Women of the Week

Elizabeth Powell Bond, a Dean of Swarthmore College who was born on January 25, 1841, Mary D. Lowman, a municipal officer who was born on January 27, 1842, and Ella Rhoads Higginson, who was born on January 28, 1862, are this week's Women of the Week.

• To learn about them by viewing their item records, please click on their images.  

• To read their biographical sketches in A Woman of the Century, please click on the highlighted page numbers to the left of their images.

Elizabeth Powell Bond was born to Catherine Macy Powell and Townsend Powell on January 25th, 1841, in Clinton, New York.  She had an older brother named Aaron. When Elizabeth was four years old, the family moved to Ghent, New York where she grew up.

She attended the State Normal School in Albany, then began her teaching career in Mamaroneck, New York.  Next, Elizabeth became a gymnastics instructor at Vassar College. From there, she moved to Florence, Massachusetts, and met the lawyer Henry Herrick Bond.  . They married and became parents to two sons, Edwin Powell Bond, who was born in 1874, and Herrick Tyler Bond, who was born in 1878, but died in infancy.

Elizabeth spent the majority of her life teaching young children, as well as using her home to teach some of her pupils who were struggling in school.  Since they were interested in sharing local news and events, Elizabeth and her husband edited “The Northampton Journal.”

Bond was an educator and social activist who fought for women's rights, as well as for the rights of African Americans.  In addition, Elizabeth devoted a lot of time and effort to activities related to her Quaker religion.  Her personal network included Louisa May Alcott, Ellen Tucker Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Fanny Garrison Villard, William Lloyd Garrison, and Dio Lewis.  Elizabeth was the first Dean of Women at Swarthmore College, a position she held from 1890 to 1906.  In 1901, Elizabeth wrote “Words by the Way,” which she dedicated to Swarthmore’s students.

During her later years, Elizabeth enjoyed gardening.  She passed away in Germantown, Pennsylvania, on March 29, 1926, and was buried in Spring Grove Cemetery, Florence, Massachusetts.

Mary D. Lowman, who served as mayor of Oskaloosa, Kansas, was born in Shelocta, Indiana County, Pennsylvania, on January 27, 1842.  She married George W. Lowman in 1866 and moved to Kansas.  Mary became the mother of two children.

She taught for many years in Pennsylvania and Kansas, including three years in Kansas when Mary focused her attention on teaching newly emancipated African-Americans.

Also committed to fighting for religious causes, Mary, a Presbyterian, gave significant time to this work.

Mary was Assistant to the Register of Deeds, her husband, in her hometown of Oskaloosa, Kansas, before running for and being elected mayor in 1888.  She and her team of female council members were very successful in administering Oskaloosa, and they were reelected in 1889.  They received many notices in the press and much attention.

Tragically, as the  Topeka State Journal  explains, Mary died "from burns sustained when her clothing caught fire, while preparing a meal" at her home in Oskaloosa.  She passed away the next day, June 2, 1912, and was buried in Oskaloosa's Pleasant View Cemetery.

Poet and author Ella Rhoads Higginson was born in Council Grove, Kansas, on January 28, 1862.  Her family moved to Portland, Oregon, when she was a child, and they later lived in Oregon City, Oregon.

Ella married Russell C. Higginson in 1886, and the couple moved to Bellingham, Washington.  He was a druggist, and she began publishing her writing.  Ella contributed to many magazines, including Harper's Magazine, McClure's Magazine, Once A Week, Scribner's Magazine, and Woman's Home Companion.  She also was a book critic for The Seattle Times. Ella's most well-known poem was "Four Leaf Clover."

She served as editor of the women's department and contributed poems to West Shore.  In 1905, Ella served as assistant editor of The Westerner, a new Seattle, Washington periodical that was edited by Edgar L. Hampton.  According to The Ranch of June 15, 1905, "The feature in this number is 'Orilla," a Puget Sound novelette by Ella Higginson."

Ella was well-regarded by her contemporaries.  The Seattle Republican of April 5, 1912, noted, "In Bellingham there lives one of the truly great novelists, Ella Higginson.  Her 'Mary Ella Out West,' if that is the correct title, is the equal of either the 'Scarlet Letter' or 'Adam Bede.'" 

In addition to her writing, Ella, a women's rights supporter, was the campaign manager for Frances C. Axtell, the Washington State Legislature's first female member.

Ella's philanthropic work included being involved with founding Bellingham's first public library and volunteering for the American Red Cross.

On June 17, 1931, Ella received the honor of becoming the poet laureate of Washington State.

She passed away on December 27, 1940.

Ella was featured in "Ella Higginson and the Pacific Northwest" by Laura Laffrado on C-Span's BookTV video on December 9, 2013.