Eliza Hart Spalding, 1807-1851

Photo credit - Washington State University Libraries' Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC) @ NPS

A missionary and educator, the first white woman to cross the Continental Divide of the Americas, considered as the founding mother of the state of Idaho.

Eliza Hart Spalding was born in Kensington, CT. When she was 13 years old, she moved with her family to Oneida County, NY, where they had a farm. A mutual friend introduced between Eliza and Henry Harmon Spalding, and they got married when she was 26 years old. Soon after their marriage, the Spaldings joined the Whitman party, who traveled along the Oregon Trail with the purpose of serving as Presbyterian missionaries. They were among the first white settlers to travel across the western plains, and Eliza and Narcissa Whitman were the only two women in the party. The journey through the Rocky Mountains was not easy; it was a long trip that included steamboats, horseback, and wagon train.

The Spalding family decided to leave the party and to settle in Lapwei, Idaho, the land of the Nez Perce. They were the first American settlers in the area, and they brought with them a printing press, the first one in the Northwest. Their house was more than a home; it contained a church and a school, where Eliza, who learned the local language, taught both in English and the Nez Perce language. As opposed to her husband, she sought to understand the Nez Perce people and not vice versa. The natives liked her, especially the women who followed her around and watched the “white woman” cooking, cleaning, and caring for her children. In addition to teaching languages, Hart Spalding taught sewing and knitting, and how to make “civilized” clothing.

After the Whitman Massacre in 1847 at Waiilatpu, Washington, the Spaldings had to leave their mission. They moved to Oregon City, Oregon, where Eliza was the first teacher at Tualatin Academy, which later became the Pacific University. 60 years after she has passed away, her body was re-interred in the Lapwei Mission Cemetery. Though the mission didn’t succeed as planned, her impact was tremendous. Not only she left behind her two schools, a spinning and weaving shop, and two print-shops, she also paved the way for other women to migrate by land and to settle over the Rocky Mountains.
 

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Fun Facts

  • She and her future husband were pen pals for a year before they met face to face.
  • She adopted 8 Nez Perce children.

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Category: Academy & Education and Religion & Ethnic Culture
Tags: Educator and Spiritual Leader

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Adelina-Otero-Warren-WWP
Activism & Feminism

Adelina Otero-Warren, 1881-1965

A suffrage leader, educator, and politician. The first Latina to run for US Congress and one of the first’s women to serve as a government official in New Mexico.

Adelina “Nina” Otero Warren was born near Los Lunas, New Mexico. Her family was among the early settlers in New Mexico, and her parents were part of the Hispanic elite. When she was 2 years old, her father was killed by an Anglo squatter. A few years later, her mother married an English businessman, and she grew up in a multicultural environment. She was influenced by her mother, who was an advocate for social and educational developments and served as the director of Santa Fe’s Board of Education. At 16, the family relocated to Santa Fe, where she became a socialite. At the age of 26, she married Lieutenant Rawson D. Warren, a cavalry officer who was nine years older than her. Though the marriage did not last long, she kept her x-husband’s last name and called herself a widow, so she would not be stigmatized as a divorced woman.   At 31, Nina moved to NYC to keep house for her brother. There, she became active in Anne Morgan’s settlement house, working alongside the famous suffragist Alice Paul and organizing crafts programs for working-class women. Two years later, her mother died, and Nina returned to Santa Fe to take care of her half-siblings. Upon her arrival, she started working for the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage. Soon she became the first Mexican-American state leader of the Congressional Union in New Mexico, raising support from the Spanish-speaking community as well as from the English-speaking community. Using her family connections, she was a successful lobbyist for voting in favor of the Nineteenth Amendment, and she had a key role in its ratification in 1920. In 1922, at the age of 41, Nina ran as the Republican Party nominee for New Mexico to the US House of Representatives – The first Latina to run for the US Congress. During her campaign, she spoke Spanish and advocated for the improvement of education, health care, and welfare services, as well as for the preservation of Hispano heritage and culture. Ultimately, she lost the election by less than 9%, probably because it was discovered that she was a divorcee, not a widow. In 1917 Nina was appointed as the Santa Fe Superintendent of Instruction – one of the first women to serve as government officials in New Mexico. In her 12 years in office, she worked tirelessly to improve the education of Hispano. This post is also available in: Español Read more...
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Politics & Leaders

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