1849-1916
In Newark, Jeannette Gilder worked in the editorial department of the Newark Morning Register, helping her brother launch the paper. Later, she wrote for papers around the country, mainly the Chicago Tribune and published several books. The Newark News said she, “laid the foundation of her literary fame as a newspaper reporter in Newark.”
Jeannette was born in New York, where her father ran a school, but soon moved to Bordentown. Her brother worked for the Newark Daily Advertiser, after which they moved to Brunswick Street in Newark. Jeannette was offered a job as a proofreader.
Soon afterwards, her brother founded the Newark Morning Register and at age 18, she helped him launch the paper and wrote articles. She also covered Newark for the New York Tribune as a reporter for $12 a week, though she was fired when they discovered her gender. From there she went on to edit Scribner’s Monthly and write book reviews in the Herald, leading to a career around the country.
Jeanette said, “Printers ink ran in our veins instead of blood…I did not choose a profession, a profession chose me.”
Bibliography
Kukla, Barbara J. Newark Women: From Suffragettes to the State House.
Leonard, John W. (1914). Woman’s Who’s who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, 1914-1915 (Public domain ed.). American commonwealth Company.
“Open Collections Program: Women Working, Jeannette Leonard Gilder (1849–1916)”
“Jeanette L. Gilder Dies in Her Home” Pittsburg Post Gazette Jan 19, 1916
“The Reminiscences of Nell Gilbert” Newark Evening News Dec 3, 1904
“Jeanette Gilder Dies of Apoplexy” Newark Evening News Jan 18, 1916