicago School of make wills, serve on the board of Social Work. She also was president directors, and keep their own wages. of the American Association of Schools of Social Work and has CARRY NATION been credited for making social (1846-1911) work a profession. arry Nation was one of the most Laura Clay Cnotorious crusaders of the temperance movement. She was born lthough Laura Clay’s father, A Cassius Clay, was well known as a great emancipationist who spoke out FAMOUS KENTUCKY WOMEN 4

to the area in 1895. She determined MADELINE MCDOWELL EDUCATION that education was the key to upgrad- BRECKINRIDGE lthough many of Kentucky’s ing the family conditions existing in (1872-1920) A early educators were women, the isolated area, so she began the higher education often was difficult first rural social settlement work ever for them to obtain within the state. undertaken in the country. admitted women from Classes in cooking, sewing, its inception in 1855, and although home nursing, Bible, and singing State College (which later became the were begun. The classes often were ) allowed followed by socials and parties. The coeducation at an earlier date, the first work was so successful that Katherine woman did not graduate until 1888. was sought out to do the same for Native Kentucky women often mountain folk in the vicinity of went out of the state for their school- Hazard. The Hindman Settlement ing, and many of the state’s female School and the Pine Mountain founders of educational institutions at Hazard became came from other areas. models for similar schools in other states, and the work of Katherine JULIA TEVIS Pettit became widely known. (1799-1880) CORA WILSON STEWART ulia Tevis was born near Winches (1875-1958) Jter in Clark County in 1799. She was educated in the Washington, D.C., area but returned to Kentucky as the bride of a Methodist minister. She and her husband estab- Madeline McDowell Breckenridge lished Science Hill Academy in adeline McDowell Shelbyville in 1825, answering a MBreckinridge was the great- need for an institution of higher granddaughter of Lucretia Hart and education for women. Her students Henry Clay, and a descendant of Dr. were from all over the country. Ephraim McDowell. Two powerful Instead of confining the curricu- families were joined when she lum to traditional “female subjects,” married into the Breckinridge Julia added natural sciences, empha- family. She used this position and sizing that these subjects were her ability to lead others to influ- appropriate for women students as ence the political powers opposed much as they were for men. to change. After Julia retired, the school Her outstanding accomplish- continued to operate under the ments included a much-needed direction of Dr. Wiley T. and Clara change in child labor laws; state M. Poynter. Science Hill Academy juvenile court system; tuberculosis closed in 1939. Cora Wilson Stewart sanitarium; park system in Lexing- ora Wilson Stewart was elected ton; and playground, model school, KATHERINE PETTIT superintendent of county schools and settlement house for economi- C (1868-1936) in 1901 at age 26. In 1911, she was cally disadvantaged children. atherine Pettit was a native of elected to head the Kentucky Education Madeline campaigned widely for Lexington, but her life work Association and was the first woman the ratification of women’s suffrage K took place in the mountains of president of the association. and used her husband’s position as southeastern Kentucky. Hearing of Cora was born near Morehead in editor of the Lexington Herald to a the hardships and primitive mode of Rowan County in 1875. She was great advantage. living endured in the Pine Mountain educated at Morehead Normal School, country, Katherine made her first visit and later at the National Normal 5 FAMOUS KENTUCKY WOMEN

University in Lebanon, Ohio. She began was the only woman ever to serve LUCY DUPEY MONTZ her teaching career at age 20 in a one- as president of the Kentucky Negro (1842-1922) room school in Rowan County. Education Association. Among her Adult illiteracy concerned national projects was her promotion ucy Dupey Montz, born near Cora, so she began an adult educa- of the study of African American L Warsaw, Kentucky, became tion program known as the Moon- history in schools. Kentucky’s first woman dentist. light School. The school was named Concerned with the health of Moonlight because most of its African American children, she raised students were employed during the funds for a facility called The Colored daytime and could attend only at Health Camp. Located on a farm, the night. Local teachers volunteered to camp benefitted frail, undernourished work without pay. The number