Famous Women of Maryland

We're doing state pages and learning so many really fun
facts about the south, and our particular state of birth
or choice.

I was born in Patuxent River, Maryland...St. Charles County.
In doing research, I came across many great ladies...
These are some of them...

Martha Ellis Gellhorn - one of the first women ever to work
as a war correspondent.

She began as a journalist during the Spanish Civil War,
went to Normandy by stowing away on a hospital ship,
and sneaking ashore as a stretcher bearer on D-Day!

She saw Dachau liberated, and reported on the war-crimes
trial of Adolf Eichmann.

Mary Eliza Watters Risteau is another great lady.
Here is a list of the "firsts" she was involved in...

First woman to preside over the House of Delegates.
First woman on the Maryland State Board of Education.
First woman member of the Maryland State Senate.
First Maryland Woman Delegate to the Democratic National
Convention.
First woman clerk of a Circuit Court in Maryland, Harford
County.

She was known to go against the status quo!
Why she even took a stand to lower the salaries of Maryland
Judges & Circuit Court Judges...

Mary hated bureaucratic red-tape when it came to helping
those on fixed incomes & pensions.
She helped start a state fund based on the number of relief
cases in each political subdivision of the state.

She was a true "steel magnolia" who traveled 60 miles each
night,5 nights a week for 3 years to earn her law degree,
while running a 300 hundred acre dairy farm
and maintaining her membership of the State Board of
Education!

Martha Carey Thomas raised $500,000 for the funding
of the Johns Hopkins Medical School, on the condition that
women be admitted!

Bessie Moses was one of those women who was permitted
to attend John Hopkins, graduated in 1926, and founded the
the Maryland Planned Parenthood to lead the way in health
care for poor women.

Constance Ross Beims - first female Governor's Appointments
Secretary & Deputy Chief of Staff.

She opened doors to include women in all levels of
governmental and academic decision-making....this made
Maryland #2 in the nation as having women in policy making
positions!

Mary Katherine Goddard - publisher of Maryland's first
newspaper, Baltimore's first post mistress, and first in
the nation to publish the names of those who signed the
Declaration of Independence!

Elaine Hedges, Ph.D....founded the Women's Studies Program
of Townesend University...

Mary Carter Smith...used her storytelling gifts as a teaching
tool and instrument to bring healing to our society...

Martha Ellicot Tyson...founder of Swarthmore College...avid
education & anti-slavery advocate!...