Do you recognize anyone on this list?
This is a list from Wikipedia of famous American women who died from childbirth related causes. Please go ahead in the comments, add your own list of women YOU know, who were "notable" to YOU.
This list is of women who have some kind of societal prominence. While it's understandable that not every woman who ever died in America can be listed, we don't want anyone to be forgotten. That is why we ask that you add your own list of loved ones in the comments.
If you have a chance to read some of the stories of the lives of these women, you'll probably notice the same theme we did - soooo many of the earlier stories contain judgements about how religious they were, etc. Judgement, self-righteous male arrogance, coercive control and patriarchal piety seems to be a predictor of bad outcomes for women, in every area of life. Yet one more reason to disassemble the patriarchal systems currently overseeing maternal health.
Read a powerful article above - on what it's like to go through pregnancy and birth as a black woman in America.
And here is that list:
Mary Forth (1615), wife of John Winthrop
Thomasine Clopton (1616), wife of John Winthrop
Mary (Norris) Allerton (1621), Mayflower passenger
Anne Child (1689), first wife of Josiah Franklin
Eliza Marble (1719), wife of Edward Low
Mary Phillips (1737), daughter of Samuel Phillips, older sister of John Phillips and aunt of Samuel Phillips Jr.
Hester Hampton (1739), mother of Rebecca Boone
Martha Eppes Wayles (1748), mother-in-law of Thomas Jefferson
Elizabeth Taylor Carter (1760), great-grandmother of James P. T. Carter
Amy Whipple Wilkinson (1764), mother of the Public Universal Friend
Jane Colden (1766), botanist and daughter of Cadwallader Colden
Maria Ygnacia Manuela Pinuelas (1775), wife of José Vicente Feliz
Esther Hawley Lyman (1775), mother of Lyman Beecher and grandmother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry Ward Beecher, Charles Beecher, Edward Beecher, Isabella Beecher Hooker, Catharine Beecher, and Thomas K. Beecher.
Martha Jefferson (1782), wife of Thomas Jefferson
Phillis Wheatley (1784), first American black female poet
Elizabeth Andrews (1788), first wife of Benjamin Pierce (father of Franklin Pierce)
Mary Jefferson Eppes (1804), daughter of Thomas Jefferson
Hannah Slater (1812)
Elizabeth Oliver (1815), first wife of Benjamin Waterhouse
Adelphia Batson (1819), first wife of John Bond Jr.
Kalanipauahi (1826), Hawaiian queen consort/princess and a member of the House of Kamehameha
Sarah Lincoln Grigsby (1828), sister of president Abraham Lincoln
the mother of Lide Meriwether (1829)
Julia Clapp (1831), first wife of John Murdock and biological mother of Julia Murdock Smith
Julia Beckwith (née Neale) Jackson (1831), mother Of Stonewall Jackson
Dianthe Lusk (1832), first wife of John Brown
Nahienaena (1836), Hawaiian Princess
Rachel Plummer (1839), daughter of James W. Parker
Waanibe (1841), first wife of Kit Carson
the mother of Charles Yerkes (1842)
Emily Hoyt Ballard (1844), first wife of Daniel Dole
Olivia Loughridge (1845), first wife of Robert McGill Loughridge
Olive Grey Frost Young (1845), 16th Wife Of Brigham Young
Eliza Hoge (1846), mother of James Hoge Tyler
Lucinda Matilda (née Cook) Daniel (1849), mother of Jack Daniel
the second wife of Jim Bridger (1849)
Louisa Beaman Young (1850), 9th Wife Of Brigham Young
María Manuela Antonia Jimeno y de la Guerra (1852), first wife of Alfred Sully
Margaret Alley Young (1852), 22nd Wife Of Brigham Young
Albertine Kramer (1852), first wife of Wilhelm Victor Keidel
Elinor Junkin (1854), first wife of Stonewall Jackson
Cecilia Kent Leavitt (1855), mother of Cecilia Beaux
Eliza Polk (1855), first wife of John P. Cochran, 43rd Governor of Delaware
Mary Eulalie Fee Shannon (1855), American poet
Jane McDougal (1862), wife of John McDougal, 2nd Governor of California
Harriet Mace (1865), second wife of Junius Brutus Booth Jr.