of children, who were invited to visit for students who enrolled showed the two weeks at no cost to their parents. success of the program. Cora ex- pected 150 students to enroll the first SOPHIA ALCORN year; instead, 1,200 enrolled. The (1883-1967) second year, 1,600 enrolled. At the end of the third year, the illiteracy teaching method for deaf and rate had dropped dramatically. The A blind children is used univer- Moonlight School became a model for sally today thanks to Sophia Alcorn, a adult education throughout the world, native of Stanford, Kentucky. A and Cora Wilson Stewart received foremost educator of the disabled, national and international promi- Sophia developed the Tad-Oma Method nence. to teach deaf and blind children to speak through the sense of touch. A child, by placing his hand upon Lucy Dupey Montz LUCY HARTH SMITH the teacher’s cheek, is able to feel Becoming a dentist was a mid- (1884-1955) through vibration what the teacher is life career change for Lucy Montz. saying. He then learns to associate the She was a wife and mother and later vibration with names, places, objects, became a public schoolteacher. After or actions. This method enables a a few years as a teacher, she decided child to learn to speak clearly by to attend the Cincinnati College of copying the teacher’s vibration Dental Surgery and graduated with pattern. The speech of the deaf and honors in 1889. She then became a blind child then results in normal member of the faculty of the school. patterns. Sophia developed her She later left, at the age of 51, to enter method while teaching at the Ken- practice in her hometown of Warsaw. tucky School for the Deaf in Danville. Dentistry was an almost un- heard of profession for women MEDICINE during the late 19th century. This is substantiated by the fact that Lucy oncern for the high mortality rate was listed as the only woman dentist Cof mothers who bore a lot of in Kentucky at the World’s children, as well as concern for the Columbian Exposition in Chicago children, attracted women to the in 1893. She continued her dental medical field. These women saw the Lucy Harth Smith practice in Warsaw until failing health needs of rural Kentuckians and health forced her to retire in 1921. ucy Harth Smith devoted her life considered them a great challenge. L to improving conditions for The women realized that healthy Kentucky’s African American people. babies needed healthy families, so She was the principal of the Booker they expanded the medical services to T. Washington Grade School in treat all family members. Lexington from 1935 to 1955 and FAMOUS KENTUCKY WOMEN 6

LILLIAN H. SOUTH state level were yet to come, (1879-1966) although women’s organizations were united in an effort to secure illian H. South was born in voting rights. Women gained the L Warren County, Kentucky. Her right to vote in 1920. Since that father was a Bowling Green physi- time, a number of Kentucky women cian. Lillian studied nursing at a have been prominent in govern- Patterson, New Jersey, hospital and ment. received her M.D. degree from the Women’s Medical College in Phila- MARY ELLIOTT FLANERY delphia. Lillian was credited with the (1867-1933) elimination of many diseases within ary Elliott Flanery, the first the state, especially hookworm. She Mwoman to serve in a southern also carried out inoculation cam- state legislature, was born in Carter paigns against scarlet fever, malaria, County. She began her professional life smallpox, typhoid, and leprosy. as a teacher in Elliott and Carter During the 1937 flood, her laboratory counties and, in 1904, became a supplied the entire state with the correspondent with the Ashland Daily vaccine for typhoid. Mary Breckenridge Independent. Her career in government For 39 years, she was director of began with her election in 1921 to the she decided that location would be the State Board of Health’s laboratory her mission field. She returned to services and taught at its School of Kentucky in 1925 and organized the Laboratory Techniques, which she Committee for Mothers and Babies. founded in 1922. In 1928, this group became the Frontier Nursing Service in Leslie and MARY BRECKINRIDGE Clay counties, where there were no (1881-1965) physicians. The Nursing Service led ary Breckinridge was a cousin to the opening of a hospital in Hyden, Mof Sophonisba and Desha Kentucky. Breckinridge. Her father, a Lexington In addition to helping mothers native, was a six-term congressman and babies, Nursing Service volun- from Arkansas and a minister to teers helped many adults who had Russia while Grover was illnesses. They also were responsible president. She was educated in for inoculating many adults and European