Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/915

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Part Taken by Women in American History

ITTI KINNEY RENO.

Born Nashville, Tennessee, May 17, 1862. Daughter of Colonel George Kinney, of Nashville. In 1885 she became the wife of Robert Ross Reno, son of the late M. A. Reno, Major of the Seventh United States Cavalry, famous for the gallant defense of his men during two days and nights of horror from the overwhelming force of Sioux Indians, who the day before had massacred Custer's entire battalion. Mrs. Reno's first novel, "Miss Breckenridge, a Daughter of Dixie," proved most successful and passed through five editions. Her second book, "An Exceptional Case," likewise met with great success.

HESTER DORSEY RICHARDSON.

Born January 9, 1862, in Baltimore, Maryland. Daughter of James A. Dorsey and Sarah A. W. Dorsey, both of old representative Maryland families. She is known under the pen name of "Selene," and her "Selene Letters," which appeared in the Baltimore American, attracted wide attention. A letter from her pen helped to rescue the Mercantile Library from an untimely end. She organized the Woman's Literay Club of Baltimore, laying the foundation of a controlling force in the intellectual and social life of her native city.

EMILY TRACEY Y. SWETT PARKHURST.

Born in San Francisco, California, March 9, 1S63, and died there April 21, 1892. She was the daughter of Professor John Swett, a prominent educator of California, known as the "Father of Pacific Coast Eduaction," and author of many educational works of wide use in the United States, England, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Australia. Miss Swett became the wife of John W. Parkhurst, of the Bank of California, in 1889. She has contributed largely to the magazines and papers of the Pacific Coast. Her literary work includes translations from Greek, French and German and some finished poems of high merit. She dramatized Helen Hunt Jackson's novel "Ramona."

ELIZA J. NICHOLSON.

Born in 1849 in Hancock County, Mississippi, and died February 15, 1896. Contributor to the New York Home Journal and other papers of high standing under the pen name of "Pearl Rivers." When asked by the editor of the New Orleans Picayune to become literary editor of that paper, a newspaper woman was unheard of in the South. She was not only the pioneer woman journalist of the South, but became the foremost woman editor. In 1878 she became the wife of George Nicholson, then manager, and afterwards part proprietor, but Mrs. Nicholson, up to the day of her death, shaped the policy of the paper.

MARY FRENCH SHELDON.

Mrs. Sheldon was born in 1846, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is a great-great-granddaughter of Isaac Newton, and her ancestors include many notable