Caroline Kott (1865), second and final wife of Wilhelm Victor Keidel
Josefa Jaramillo (1868), third and final wife of Kit Carson
Helen L. Gilson (1868), Civil War Nurse
Susannah Lattin (1868), her baby was put up for adoption
Rhoda Martha Burt Austin (1877), mother of Rhoda Fox Graves
Serena Sabin (1878), mother of Florence R. Sabin
Minnie Warren (1878), entertainer
Abigail May Alcott Nieriker (1879), painter
Clara Adelaide Sharon (1882), first wife of Francis G. Newlands
Mary Nowak (1883), mother of Leon Frank Czolgosz (1873 –1901), the assassin of U.S. President William McKinley
Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt (1884), first wife of Theodore Roosevelt
Hattie Eliza Gage (1886), first wife of George Washington Henderson
Cornelia J. Hollar (1887), mother of actor John Hamilton
Awbonnie Tookanka (1888), first wife of Granville Stuart
Elizabeth Donahue Vaughn (1888), first wife of Robert Vaughn
Jennie Louise Benedict (1889), daughter of Henry Flagler
Susan James Parmer (1889), younger sister of Jesse James
Jeanette Guggenheim (1889), daughter of Meyer Guggenheim and aunt of Peggy Guggenheim
Clara Rudio Pierce (1890), first wife of Walter M. Pierce, later the 17th Governor of Oregon
Magdalena Schlador Chandler (1892), first wife of Harry Chandler
Alice Jones Porter (1892), mother of Katherine Anne Porter
Josephine Courtney Pruitt (1893), mother of Elinore Pruitt Stewart
Blanche Lehman (1895), only wife of Henri Willis Bendel
Jennie Pond Atwater (1896)
Rosa Fullman (1896), mother of Henry Darger
Martha Wells Shumate (1896), mother of Whitney Shumate
Charlotte Vieux (1897), mother of Jim Thorpe
Ellen Victoria Cheek Smart (1898), mother of Sonora Smart Dodd
Mary Cowan, serial killer (1898)
Caroline Miskel Hoyt (1898), actress
Anne Purcell Higgins (1899, also died of Tuberculosis), Mother of Margaret Sanger
Nora Wright (1901), first wife of Scott Hayden
Halle Tanner Dillon Johnson (1901), first black female doctor in Alabama
Jessie Octavia Borthwick Pitkin (1901), sister of Mamah Borthwick
Alice Lamon Powers (1906), mother of Chard Powers Smith
the biological mother of John L. Goldwater, one of the three co-founders of Archie Comics
Jean Webster (1916), author
Elnora Dickerson (1916), first wife of Benjamin O. Davis Sr.
the mother of Budd Boetticher (1916)
Anna Uelsmann (1919), Mother of Maurice Hilleman (she died 2 days after her daughter's stillbirth)
Julia Petta (1921)
Eliza Lacks Pleasant (1924), mother of cancer victim Henrietta Lacks
Pearl Greengard (1925), mother of actress Chris Chase and neuroscientist Paul Greengard.
Lena Steward (1926), stepmother of George B. Thomas
the biological mother of Katie Myatt of The Moonmaids (1926)
Kay Laurell (1927), actress (initially, she died of pneumonia)
Benita Rosalind Guggenheim (1927), sister of Peggy Guggenheim
the mother of Norma Crane (1928)
Virginia Travis (1930), first wife of Robert Johnson
Clare Collins (1930), first wife of Ernest McFarland
Margery Latimer (1932), writer and first wife of Jean Toomer
Nettie Harper (1932), first wife of Thomas A. Dorsey
Caletta Craft (1932), second and last wife of Robert Johnson
the mother of Joe Arpaio (1932)
Axie Pauline Cox (1933), first wife of Red Foley
Marjorie Frost (1934), daughter of Robert Frost
Edith Roberts, actress, vaudevillian (1935)
Marjorie Oelrichs (1937), socialite
Ruth Harriet Louise (1940), photographer
Donna Damerel (1941), radio actress for Myrt and Marge and mother of Charles B. Griffith, who was 10 years old at the time.
Ophelia Ruffin (1941), mother of David Ruffin
Cecilia Mettler (1943), medical historian
Arline Roswell (1946), first wife of Roy Rogers
Ellee Williams (1949), mother of Irv Cross
Martina von Trapp (1951), was a member of the Trapp Family Singers
first wife of Johnny Smith (1957)
Mary Welch (1958), stage actress and first wife of David White
Ellen Urban (1961), first wife of William D. Ruckelshaus
Gerri Santoro (1964)
Wan-bing Mui (1967), mother of Francis Chan
Nicola Griggs Andron (1975), daughter of David T. Griggs and granddaughter of Robert Fiske Griggs
Rosie Jimenez (1977)
the mother of Masuimi Max
Becky Bell (1988)
Nadine Renee (2004), singer/songwriter
Michal Friedman, singer/voice actress, wife of Dan Green (2011)
Marlise Muñoz (2013)
Micki Carey Tobin (2012) (amniotic fluid embolism)
Chaniece Wallace (2020)
This week, in honor of presidents day 🤨 we want to highlight a “Down with the Patriarchy” theme… We are creating a coupon code for 10% off any program over $400, good for use all week.
Use coupon code DWTP10
(yes, that stands for Down With The Patriarchy - sorry, not sorry)
AND we will be putting blog posts up all week that highlight why government (and any kind of regulatory) involvement in maternal health is part of the problem….
Please share this blog post, watch our social media and share whatever you feel led to. The more attention we have on this matter, the better.