schools. children against disease. The Mary Mary was married in 1900 but Breckinridge program was so success- after six years was left a widow. The ful that it brought people from around life of a social butterfly did not appeal the world to work and observe. Mary to her and she felt unprepared for any traveled widely to spread the stories kind of service, so she attended of her work. Through her wisdom and Mary Elliot Flanery deep concern for humanity, a strong nursing school in . She Kentucky House of Representatives. health program for eastern Kentucky soon remarried and became the While in office, Representative was established. mother of two children, each of whom Flanery introduced the bill which died very young. Mary was so created Morehead State Teachers devastated that she dissolved her GOVERNMENT College. She also was a sponsor of the marriage, resumed her maiden name Sheperd-Towner Maternity Act. For and went to England to study mid- omen were elected to public many years, Mary devoted her efforts wifery because there was no such Woffice in Kentucky even before to women’s suffrage and to the school in the United States. they were allowed to vote. Four betterment of education in the state. Deeply concerned with the high women were elected county school In 1922, the Kentucky State Historical death rate of the women and babies in superintendents in 1889, eight in Society named her Kentucky’s most the mountains of eastern Kentucky, 1893, and 18 in 1897. Offices at the prominent woman. 7 FAMOUS KENTUCKY WOMEN

EMMA GUY CROMWELL state representative from the 38th USIC RT (1869-1952) legislative district for three terms M , A , (1950-55). She was elected secre- mma Guy Cromwell was the first tary of state for three terms (1956- AND Ewoman in Kentucky to be elected 60, 1964-68, and 1972-75). She was to a statewide office. From that day elected state treasurer two terms LITERATURE forward, her goals were to increase (1960-64 and 1968-72). entucky women are represented women’s involvement in politics and in all phases of the arts. They to prove that women could be K MARTHA LAYNE COLLINS have been especially proficient as effective politicians. writers, depicting the different As a newly elected state librarian (1936- ) cultural segments within the state. in 1886, Emma soon realized a artha Layne Collins became Their contributions in the music field woman’s entrance into politics caused Kentucky’s first female M have been equally diverse. controversy. However, she became governor in 1983, having already even more determined to hold her job. served as lieutenant governor and She ran for secretary of state in clerk of the Kentucky Court of MUSIC 1923 and won. She credited much of Appeals. her success in being elected to support from Kentucky women. At (1928- ) one time during her term, Emma was osemary Clooney was born in during the absence of R1928 in Maysville, Kentucky, both the governor and the lieutenant and became a member of the record governor. This was another first for a bestseller lists in 1951. She began woman in the commonwealth. her career as a vocalist with her Her lengthy career in public sister, Betty, on a Cincinnati, Ohio, service included the offices of state radio station. She then toured the treasurer, state parks director, and United States for three years with state bond commissioner. Throughout Tony Pastor’s Orchestra, and her many years in politics, Emma was became a popular singer. Her warm, continually challenged as a woman husky, versatile singing voice made blazing new territory, but, through the her recordings of ballads, dialect respect she achieved in a “man’s songs, and children’s tunes equally world,” she opened the way for other possible. She also appeared in women in Kentucky politics. motion pictures, including the classic White Christmas in 1954. Rosemary married actor-producer (1919-1994) Jose Ferrer in 1953 and is the mother Martha Layne Collins helma Stovall, a native of Hart of five children. She and Ferrer later TCounty, was active in advancing Governor Collins was born in divorced. the status of women in Kentucky and Bagdad, Kentucky, and was edu- Her autobiography, This For was elected as Kentucky’s first cated in Shelby County schools. She Remembrance, written in 1977, female lieutenant governor in 1975. received a bachelor of science discusses her life and the problems Early in her career, she was degree in home economics from the she faced as her career diminished. elected secretary of the Tobacco University of Kentucky in 1959 and Workers International Union, Local was a public schoolteacher for LORETTA WEBB LYNN 185, and held that position for 11 several years. Her introduction to (1935?- ) politics involved support for other years. oretta Webb Lynn often has been candidates, and she filled party Lieutenant Governor Stovall referred to as the “Queen of chairmanships on local, state, and L held many firsts in Kentucky Country Music” and also is known national levels. politics. She was the first woman to affectionately as the “Coal Miner’s hold elective political office from Daughter” (after the song she wrote Jefferson County, being elected and recorded). FAMOUS KENTUCKY WOMEN 8

