Sharing My Birthday Month with Some Historical Female Trailblazers

 

In celebration of my birthday, I thought I'd share a few women in history who were born in August. Let's look at four women and the legacies they left behind.

Let's start with a fun historical figure. 

Annie Oakley

Annie Oakley

Born Phoebe Ann Mosey on August 13,1860 in rural Ohio. She learned to hunt as a child, becoming a crack shot out of necessity. She helped support her widowed mother and her siblings by never missing her target. Ammunition was dear, and she couldn't afford to waste it. The need to put food on the table opened the doors to international fame for her.

Wild Bill Hickok discovered her, and she joined his Wild West show in 1885. Taking the stage name Annie Oakley, she delighted audiences across the United States and Europe. Among her demonstrations, she split playing cards, extinguished candle flames with bullets, and hit tiny moving targets with amazing precision.

Oakley was an advocate for women's independence, believing women should learn self-defense and shooting to protect themselves. It is said she offered to organize an all-female regiment to serve during the Spanish-American War. Her idea never took root.

Mata Hari 

Next up is a supposed villain. Born Margaret Geertruida Zelle in Leeuwarden, Netherlands on August 7^th, 1876. She rose to fame as an exotic dancer in Paris by taking the name Mata Hari. She enhanced her stage persona by adding mystery to her backstory, claiming to be of Eastern royalty. Given Europeans' fascination with Eastern cultures, her ruse captivated audiences and boosted her career. Her glamorous lifestyle and relationships with influential military officers and politicians made her one of the most recognizable women in Europe during World War I.

During World War  I, French authorities accused her of spying for Germany. She was arrested in 1917. Convicted by a military tribunal and executed by firing squad. She was forty-one. Historians continue to debate the accusation. Was she really a spy, and if so, how active was she?

Many scholars believe she was a convenient scapegoat during a difficult period of the war when France sought someone to blame for military setbacks. Her story has inspired countless books, movies and legends, making her one of history's most famous alleged spies. Have you ever heard of someone called a Mata Hari? It refers to someone who passes along secrets. 

 

CoCo Chanel

CoCo Chanel

Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel was born August 19^th, 1883, in Saumur, France. Some sources say she claimed her birth year as 1893 to appear younger. This colorful character never married but poured her life into fashion designing and creating perfume for the elite classes.

 Her mother was a laundress. When she died, her father sent his three daughters to a convent. But Coco preferred her story of a lovely childhood spent with her two aunts when her mother died.

Like Mata Hari, she painted her backstory in whatever way that made her look better to those around her. She had long-time  friendships with both German sympathizers and Winston Churchill.

Coco transformed women's fashions during the twentieth century by replacing restrictive corsets and elaborate Victorian styles with clothes that focused on comfort, simplicity and elegance. She learned to sew when she lived at the convent and used that talent to create styles that drew attention. She opened her first boutique in 1910. Her designs featured clean lines, jersey fabrics, and tailored suits, which allowed women greater freedom of movement while maintaining sophistication. For a time, she created hats as well. Her perfume, Chanel No. 5, is still popular today, representing elegance and style.

When Germany invaded France in World War II, she closed her dress shops and moved to the Ritz Hotel where many elite class German officers took up residence. Suspected of being a collaborator, yet never proven, her reputation was damaged for a time. She moved to Switzerland and lived there for several years. Seeing the post-war fashion trends inspired her to design again. In 1954, she made a highly successful comeback. America and Britain embraced her styles even though France still held the question of her being a collaborator over her head.

Coco Chanel is widely regarded as one of the most influential designers in history. She is listed as one of the top 100 women who influenced the 20^th Century.

Lucille Ball

Lucille Ball

Ah, my birthday twin. For those who have never heard that term it is someone who was born on the same date as you. The year makes no difference. She was born August 6^th, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. I'll not mention what year I was born, but she could have been my mother.

