Welcome to A Little HerStory

It is the day after Christmas, and the beginning of a new week that culminates in a fresh, new year. The holidays are difficult and joyful at the same time for me. Difficult because memories tug at me and I miss my family fiercely, but joyful because I have treasured memories. I completely understand those that struggle at this time of year, it is difficult. I hope that you had friends, family, love and memories to sustain you during this season that can be so bitter/sweet. I

Grace Thorpe was born in Yale, Oklahoma, on December 10, 1921. Grace’s parents, Iva Miller and Jim Thorpe, gave her a Native American name inspired by her great-grandmother, No Teno Quah. Grace explained the name refers to the power of the wind before a storm. Iva was Potawatomi, Menominee and Kickapoo and a direct descendent of Sac and Fox chief, Black Hawk. It was Black Hawk who disputed the treaty signed between the US Government and his tribe to cede all land east of the

Laura Gilpin, the daughter of Emma and Frank Gilpin, was born on April 22, 1891, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Frank first came west in 1880 to help his brother, Bernard in a business venture, The Maryland Cattle Company. The winter of 1886 was severe and disastrous and wiped out his brother’s burgeoning cattle business. This sent Frank scrambling for work and began a life long pattern of moving from one job to another. He would become an adventurer, cowboy, miner, investor,

Mary Ann Ball Bickerdyke was born in Knox County, near Mount Vernon, Ohio, on July 19, 1817, to Hiram and Annie Cassady Ball. Her father was a farmer. Her mother died when she was just seventeen months old. Hiram, now a widower, was overwhelmed and grieving. He sent Bickerdyke to live with her elderly grandparents who farmed in Richland County. Upon their deaths, she went to live with her uncle, Henry Rodgers, on his farm in Hamilton County, Ohio. She had a very limited, basi