"I
decided in my teens that I would do what one woman could do to show that women
had as much brains as men and could do things as well if she gave them her
undivided attention."
Born October 19, 1850 in Providence RI. She graduated from RI State Normal School and
taught in Providence for a while then took a position of preceptress of the
Saginaw, Michigan high school.
While traveling abroad in 1885 she became very interested in
mountain climbing after seeing the Matterhorn. As a child she was often in
fierce competition with her three older brothers resulting in great courage,
stamina and daring all of which she employed climbing. Her first climb was Mount Shasta in
California then in 1895 she climbed the Matterhorn achieving instant acclaim,
not only because she was a woman but for her climbing costume of
knickerbockers, long tunic and a felt hat with a veil. In 1897 she climbed an 18,314 foot peak in
Mexico the highest peak ever climbed by a woman. “I often wonder what Wilbur Wright would have
thought had he known that I had climbed higher on my two feet than he had in
his airplane!”
She was petite, attractive, extremely feminine always taking
audiences by surprise during lectures about her climbs which were illustrated
with stereopticon slides made from her own photos.
After conquering the mountains of Europe Annie moved on to
parts of South America in her quest to reach “some height where no MAN had
previously stood.” In 1904 she broke her
previous record when she mastered the 21,300 foot Mount Sorata in Bolivia.
At sixty one she was the first woman to climb Mount Coropura
in Peru where as a statement for women’s suffrage she planted a “Votes for
Women” pennant on its summit. Her last
climb was Mount Madison in New Hampshire at the age of eighty two. She died in 1935.
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