July 31, 1861 Helen Barrett Montgomery was born in Kingsville, OH. She is known as an educator and writer, but was also a social reformer.
In 1921 she was the first woman to be elected president of the Northern Baptist Convention, and the first of any religious denomination in the U.S. Before that, in 1899, she had been the first woman elected to the Rochester (NY) School Board, the first elected to any public office in that city. This was 20 years before women had the vote.
Montgomery was also a scholar, translating the New Testament from the original Greek, the first woman to do so. ABHS has many records related to Montgomery’s life and work.
