The Women of the United States Postage Stamps--Part 1

By Jennifer Uhlarik

 

I can hardly believe that we’re already nearly done with the first two months of 2026. This year has flown by, so far. In just three more days, February will be ending, and then we’re into March. Many of you know that March is designated as Women’s History month, and I thought it would be a fun topic to look at the women whose faces have graced our American postage stamps—and what they did to earn such an honor. There have been nearly two-hundred women featured since the late 1800s, when the first woman appeared. So, let’s dig in!

 

The very first woman to ever have her face on an American postage stamp was not an American woman at all. In fact, she was a European ruler. Why on Earth would we put a European queen on our American postage, you ask? Well, perhaps it is because she put up the money to fund Christopher Columbus, who is commonly credited with having discovered America. So who is the woman with the prestigious honor of having been the first female to grace an American postage stamp? Queen Isabella I of Castile (now part of Spain). The stamp was issued in 1893 and was worth $4 during its run. If you can find one of these stamps today, it can cost upward of $3500 in mint condition.

Note Isabella I of Castile on the left,
Columbus on the right.

 Just nine years later, the second woman to grace a postage stamp in the United States was none other than our first First Lady—Martha Washington. Dear Martha has the honor of being featured on stamps three different times, first in 1902, again in 1923, and the last time in 1938. Not only was she the original First Lady of the United States, but she was also instrumental in leading the women camp followers and keeping up troop morale during the Revolution, among many other things.

Martha Washington's 1902 Stamp

Her second appearance came in 1923

Her final appearance was in 1938.

Third on our list of ladies who have graced the postage stamp is none other than Pocahontas, the Native American woman of the Powhatan people who was taken captive by European settlers. Hers is a difficult story which has been beautifully and painstakingly recounted by a dear friend, Shannon McNear, in her Daughters of the Lost Colony series (along with what might have happened to another one of our ladies in this post—Virginia Dare). This stamp, issued in 1907, was originally worth five cents. Today, a mint condition Pocahontas stamp would cost around $450.

Pocahontas's short life was full of hardships.

 

In 1928, “Molly Pitcher” was added to the list of women featured on American postage. Molly Pitcher is a made-up name, and the real identity of this woman isn’t certain, though it is thought that “Molly Pitcher” was a composite of three heroic women who fought in the American Revolution alongside their husbands. The three women are Margaret Corbin, Deborah Sampson, and Mary “Molly” Ludwig Hays. The last on this list, Molly, was said to have carried water in pitchers to dehydrated and desperate soldiers, as well as used the water to cool the cannons. During the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778, Molly Ludwig Hays’s husband was overcome by the conditions and couldn’t man the cannon any longer. So brave Molly stepped into his place, fulfilling his duties during this important battle. Afterward, George Washington is said to have personally thanked her and began calling her “Sergeant Molly.” You’ll notice, on her stamp, it is actually a picture of George Washington with the name “Molly Pitcher” stamped over it. Interesting, right?

Molly Pitcher's name, but not her likeness,
appeared on this stamp.

 

Our next famed lady was Susan B. Anthony, the famed social reformer of the 1800s. She worked with the abolition movement to outlaw slavery in the United States, then lent her voice to the temperance movement, and finally women’s suffrage. Her face has appeared on postage stamps twice—once in 1936 and again in 1955. And I’m sure you all are aware that her likeness was also used on a $1 coin, which was minted between 1979 and 1981, and again in 1999. 

Susan B. Anthony's first appearance on a
postage stamp came in 1936.

Her second appearance was in 1955.

She also made it to the $1 silver coin for a few years.

 

Next is Virginia Dare, who was memorialized on a stamp in 1937. If you haven’t heard of Virginia, she was the first English child born in an English colony here on American soil. Part of the ill-fated Roanoke settlement, Virginia was born on August 18, 1587, the granddaughter of John White. As governor of the colony, White returned to England to garner more money and support, and by the time he returned, the Roanoke colony had disappeared into the mists of time.

Virginia Dare--the first English baby born in the 
colony of Roanoke in 1587--was memorialized 
on a stamp in 1937.

 

In 1940, a female author was honored with her own postage stamp. It was none other than Louisa May Alcott, who was most famous for having written Little Women and Little Men. Like Susan B. Anthony, Louisa also lent her voice to the abolition and temperance movements, and during the Civil War, desired to serve as a soldier. However, because she was a woman, she was denied. Instead, she sewed uniforms until she turned thirty, which was the minimum age for women to become nurses. She soon applied as a nurse and worked in the Union Hotel Hospital in Washington, D.C. until contracting typhoid fever.

