All Bones Considered: 52 Laurel Hill Women

It's time for some new woman heroes. I've found more than 50 interred at historic Laurel Hill East Cemetery in Philadelphia and Laurel Hill West in Bala Cynwyd. Among your new discoveries:

• Esther deBerdt Reed – Founding Mother whose status in the colonies at the time of her death was second only to Martha Washington.
• Anna Jarvis – Founded Mother’s Day.
• Martha Kimball – Founded Memorial Day.
• Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander – First Black woman in America to earn a PhD in economics, later attended law school; Philadelphia is erecting a statue in her honor.
• Mary Ann Lee – America’s first prima ballerina.
• Rachel Lloyd – First American woman to earn a PhD in chemistry.
• Glenna Collett Vare – First woman to drive a golf ball 300 yards.
• Nellie Nielson, PhD – First woman president of the American Historical Society.
• Helen Thompson Woolley, PhD – Revolutionized gender studies with her research.
• Katherine McBride, PhD – Her graduate thesis on “aphasia” remains a classic in the field.
• Cecilia Beaux – Renowned portrait painter of society’s elite.
• Christine Wetherill Stevenson – Founded The Hollywood Bowl.
• Aimee Ernesta Drinker Bullitt Beaux Barlow – Painted several times by her aunt Cecilia Beaux; turned down more than 50 marriage proposals before 21 and hosted a WWII radio show as “Commando Mary.”
• Frances Anne Wister – Saved Old City, Cobbs Creek, Elfreth's Alley, and founded PhilaLandmarks.
• Mary Channing Wister – Responsible for music in the schools and Broad Street line being underground.
• Ella Wister Haines – Made a career in public relations with the electric company.
• Princess Olga Demidoff Stoever (cenotaph) – Descended from Russian royalty; worked as a madame in a New York City brothel and became infamous for a wine bottle incident.
• Annie Inglis – Inspired the creation of a home for incurables.
• Anna Magee – Used her fortune to establish a rehabilitation hospital.
• Catherine Drinker Bowen – Wrote best-selling biographies and histories, including four Book of the Month Club selections.
• Elizabeth Head Fetter – Wrote about medicine for lay audiences.
• Gladys Hall – Wrote gossip columns for movie magazines.
• Irene Koprowska, MD – Co-discovered the Pap smear.
• Anna Lukens, MD – Faced the "She Doctor Crisis of 1869."
• Delores Tucker – Fought against misogynistic lyrics in rap music.
• Anne Francine – Starred opposite Angela Lansbury on Broadway and Barbara Eden on television.
• Anna Meister – Started her own religion.
• Henrietta Garrett – Quietly amassed a fortune of more than $15 million but never wrote a will.
• Hannah Clothier Hull – Prominent Quaker pacifist and lifelong advocate for peace.
• Edie Huggins – Beloved television personality.

These are only some of the marvelous women you will meet in this fascinating excursion through Philadelphia and United States history. This is Volume 1 of a planned 4 volume set.