Catherine Hayes (not to be confused with the murderess of the same name) was born in Limerick, Ireland in 1818. Abandoned by her musician father at age 5, Catherine grew up in poverty with her mother and younger sister. While singing in the garden one day, the purity of twenty-year-old Catherine’s voice was heard by …
Irish Women in History – Catherine Hayes, The Victorian Pop Star Read More »
Selika Laszevski is in fact so little known, many historians question her existence at all. The portrait here was taken by Felix Nadar in 1891, Paris, France. The photo is thought to be of Lasveski, but it is not certain. Some historians speculate that this photograph was taken of an unknown model and Nadar attached …
Horsewomen in History – Little Known Selika Laszevski Read More »
(Continued. For Part One, click here.) Catherine of Aragon and Henry had one child, Mary Tudor, who had now reached teenager-hood. While her mother was cast out of Henry’s court, Mary, also stripped of her title of princess and declared a bastard, had been allowed to remain. Until the birth of her baby sister, Elizabeth. …
(continued from last week’s post. Find it here.) After Victorio’s attempts to obtain permission for his people to return to the Mescalero Reservation failed, he and Lozen took action. They encouraged their people to flee in different directions. Lozen took charge of a group of women and children and headed to Mexico. When they approached …
Empowered Women of the Southwest – Lozen, Apache Warrior Woman (Part 2) Read More »
Dr. Nellie MacKnight (continued) For Part One click here. The day after Olive’s funeral, Nellie was sent to live with her father’s brother and his wife in New York. While she got on well with her Uncle, his wife resented Nellie’s presence and made the fact well known to her. After two years of suffering …
Empowered Women of the West – Dr. Nellie MacKnight (Part Two) Read More »
San Francisco 1891 “Subjects, bodies for dissection, were divided into five parts—the head, two uppers and two lowers. By some ironical twist of circumstance, the first dissection assigned to me was a lower. The dissection of the pelvic organs was to be done in company with the young man who was assigned to the other …
Empowered Women of the West – Dr. Nellie MacKnight (Part One) Read More »
What possessed a young girl in the mid-1800’s to leave her well-to-do, “good” family in the mid-west and move clear across the country to Denver, Colorado to take up a life of prostitution? Little is known about the early years of Perle de Vere—a woman who did just that–and later became Colorado’s most famous madam. …
The Mysteries of Perle de Vere – Madam of the Southwest Read More »
It is said, madness runs in families. While Isabella of Castile became one of the most powerful female monarchs the world would ever know, her daughter, Juana, could not seem to find empowerment at any time in her life, even when she became Queen of Castile. Suffering from bouts of ill temper, melancholia, jealous rages …
Queen Isabella of Castile, and the Mysterious Madness of Princess Juana Read More »
What possessed, Joan of Arc, a normal, 15th century teenaged girl from a modest village, to travel for 11 days to tell the dauphin of France she needed to lead an an army to Orléans to save the country from English power? What possessed the dauphin to grant her request, against the advice of his …
What did a woman in history do when she had no control over her life? If strong and empowered, she rebelled. Sometimes in a big way, and sometimes as a detriment to herself. One such woman was Elisabeth, Empress of Austria. Born, Her Royal Highness Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie, in Munich, Bavaria 1837, Elisabeth grew …
