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Frances and Eliza Coult
1836-1935, 1866-1935 Frances and Eliza Coult were a mother and daughter who died within 24 hours of each out in 1935. They were the mother and sister of Margaret Coult and wife and daughter of Joseph Coult, Newark counsel. The family lived in Woodside and then at 58 Mount Pleasant Ave. Frances lived to be…
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Miss Rhapsody Viola Wells
1902-1984 Born in Newark, Viola Wells, known as Miss Rhapsody was an internationally acclaimed jazz, blues and religious singer. In Newark, she sang for local jazz clubs in the 1920s and started out with the Salica Johnson Glee Club. She also performed in New York and nationally, playing with Count Basie’s Orchestra and the Harlem…
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Miriam Ogden Ball
1890-1968 Miriam Ball was from an old Newark family and was born in Newark. She was the daughter of Mary Depue Ogden. She was “presented” to Newark Society in 1909. She attended Wellesley College and worked briefly for the Newark Library; then returned to the library in 1934. In 1951, she was assigned to the…
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Mary Depue Ogden
1867-1960 Mary Depue Odgden was a member of a prominent New Jersey family, her father was a justice on the NJ Supreme Court. As a youth, the Newark News wrote, “she was one of the leaders of the young social set”. Mary was the editor of the Memorial Cyclopedia of New Jersey (4 volumes). Mary…
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Florence Spearing Randolph
1866-1951 Florence Randolph was a suffragist, ordained minister and clubwomen. She was organizer of the NJ Federation of Colored Womens’s Clubs. Randolph’s life has been covered widely in several publications including the sources below. In Newark, Randolph was pastor of AME Zion Church. Florence lived in Jersey City for many years and died there in…
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Martha Belle Williams
1924-1969 Martha Belle Williams, with M. Bernadine Johnson Marshall, was the first African American woman admitted to the New Jersey Bar. She said, “I haven’t thought much about taking the examination as a Negro or as a woman either, I just want to be a good lawyer.’ Martha was from Montclair but attended Essex Junior College…
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Elizabeth Blume-Silverstein
1892-1991 Eliabeth Blume-Silverstein was born in Newark. She graduated the New Jersey Law School in Newark in 1911 (just a year after the first woman graduate Laura Mayo Wilson), but could not practice until she turned 21. In 1913, she was admitted to the Bar as an attorney and in 1917 as a counselor. Elizabeth…
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Ann VanWagenen Plume & Nancy Vischer Plume
1752-1816 and Bef. 1710-Aft. 1710 Ann VanWagenen Plume was married to Isaac Plumne. It is said that during the Revolutionary War, Hessians began destroying her property. She got so angry, the soldiers retreated. A few days later, she found a Hessian soldier in her ice house and trapped him inside. She gave him to the…
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Esther R Newman
c. 1883 – 1901 Esther Newman was the first woman graduate of the NJ College of Pharmacy along with Emma Egge. She graduated in April and died in August due to appendicitis after an operation. She was listed as a prize winner at the graduation, graduating with high honors and had been appointed Chief Pharmacist…
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Emma Oschwald Egge
c. 1883-1960 Born in Newark, Emma was first woman to graduate the NJ College of Pharmacy in Newark, along with Esther Newman who died a few months later of appendicitis. In 1905, Emma passed exams to receive her license to practice. Emma was a pharmacist for Newark City Hospital for over 25 years. She helped…