Louisa May Alcott did far more than write 
the beloved classic, Little Women.

 

The last woman for today’s post was Frances Willard, who was yet another social reformer. Frances was a teacher who, in her short fifty-eight years, spoke up for temperance and women’s suffrage. In addition, she was the first Dean of Women at Northwestern University, the longtime president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and in 2000, was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame for her many prestigious contributions. Her stamp was created in 1940.

Social Reformer Frances Willard joined 
others in fighting for women's suffrage.

 

We’ll continue the parade of women who appeared on postage stamps for the next several months, so be watching for more. In the meantime:

 

It’s Your Turn: Which of the women who were honored with their own stamp do you find the most impressive, and why?

 

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered western novels at twelve when she swiped the only “horse” book from her brother’s bookshelf. Across the next decade, she devoured westerns and fell in love with the genre. While attaining a B.A. in writing from the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. She has finaled in and won numerous writing competitions and appeared on various best-seller lists. Besides writing, she’s been a business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, a historical researcher, a publisher, and a full-time homemaker. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband and fur children.

 

Available Now: Love and Order: A Three-Part Old West Romantic Mystery

 

Wanted: 

Family, Love, and Justice

One Old West Mystery Solved Throughout Three Short Romantic Stories

Separated as children when they were adopted out to different families from an orphan train, the Braddock siblings have each grown up and taken on various jobs within law enforcement and criminal justice.

 

Youngest child, Callie, has pushed past her insecurities to pursue a career as a Pinkerton agent. Middle child, Andi, has spent years studying law under her adoptive father’s tutelage. And the eldest and only son, Rion, is a rough-and-tumble bounty hunter. 

 

When the hunt for a serial killer with a long history of murders reunites the brother and sisters in Cambria Springs, Colorado, they find themselves not only in a fight for justice, but also a fight to keep their newly reunited family intact. How will they navigate these challenges when further complicated by unexpected romances?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guest Post: The Continuing Saga of the Lost Colony by Shannon McNear

Three years ago, when I was reading/researching for Elinor, my first Lost Colony story, there was so much I still didn’t know about the subject, or all the politics surrounding the expeditions from England to the New World. One nation jockeying for position with another for control of new resources (see my original post here), opposing factions within England herself vying for position and the favor of the queen, even while war brewed with Spain. The Roanoke colonists and their plight were rather lost in the shuffle when it came to national defense and personal conflicts.

The arrival of the Englishmen in Virginia (1590).
Engraving by Theodor De Bry, from a drawing by John White

 

I suppose, then, that it isn’t much of a surprise, when it comes to the question of what really happened to those colonists, theories and arguments abound.

 

As far as the most immediate word on what happened, we have exactly one primary source: the word (and fragment of a word) carved into a tree and a palisade post by the colonists themselves. After that is the written report by John White, professional artist turned governor of the colony, sent back to England shortly after their landing to plead on behalf of his people. Roanoke Island was never supposed to be the site of their settlement site, after all, although it isn’t quite clear what their chosen location would have been. The squabble with Simon Fernandez, navigator of the main ship that carried the colonists over, is documented, although no rational reason (in retrospect) is given for his insistence on dumping the colonists at the last-known English fort. Despite the eerie discovery of said fort to be abandoned, Fernandez did not budge on his decision. The colonists, knowing they were short on supplies and that the island had been at best a temporary hunting location for indigenous peoples, panicked and unanimously decided White should return to England to represent them.

 

White arrived to find his homeland at war with Spain and all the ports locked down tight. Though he managed to finagle the use of two small ships the following spring, this expedition met with disaster in the form of attack by French privateers. Wounded in battle, White returned to England once again, and not until 1590 would he be granted permission to make another attempt to go to the colonists’ aid—and then it was only the briefest of welfare checks, without supplies, additional settlers, or even a personal servant—only the luggage he could carry. Seeing to the English colony ranked low indeed in the priorities of captain and crew, and White details all their doings on the way around the Atlantic Basin.

 

One can sense the tension—his excitement—in the accounts as they neared what would later be called the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Glimpses of smoke, ashore. No thought of stopping off at Croatoan Island, where the famed Manteo was born (and his mother presumably still led as weroansqua), only pressing toward the last-known location of the colony: Roanoke Island.

 

We know by his account that they found the town site even more thoroughly abandoned than the fort of 1586. A palisade surrounded the grounds, stripped even of buildings, only the former ship’s guns and chunks of iron (for the making of shot) left behind. Two inscriptions they found, “CRO” carved on a tree and “CROATOAN” on a palisade post, which White rejoiced over because he knew perfectly well what that word referred to. Markedly absent were any crosses, the sign he’d instructed the colony to use if they’d left under duress.