She is known for her star status in movies and later on television. She studied with Buster Keaton, the famous silent comedy star. Moving from romantic leads to comedy leads eventually opened the door for a TV sitcom. The I Love Lucy Show, with her iconic performance as Lucy Ricardo, premiered in 1951, played for several years on TV, and has been in continues reruns since the 1960s. Lucy was noted for her impeccable timing, expressive physical humor, and elaborate slapstick routines. She broke barriers by insisting her real-life husband Desi Arnez be cast as her on-screen husband, Ricky Ricardo. She performed pregnant and gave birth to her daughter Lucille Arnez at the same time her character gave birth to Little Ricky. And the show was performed before a live audience, something that had never been done before. Desi and Lucy formed the DesiLu production company. She became sole owner after their divorce, making her the first woman to run a TV Studio. Would you believe that under her leadership, Desilu produced Star Trek and Mission Impossible, cementing her legacy not only as a performer but also a visionary producer.

These four August-born women had so much more interesting facts about their lives that I haven't mentioned. Three of the four were entertainers, and three worked toward making things easier for women, whether it was clothes, running a business, or encouraging women to learn to defend themselves. Two women were accused of colluding with the enemy during war time.

Have you read about any of these women? Which one is your favorite?

Cindy Ervin Huff is an Award-winning author of Historical and Contemporary Romance. She loves infusing hope into her stories of broken people. She's addicted to reading and chocolate. Her idea of a vacation is visiting historical sites and an ideal date with her hubby of almost fifty years would be the theater. Visit her website www.cindyervinhuff.com Or on Facebook or Instagram

 

Eleanor and Franklin (Part 3)

By Catherine Ulrich Brakefield

         “Someone once asked me what I regarded as the three most important requirements for happiness. My answer was: A feeling that you have been honest with yourself and those around you; a feeling that you have done the best you could both in your personal life and in your work; and the ability to love others.” Eleanor Roosevelt. 

         Eleanor’s wisdom came from her experiences. From an often-chaotic childhood, an unpredictable adolescence, and as a young adult, she was thought of as opinionated.  Suddenly and unexpectedly, she waltzed right into a storybook love. As married people know, after a romantic wedding comes the reality of life. Eleanor and Franklin were no different than what some of us may have experienced: infidelity, sickness, and death. That is, minus the publicity.

When Eleanor’s uncle, Teddy Roosevelt, rode across Cuba with his cavalry group of Rough Riders in 1898, that opened another world. America entered the leadership role, and the industrial age was launched.

As I tell in Destiny’s Whirlwind, this also brought in the Gibson Era and a significant cultural shift for the American woman to become well-educated, independent, and capable in societal expectations and self-expression. Eleanor loved this new lifestyle, as I wrote in my June 15^th blog. 

After Eleanor’s wedding to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1904, her life changed drastically. From balls, dinners, and tea parties to diapers, bottles, and burping babies. Eleanor’s days were now filled with caring for her family. She threw herself into her new role with zeal and a zest that even startled herself. 

Eleanor never cared for social life. As I wrote in my May 15^th blog, as a young child she was shy and withdrawn. Staying home, caring for her children was not a hardship. With her burgeoning tummy, babies needing her attention, and little time, if any, to primp, she thought over her options of what to do with the many social engagements needing her presence—hire a nanny for her children, or employ a lady to fulfill her social obligations? 

Within eleven years after her marriage, Eleanor would mother a total of six children. Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1906–1975), James Roosevelt (1907–1991), Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. (1909–1909, died in infancy), Elliott Roosevelt (1910–1990), Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. (1914–1988), John Aspinwall Roosevelt (1916–1981).

Perhaps it was due to her own desires to be a good mother because of the lack of a caring mother in her childhood, or simply a love for mothering, that she hired a social secretary to fulfil her outside roles, thereby giving her more time with her children. After all, the exhausting work of having babies and running a bustling household gave Eleanor little time to afford her attention to the latest fashion trends.

         Lucy Page Mercer Rutherfurd was seven years younger than Eleanor, petite, perky, confident, and beautiful in her own eyes. Eleanor noticed this about her yet liked her and felt she could help Lucy.

Lucy came from a prominent Catholic family who lived in Maryland. She had come to Washington, D.C. looking for work. For though she was educated in private schools, her family had very little money. Eleanor was more than willing to help this young girl get her start. Later, in her column, “My Day”, she would write, “For our own success to be real, it must contribute to the success of others.”

