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Limited in their legal rights and accepted customs of society at the time, women mostly honored their husbands demands and spent their time cooking meals, tending to children, watering the horses and taking care of the household chores. But that was not always the case. There are hundreds of women who stand out in American history, due to their strong characters, contributions to society, or plain old interesting personalities.

From the hardy pioneers who crossed the vast prairies and mountains heading westward, to nurses, abolitionists, stagecoach drivers, and even a few doctors and soldiers, you'll find their stories here.

For those less fortunate, forced by circumstance, need, and sometimes adventure, you'll also find female outlaws, gamblers, powerful Madams, their brothels and a bevy of soiled doves.

In the days when the West was ruled by the gun, it took a woman of great character and strong resolve to survive.

American Progress by John Gast in 1872.

This image available for photographic prints HERE!

Find a Woman of American History

• Martha Jane "Calamity Jane" Cannary (1852-1903) - Calamity Jane was renowned for her excellent marksmanship, preference for men's clothing, and bawdy behavior.

• Martha Thomas Carey (1857-1935) ­ Suffragist and educator Martha was first female college faculty member in the country to hold the title "dean." Working at Bryn Mawr College, she also started the first graduate program at any women's school.

• Nellie Cashman (1845-1925) - Known as "The Angel of Tombstone," Cashman wandered the frontier mining camps of the 1800s seeking gold, silver and a way to help others.

• Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) ­ World renowned artist, she introduced Impressionism to America and is famous especially for her paintings and prints depicting mothers and children.

• Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947) ­Editor of the National Suffrage Bulletin and a leader in the women's suffrage movement, she was instrumental in achieving voting rights for women in America's West and was president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association at the time the 19th Amendment was finally passed.

• Charlotte Mignon “Lotta” Crabtree (1847-1924) - An American actress and comedian, Crabtree was one of the wealthiest and most popular entertainers of the late 19th century.

• Natawista Culbertson (1825?-1895) - The daughter of Two Suns, the chief of the Blood (Kainah) tribe of the Blackfeet Confederacy worked tirelessly with her husband, Alexander Culbertson, a Mountain Man, for nearly thirty years to bridge the gap between the white adventurers on the Upper Missouri frontier and the native inhabitants of that region.

D

• Lottie Deno, aka: Carlotta J. Thompkins (her real name), Laura Denbo, Faro Nell, Charlotte Thurmond (1844-1934) - One of the most famous lady gamblers in the Old West, Lottie earned her reputation on the Mississippi Riverboats before moving on to Texas, where she played poker with the likes of Doc Holliday at Fort Griffin.

• Emily Dickinson (1839-1886) ­ Reclusive poet of hundreds of inventive, original poems, she was the most famous woman poet in nineteenth century America.

• Dorothea Dix (1802-1887) ­ Crusader of rights for the mentally ill in North America and Europe, she founded or improved over thirty hospitals for the mentally ill and influenced government legislation with her research. In 1861, she was appointed first Superintendent of U.S. Army Nurses.

• Isadora Duncan (1878-1927) ­ Pioneer of modern dance in America and Europe, she elevated dance to an art form practiced by serious artists and gained huge popularity for her innovative, expressive style.

• Dora DuFran (18??-1934) - The Black Hills' Leading Madam and a friend to Calamity Jane, DuFran ran a number of baudy houses in and around Deadwood, South Dakota for decades.

• Rose Dunn, aka: The Rose of Cimarron - Dunn was involved with George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb, a member of the Doolin Gang.

E

• Amelia Earhart (1898-1937) ­ Pioneering female aviator and the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, she achieved many aviation firsts and set numerous transcontinental records before disappearing in the South Pacific while attempting to fly around the world.

• Mattie Earp - See Celia Ann "Mattie" Blaylock

• Josephine "Josie" Marcus Earp, aka: Sadie (1861-1944) - Josephine was a professional dancer and actress involved with Johnny Behan in Tombstone, Arizona when she met Wyatt Earp. The two immediately got involved and by 1882 she was using the last name of "Earp." She spent her last years in Los Angeles, California and died on December 20, 1944.

F

• Mary Fields, aka: Stagecoach Mary (1832-1914) - Born as a slave in Tennessee, Fields was one of the first women entrepreneurs, stagecoach drivers, pioneers of the American West.

• Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) ­ Leading female intellectual and author of the pioneering feminist work Women in the Nineteenth Century in 1845. She edited for Ralph Waldo Emerson, and while writing literary and social criticism in Europe for the New York Tribune, became America's first female correspondent.

G

• Deborah Sampson Gannett (1760-1827) ­ She signed up for the 4th Massachusetts Regiment under an assumed male name, becoming the first woman to enlist as a soldier in the American army. After being wounded nineteen months later, she received an honorable medical discharge and, later, a military pension.

• Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) ­ Writer and lecturer on women's role in society, she was a leading feminist theorist and instrument of change.

• Emma Goldman (1869-1940} ­ An outspoken feminist, pacifist, and lecturer, Goldman founded Mother Earth newspaper and was noted for her radicalism in aiding the world's oppressed.

• Sarah Moore Grimke (1792-1873) and Angelina Emily Grimke (1805-1879) ­ Sisters from a wealthy slave owning family in South Carolina, they were the only white southerners to be leaders in the American Anti-Slavery Society. In an 1838 abolitionist speech before the Massachusetts State Legislature, Angelina became the first American woman to address a legislative body.

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