Bloomer, Amelia Jenks, 1818-1894

Social reformer and advocate of women's suffrage. Known for a style of dress reform for women, trousers of which became known as bloomers.

Amelia Jenks Bloomer was an activist for women's rights in the Seneca Falls, New York area.

Angelique Le Petit Martin (1793-1865) was born in France and married Gilles Marie Martin (1794-1865) in 1821 at the church of St. Mary Major in Exeter, County Devon, England. Angelique gave birth to four children while still living in England: Angelique Marie (1822-1902), also known as Lilly Martin Spencer, one of the most important female artists of the nineteenth century; Henri Giles (1825-1864); Charles Francois (1823-1851); and Fredric Pierre (Aug-Dec 1828). The family traveled to New York City in 1830, and a year later their youngest child, Marie Henriette (1831-1920) was born.

In 1833 they purchased land in Union (now Muskingum) Township, Washington County, Ohio, approximately 4.5 miles north of the town of Marietta. The home would be called Tupperford Farm.

Angelique Martin became an ardent fighter for the rights of women and slaves. She wrote to publications such as The Lily, a women's rights paper established by Amelia Bloomer, and she conversed with feminist thinkers such as Albert Brisbane, Lucretia Mott, and Amelia Bloomer. Angelique eventually moved north with her family to a communal living area known as the Trumbull Phalanx. Located in Braceville Township, Trumbull County, Ohio, it was one of the Fourieristic communal settings in North America. In 1851, she authored a book entitled Essays on Woman's True Destiny, Responsibilities and Rights, as the Mother of the Human Race, Contrasted With Her Subordinate Subserviency to Adult Man, Assigned to Her By His Grossly Selfish Social Regulations; Their Baneful and Unjust Effects on Woman, Her Offspring, and Even Grown-Up Man; the Primitive Cause of All This, and Its Remedy, published in Warren, Ohio; J. Dumars, printer.

Angelique Martin lived out the remainder of her life in the Trumbull Phalanx, and died in the year 1865. She and several family members are buried at the Harrington Cemetery in Portage County.