 

The Lost Colony
19th-century illustration depicting the discovery
of the abandoned colony, 1590

 

His joy was short-lived, however, as a dreaded Atlantic sea storm brewed, preventing the expedition from backtracking to Croatoan Island, damaging the ships and pushing them so far off course they had no choice but limp back to England.

 

White was never, despite all his efforts, able to persuade anyone to carry him back across the ocean again. He never again saw his daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter, famous for being the first English child born on American soil.

 

Efforts were made in successive years, however, to locate the colony. It was in fact one of the directives given the Jamestown explorers and settlers, but by that time (twenty years later), word through the Native grapevine was vague at best and misleading at worst. The Spanish had also been searching, recording that they’d located a landing place, matching the description of the one White’s group used in 1590.

 

Captain John Smith of Jamestown reported that nothing was known of the English colonists except that men “clothed like him” lived at a particular location to the south, and that a handful of surviving prisoners were held at another location and put to forced labor “beating copper” by another Native chieftain. William Strachey, secretary of the Jamestown colony, makes the claim that Powhatan himself (the formal name of the paramount chieftain Wahunsenecawh) boasted of having slaughtered any remaining colonists.

 

Less than a hundred years later, however, an explorer named John Lawson reported the discovery of the Hatteras Indians, many of whom had gray or blue eyes and whose oral history stated their descent from “English” people with clothing and devices like the explorers, and who could “talk from a book.” He mentions elsewhere that the Hatteras natives also dressed in a manner reminiscent of the English, unlike other tribes.

 

This is the account that most often gets dismissed by those following Lost Colony lore, with Strachey’s sensationalist claim receiving the most weight. Why is that?

 

What really happened?

 

Recent expert on the Lost Colony, David Beers Quinn, puts forth an array of possibilities. People line up behind one or the other, latching on to favorite theories according to what seems the most sensible to them. 

 

Enter Scott Dawson, Hatteras native himself, who grew up with various histories and legends passed down through grandparents and great-grands, supporting the idea that at least some of the Roanoke colonists survived by assimilating with the Croatoan people:  

 

 

His book The Lost Colony and Hatteras Island is a longer account of his archaeological efforts and summary of the various theories. He cites Samuel Purchas as being the source for the claim that the Powhatan slaughtered at least some of the English colonists, but he likely drew from Strachey’s work—which, in my humble opinion, bears a definite propagandist or at least sensationalist tone. Dawson also mentions that after the death of Queen Elizabeth, there was possibly less motivation on her successor King James’s part to seek out the “lost” colonists because it would validate the New World holdings of Walter Raleigh, who King James imprisoned, accused of treason, and later had executed.

 

The possibility of the English colonists surviving by assimilation was long dismissed—or suppressed—by those who found it distasteful that those of “pure” English and/or European descent might have intermingled with Indigenous peoples. This seems ridiculous or even alien in our day and time, doesn’t it? Yet it was, historically speaking, an important consideration in the way the accounts and evidence were weighed and interpreted.

 

I’m not sure much has changed in regards to that, today. 😊

 

~*~*~

Blurb for VIRGINIA:

 

The White Doe of the Outer Banks Grows into Womanhood

 

Return to the “what if” questions surrounding the Lost Colony and explore the possible fate of Virginia Dare--the first English child born in the New World. What happened to her after her grandfather John White returned to England and the colony he established disappeared into the mists of time? Legends abound, but she was indeed a real girl who, if she survived to adulthood, must have also become part of the legacy that is the people of the Outer Banks. In the spring of 1602 by English reckoning, "Ginny," as she is called by family and friends, is fourteen and firmly considered a grown woman by the standards of the People. For her entire life she has watched the beautiful give-and-take of the Kurawoten and other native peoples with the English who came from across the ocean. She's enjoyed being the darling of both English and Kurawoten alike--but a stirring deep inside her will not be put to rest.

 

One careless decision lands her and fellow “first baby” Henry Harvie, along with their Kurawoten friend Redbud, in enemy hands. Carried away into Mangoac territory, out of the reach of Manteo and the others, she must learn who she truly is—not only the daughter of Elinor and Ananias Dare but also a child of the One True God, who gives her courage to go wherever the path of her life might lead.