Loretta was born sometime around ENID Y ANDELL whom she sometimes collaborated in 1935 (she doesn’t reveal the exact date ) (1870-1934) her writings. to an impoverished coal miner, Ted Also a prolific writer by herself, Webb, and his wife in the coal-rich nid Yandell was a native of her book, Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage mountains of Johnson County. She ELouisville who became a world- Patch, written in 1901, was listed as a married and was a mother at age 14. She renowned sculptor. She graduated best-seller for more than a year and is was a grandmother at age 29. from the Cincinnati Arts School and now in its 47th edition. Her husband, Mooney Lynn, studied in New York City and France. She became well known for her work bought her a Sears Roebuck guitar in ELIZABETH MADOX the late 1950s and played a big role in at the Chicago Columbian Exposition in 1893 and was one of three women ROBERTS introducing and managing her musical (1886-1941) career. She became a composer and an to receive the Designer’s Medal. entertainer and first appeared on the Enid became famous for foun- lizabeth Madox Roberts was born Grand Ole Opry on October 15, 1960. tains, busts, memorials, and other Ein Perryville, Kentucky. She Loretta’s warm, unaffected personality works throughout the world. One of received a Ph.D. from the University and her ability to touch the hearts of her her memorials that can be seen in of Chicago in 1921. Her writing audiences with songs that reflect their Kentucky is the likeness of Daniel career began at an early age when she own problems have endeared her to Boone in Louisville’s Cherokee Park. won the Fisher Prize for a collection country music fans throughout the Her rise to distinction came at a time of poems she wrote while still an world. when women in sculpture were a undergraduate. Some of her prizes for rarity, and she was given the honor of excellence included the John Reed being the first woman member of the Memorial Prize in 1928, the Poetry ART National Sculpture Society. Society of Prize, and the HATTIE H. HILL O’Henry Memorial Volume in 1930. (1847-1921) Her first novel, The Time of LITERATURE Man, established her reputation as a attie H. Hill was born in Bourbon ALICE HEGAN RICE first-rate novelist. From then until H County. Her work consisted (1870-1942) shortly before her death, she wrote mostly of still lifes, landscapes, and a book each year. The book, The marine pictures. Among the portraits Great Meadow, is said to be an painted by Hattie was a life-sized authentic source of historical fact. portrait of William Garth, the famous judge of Bourbon County. All of her HARRIETTE LOUISA portraits hang in the Bourbon County SIMPSON ARNOW Courthouse. (1908-1986) PATTY THUM arriette Louisa Simpson Arnow (1853-1926) Hwas born in Wayne County. She received her education in the atty Thum was Kentucky’s first Burnside, Kentucky, public schools, Pwell-known female artist. She was Berea College, and the University of born in Louisville. Louisville, from which she was Patty graduated from Vassar graduated. Harriette became a teacher College and studied under William in the public schools of Pulaski Merit Chase in New York City. She County and later in Louisville. She returned to Louisville during the married Harold Arnow, a newspaper mid-1870s and painted landscapes, reporter, in 1939. After a period of still lifes, and portraits. She also Alice Hegan Rice living on a farm and developing her established a reputation as a book lice Hegan Rice, the creator of writing skills, they moved to , illustrator. Patty was considered one Michigan. of the best painters of flowers, A “Mrs. Wiggs,” was born in Shelby County, Kentucky. In 1902, Harriette was well known for her especially roses, of her period. For novels Mountain Path (1936), many years she was an art critic she married a poetic dramatist, Cole Young Rice, of Louisville, with Hunter’s Horn (1949), and The for the Louisville Herald. Dollmaker (1953). Her books 9 FAMOUS KENTUCKY WOMEN presented characters and their locale children, but only seven reached and confidante. Her life as first lady in realistic terms. Her experiences in adulthood. All of her six daughters was a constant