Eleanor lovingly cared for her husband and children and supervised the household, all the while supporting her husband’s career. It was during this decade of her life that she committed herself completely to her family. 

        

She put everything aside, including her personal interests. She ended her volunteer work, her active political agenda, even some family dinners, and participating in luncheons with the
politicians’ wives.

During such an occasion, Lucy met Franklin. Lucy was very helpful and often spent her evenings performing Eleanor’s social obligations that came with Franklin’s position as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Eleanor was elated with her secretary and, because Lucy was always willing, placed more social responsibilities upon her. Oftentimes it proved necessary for Lucy to serve as the extra woman at some of Roosevelt’s dinner parties.

Franklin evidently approved of Eleanor’s selection of a social secretary, for it wasn’t long before a relationship blossomed that was not purely professional.

The truth slapped Eleanor in the face one morning when she found out that her husband was having an affair with Lucy. It was the year 1918 when Eleanor found a package of Lucy’s letters in her husband’s luggage. What hurt was that the affair had happened right under Eleanor’s nose, all the while she was being helpful and dedicated to both her husband and this young girl.

Eleanor had borne Franklin six children, one of whom had died in infancy, and her youngest, John, was only two years old! Needless to say, she was devastated! Eleanor would later write, in “My Day”, “You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.”

Divorce was the word only whispered behind closed doors during the early 1900s. But Eleanor uttered the word divorce in her thoughts and upon her lips repeatedly during her months of mental anguish. There seemed no way out of this adulterous situation. Her vindictive side thought, yes, divorce him; that would serve my husband right for his actions, and I’m certain that would please Lucy!

 But her sensible side thought, I love him, and what would that mean to her children’s lives, and Franklin’s political career?

That is the question every wife ask themselves: should I divorce him or not? See September’s Blog for how Eleanor handles her husband’s infidelities and flawed personality.

DESTINY’S WHIRLWIND: (book 2 of the Destiny Series)

A death-bed promise, a dashing Rough Rider, the parable of the Sower take on unimaginable consequences.  

A disgruntled in-law and a vindictive lawyer place the McConnell clan in the clutches of life’s tangled web of deception and greed. As Collina fights to keep her promise, the words of Esther 8:6 ring in her thoughts. “How can I endure to see the evil that will come to my people?”

Destiny’s Whirlwind by Catherine Brakefield is a beautiful inspirational love story that will reel you in and win your heart…The story is beautifully written and filled with triumph and heartbreak. I couldn’t put it down…” LS  

Catherine is the award-winning author of Wilted Dandelions, Swept into Destiny, Destiny’s Whirlwind, Destiny of Heart, Waltz with Destiny, and Love's Final Sunrise. She has written two pictorial history books, The Lapeer Area and Eastern Lapeer, and short stories for Guideposts Books, CrossRiver Media Group, Revell Books, and Bethany House Publishers. Catherine and her husband of fifty-three years live on a ranch in Michigan and have two adult children, five grandchildren, four Arabian horses, two dogs, two cats, one bunny, and six chickens. See CatherineUlrichBrakefield.com for more information.

 

https://www.loc.gov/resource/hec.47448/

https://www.fdrlibrary.org/er-photos

Samuel Colt and his Revolver

by Sherry Shindelar

Samuel Colt was only sixteen years old in 1830 when he designed the first working model of the gun that would revolutionize firearms: the Colt revolver. It took him six years to obtain a patent and two years after that, he found a manufacturer. But no one wanted the gun. The US didn’t even have a cavalry yet, and ordinary people viewed the new pistol as an impractical oddity.

Samuel Colt 1855 engraving by John Chester Buttre

The Republic of Texas ordered 180 Colts for their Navy and another forty for their Army. But there’s no evidence that the guns were used. Until…

Around 1843, Captain Jack Hayes and his Texas Rangers discovered the firepower of the Colt revolver. At the battle of Walker Creek in 1844, Hayes and his Rangers, proved the worth of these revolutionary weapons. Caught in the open, Hayes and his fourteen men took on seventy-five Comanches. Their five-shooters vs. arrows, lances, and single-shot weapons, left twenty Comanche dead and thirty wounded and one Ranger dead and three wounded.