 

 

AUTHOR BIO:

 

Transplanted to the far north after more than two decades in the Deep South, Shannon McNear loves losing herself in local history. She’s the author of four novellas and seven full-length novels, with a 2014 RITA® nominee and a 2021 SELAH winner among them. Yet her greatest joy is in being a military wife, mom-of-many, mother-in-law, and grammie. She’s also a contributor to Colonial Quills and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Faith-Hope-Love Christian Writers. When not cooking, researching, or leaking story from her fingertips, she enjoys being outdoors, basking in the beauty of the northern prairies.

 

Famous Infants in History: Virginia Dare - The First Child of the New World

Blogger: Amber Schamel

Baptism of Virginia Dare,
wood-engraving, 1880 Public Domain

Our next subject in our Famous Infants in History series leads us to the mysterious Roanoke colony in what is now North Carolina. The mystery and skepticism shrouding the "Lost Colony" is vast, and has become the subject of countless works including books, plays, movies, poems, songs, and yes, conspiracy theories. So it is quite possible that you have already heard the name of this famous infant: Virginia Dare.


The tale begins in London with Virginia's parents. Eleanor White, daughter of John White, married a bricklayer named Ananias Dare at St. Bride's Church in London. When Eleanor's father planned the expedition to found "the Cittie of Raleigh", both she and her husband joined. Eleanor was pregnant at the time. It is amazing to me that a pregnant woman would make such a dangerous journey, but she must have been a woman of great bravery, or of great optimism, hoping for a better life for her family.

John White was commissioned by the original founder of the Roanoke colony, Sir Walter Raleigh, to make a second attempt at establishing a city there. The first colony had failed due to lack of supplies, and hostilities with the indigenous people. The men that had remained to await supplies sailed with Sir Francis Drake back to England in 1586, abandoning the Colony. Raleigh was determined to make a second attempt. The fleet set sail on May 8, 1587.

Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA,
CC BY-SA 2.0

Eleanor, who would have been six months pregnant at the time, sailed aboard the flagship Lion, which was captained by her father, and piloted by Simon Fernandes. The intention was to establish the colony at Chesapeake Bay, however when the party landed at Roanoke on July 22, Fernandes insisted that the colonists remain on Roanoke, and they never reached their final destination.

Shortly after they disembarked, one settler was killed by Native Americans while searching for crabs alone. The settlers realized they would have to mend relations with the indigenous people if they stood a chance at making the colony successful. The main tribe that they were able to negotiate with was the Croatan. Remember that name, because it is important later.

On August 18, 1587, Eleanor gave birth to the first English child to be born in the New World. She named her daughter Virginia,since at that time, the land was considered part of the Virginia territory. The child was baptized and deemed the "first Christian born in Virginia."

Nine days after the birth of his granddaughter, John White was persuaded by the colonists to return to England for more supplies. That is the last time he would see his daughter, his son-in-law, or his newborn granddaughter. 

 

The discovery of the abandoned colony, 1590
Public Domain

White's journey to England did not go as planned. Unforeseen obstacles, including war, kept him away for about three years, though he tried desperately to return to the colony. When he finally returned in 1590, there was no one left.

Before his departure in 1587, White had left instructions for the colonists to carve a Maltese cross in a tree if they were forced into departure. They found no such cross, instead finding the word "Croatan" engraved in a tree. The buildings were dismantled, which indicated that their departure had not been sudden. Because of these clues, White deduced that his family and the other colonists were safe, having moved to Croatan island, where they had stayed before, and had befriended the native tribe. He planned to search for them on the island, but a massive storm came up, and his men refused to risk a search party. Thus, the settlers, including three-year-old Virginia Dare were never found.

Roanoke Commemorative Coin, 1937
Public Domain

Virginia has become a prominent figure in American folklore, and monuments have been built in her honor. However, what she represents varies greatly between different groups. To some, she represents innocence, new beginnings, hope, or adventure. To others, she is a symbol of mystery. Unfortunately, some have also seized upon her as a symbol of white supremacy and keeping North Carolina "white" or predominantly people of European decent.


One thing we know for certain, Virginia Dare was the first English child to be born to colonists in the "New World", and she was the first child to be depicted on United States currency with the 1937 commemorative coin.

****

Two-time winner of the Christian Indie Award for historical fiction, Amber Schamel writes riveting stories that bring HIStory to life. She has a passion for travel, history, books and her Savior. This combination results in what her readers call "historical fiction at its finest".

She lives in Colorado Springs near her favorite mountain, in a small “castle” with her prince charming. Between enjoying life as a new mom, and spinning stories out of soap bubbles, Amber loves to connect with readers and hang out on Goodreads with other bookish peoples.

Amber is a proud member of the American Christian Fiction Writers Association. Visit her online at www.AmberSchamel.com/ and download a FREE story by subscribing to her Newsletter!