conflict. She was the hills of Kentucky were portrayed died young: two in infancy, two at 12 suspected by Southerners as a Union in just the proper measure of folk and 14, and two in their 20s. The president’s wife and the Northern ways and folk traditions. The Clays were also responsible for the press thought of her as extravagant Dollmaker was made into a television upbringing of several of their 29 and pushy. Lincoln’s biographies movie starring Jane Fonda in 1984. grandchildren. Lucretia was credited were generally unkind in their as a force in helping her husband portrayal of her. sustain his political and personal Her husband’s assassination plus FAMOUS disappointments throughout their 53 the deaths of three sons left her so years of marriage. bitter and grief stricken that she was KENTUCKY sometimes thought to be insane. After MARY TODD LINCOLN spending several of her later years WIVES (1818-1882) in Europe, she returned to Spring- group of Kentuckians who made field, Illinois, where she had met A outstanding contributions to the and married Lincoln. She died there state and nation through steadfast in 1882. support of their husbands cannot be overlooked. Many of these early THER AMOUS wives endured hardships and sacri- O F fices in their private lives due to their mates’ long absences. KENTUCKY

SUSANNAH HART SHELBY WOMEN (1764-1833) SALLY WARD LAWRENCE usannah Hart Shelby was born in HUNT ARMSTRONG DOWNS S North Carolina but moved with (1827-1896) her family to Kentucky in 1779. They settled near Boonesborough. Susannah married Isaac Shelby on April 19, 1783, within the fort at Boonesborough and became the first Mary Todd Lincoln Kentucky first lady when he was elected governor in 1792. Governor ary Todd Lincoln was the Shelby served a second term from Monly Kentuckian to be first lady of 1812 to 1818. The Shelby home, the United States. She was born in Traveler’s Rest, was well known for Lexington and grew up in a home on its hospitality to travelers on the Old West Main Street. She and her husband, Wilderness Road. Abraham Lincoln, whom she met at a cotillion in 1839, were strongly contrasted in backgrounds and social LUCRETIA HART CLAY savvy as well as their differences in (1781-1864) height—he was 6 feet 4 inches tall and ucretia Hart Clay was the wife of she was 5 feet 2 inches. L Henry Clay, one of Kentucky’s Perhaps the greatest contribu- first major statesmen. During most of tions made by Mary were her Sally Ward Lawrence Hunt Armstrong Downs her husband’s long absences in steadfast confidence in her Washington, D.C., first as senator, husband’s ability and her help in ne of the foremost leaders in then as Speaker of the House and polishing his social graces and Othe social world of the antebel- Secretary of State under John Quincy broadening his knowledge about lum South was Sally Ward. Born on Adams, she remained at Ashland, social conditions and politics. a Bluegrass farm located on North their Lexington plantation, to rear During the early years of their Elkhorn Creek, she grew up in their family. She gave birth to 11 marriage, she served as an advisor Louisville, where her family moved FAMOUS KENTUCKY WOMEN 10 when she was a child. Her father, Margaret was well known in Robert Ward, was a very wealthy and the field of air conditioning and influential man. He raised his daugh- began an extensive lecture circuit ters in luxury and sent them to an in an effort to educate the public. eastern finishing school to be edu- She also published research cated. articles on air conditioning and Sally was termed a “social wrote a biography of Willis pioneer” and sponsored many Carrier, who was a pioneer in the innovations. Among those attrib- field. uted to her were the first fancy- dress ball in her section of the CISSY GREGG country, the first use of cosmetic (1903-1966) additives by a “lady of standing,” the first offering of orchestral music issy Gregg was a home consult- to dinner guests in C ant and foods columnist for the where she lived during her pre-Civil Louisville Courier-Journal for 20 War marriage to Dr. Robert Hunt, years. Her color food photographs the first apartment established in in the newspaper’s magazine Louisville, and the first use of opera section were very popular. Cissy glasses. was a graduate of the University of During her reign as a social Kentucky with a degree in home queen, her name was applied to many economics and was a proponent of things. There was a Sally Ward the theory of controlling health slipper, a Sally Ward walk, a Sally through diet. She was a native of A play, 59 Megowan Street, Ward lavender. Steamboats, racehorses, Harrison County. dramatized her sad and often lonely and children