Hooker, Edith Houghton, 1879-1948

Edith Houghton Hooker (b. Dec. 29, 1879, Buffalo, NY–d. Oct. 23, 1948, Baltimore, MD) was a member of the elite Houghton family from New York and New England. Her sister, Katharine Martha Houghton Hepburn was a prominent feminist and mother to actress Katherine Hepburn. Houghton graduated Bryn Mawr College in 1901 and enrolled at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine before beginning a career in social work. In 1905 she married Johns Hopkins professor Donald Hooker and together they established the Guild of St. George for unwed mothers. This lead her to becoming active in the suffrage movement and in 1907 joined the Equal Suffrage League of Baltimore. In 1909 Houghton founded the Just Government League, an affiliate of National American Woman Suffrage Association and established the Maryland Suffrage News in 1912. She became editor of The Suffragist in 1917 and also active in Congressional Union. A mother of five children, Houghton was inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame in 1999.