were named for her. She life. It was based on a biography also was known as a fine musician. MARION MILEY written by Lexington writer Buddy She spoke fluent French and contrib- Thompson. The book Belle Brezing is (1914-1941) uted stories to some Eastern journals documented with photographs and arion Miley was an outstanding about her travels and collections of memorabilia. golfer who played in the major religious and historical treasures. M (Belle Brezing’s name is commonly women’s golf tournaments all over Widowed twice, divorced once, spelled Breezing; however, research the world. In 1937, she defeated the she married a fourth time before her indicates that she used only one “e.”) famous Babe Didriksen in the death in Louisville in 1896. Augusta Invitational. MARGARET INGELS Her career, however, was ended BELLE BREZING (1892-1971) prematurely. Marion was murdered (1859-1940) early on the morning of Sept. 28, argaret Ingels of , Ken- elle Brezing was well known as 1941, by assailants who entered the tucky, was the first woman in the madam of one of the finest M Lexington Country Club for the B the United States to receive a me- “houses” in the South and served as purpose of robbery and were sur- chanical engineering degree. the prototype for Belle Watling in prised by her and her mother. Her After graduating from the the novel Gone With the Wind. mother died later from wounds University of Kentucky in 1916, she Belle had been the queen of received on that date. The three men worked for the Chicago Telephone Lexington’s “red light district” at were executed for the murders of Company but soon transferred to the turn of the century and reached Marion and her mother. Carrier Engineering Corporation in the status of a local folk legend. She Pittsburg. She then earned her was reported to be an extremely advanced professional degree in sharp, but fair businesswoman and mechanical engineering—also a first was known for her generosity to for a woman—from the University charitable causes in the community. of Kentucky. 11 FAMOUS KENTUCKY WOMEN

Scalf, Henry. Jenny Wiley: Pioneer Kentucky women program REFERENCES Mother and Borderland materials. Bogardess, Carl R. “Kentucky’s Heroine. Prestonsburg, KY: Photographic Archives, Special First Woman Dentist,” reprinted Prestonsburg Company Press, Collections, University of from Kentucky Dental Journal, 1964. Kentucky Libraries, for photo- March-April, 1984. Taylor, Robert Tunis. Vessel of graphs of Laura Clay, Madeline Breckinridge, Mary. Wide Neighbor- Wrath: The Life and Times of McDowell Breckinridge, Cora hoods. Lexington, KY: Univer- Carry Nation. New York: The Wilson Stewart, Mary sity Press of Kentucky, 1952, New American Library, Inc., Breckinridge, Mary Elliott reprinted in 1981. 1966. Flanery, and Alice Hegan Rice. Breckinridge, Sophonisba. Madeline Thompson, Buddy. Belle Brezing. Mrs. Rozella C. Davis, for informa- McDowell Breckinridge: A Lexington, KY: Buggy Whip tion on Julia Tevis. Leader in the New South. Press, 1983. Dr. Carl Bogardus, for information on Chicago: University of Chicago U.S. Work Projects Administration. A and photograph of Lucy Dupey Press, 1921. Dictionary of Prominent Women Montz. Eckley, Wilton. Harriette Arnow. of Louisville and Kentucky. The , Lexing- New York: Wayne Publishers, Louisville Free Public Library, ton, Kentucky, for photograph of Inc., 1974. c. 1940. Mary Todd Lincoln. Fuller, Paul. Laura Clay and the Wininger, Novella (former Barren Collection of: The J.B. Speed Art Woman’s Rights Movement. County Extension agent). Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, Lexington, KY: University Press Extension leaflet, Famous for photograph of Sally Ward of Kentucky, 1975. Kentucky Women. Hunt Downs. Irvin, Helen D. Women in Kentucky. Buddy Thompson, for information on Lexington, KY: The University Special thanks to: and photograph of Belle Brezing. Press of Kentucky, 1979. Debra Parrish, Anderson County Mr. and Mrs. C.L. Atcher, for Parrish, Debra (Anderson County Extension Agent for Home information on Margaret Ingels. Extension agent). Extension Economics, for her research leaflet, Famous Kentucky and development of famous By Patty Rai Smith, Extension Home Women. 1985. Based Business Specialist, and Grace S. Hunt, member, Ken- tucky Extension Homemakers Association. Educational programs of the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability, or national origin. Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, C. Oran Little, Director of Cooperative Extension Service, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Lexington, and Kentucky State University, Frankfort. Issued 9-86; Revised/Printed 5-97, 1500 copies; 41500 copies to date.