Hayes and his band of Rangers were sold on the weapon, but meanwhile, Colt’s factory had filed for bankruptcy in 1842, and Colt was broke. His dreams for a six-shooter revolver and success seemed unreachable. His revolver had flaws, and no one appeared to see the value of his invention.

Colt Walker (3rd generation)

Then, in 1846, he heard from the distant frontier of Texas that someone had found a use for his gun. Excited, Colt wrote to one of the Rangers, Samuel Walker. Walker wrote back telling him that the revolver had a made a world of difference in their battles with the Comanche, and he suggested improvements for the gun.

Captain Samuel Walker, photo by Mathew Brady

Shortly after that, the Mexican War started, and the Rangers volunteered to fight alongside the U.S. Army troops. The high command of the Army was amazed at the effectiveness of the Colt revolvers used by the Rangers, envisioning for the first time what a difference the weapon could make, especially in battles that took place on horseback.

The army contacted Colt and ordered 1,000. However, at this point, Colt didn’t have a factory, and he hadn’t made a gun in over five years. He didn’t even own one of his revolvers and had to advertise in the newspaper to try to find one. But he wasn’t about to turn down the order.

Colt Paterson and Colt Walker Reproductions By Michael E. Cumpston  

He persuaded his fellow inventor, Eli Whitney, to manufacture the weapon, and he contacted Ranger Samuel Walker, for ideas on how to make the gun the best that it could be. They made it heavier and more rugged, gave it a larger handle, lengthened the barrel, enlarged the caliper, and gave it a sixth chamber. From obscurity, the Walker-Colt became one of the most effective side arms ever invented, and Colt became one of the wealthiest men of the 19th century. And it all could have been lost if he’d given up in 1842 when all the evidence he could see said that he’d failed.

Originally from Tennessee, Sherry loves to take her readers into the past. A romantic at heart, she is an avid student of the Civil War and the Old West. When she isn’t busy writing, she is an English professor, working to pass on her love of writing to her students. Sherry is a multi-award-winning author. She currently resides in Minnesota with her husband of over forty years. She has three grown children and three grandchildren.

Connect with Sherry: website newsletter Amazon FB

The man who destroyed her life may be the only one who can save it.

Maggie Logan (Eyes-Like-Sky) lost everything she knew when a raid on a wagon train tore her from her family. As the memories of her past faded, Maggie adapted—marrying a Comanche warrior and having a baby. But in one terrible battle, the U.S. Cavalry destroys that life and takes her captive. Forced into a world she wants nothing to do with, Eyes-Like-Sky’s only hope of protecting her child may be an engagement to the man who killed her husband.

Captain Garret Ramsey finds himself assigned to the Texas frontier, where he witnesses the brutal Indian War in which both sides commit atrocities. Plagued by guilt for his own role, Garret seeks redemption by taking responsibility for the woman he widowed and her baby. Though he is determined to do whatever it takes to protect them, is he willing to risk everything for a woman whose heart is buried in a grave?

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park by Denise M. Colby

On a recent trip, I had the privilege to visit the Lincoln Birthplace National Park. Located in Larue County, Kentucky, it is comprised of a visitor center (with museum and gift shop), grounds to walk around and picnic on, and a memorial building housing a replica of the one-room log cabin Lincoln was born and raised in until he was two.

What is the Lincoln Birthplace National Park?

The actual location of the park is where Lincoln was born and lived until he was two. Originally when they built the memorial they believed the cabin was the original, but later it was discovered it was not. That is marked clearly on one of the signs providing details of the park.

There is a second park called Knob Creek connected to this one. Down the way about 15 minutes, is where the family moved when Lincoln was 2. He lived there until age 7 and then the family moved to a homestead in Indiana (which is preserved as the Lincoln Boyhood National Museum.

The Memorial Building

They built the memorial building with key features. Sixteen windows, Sixteen rosettes on the celing, sixteen fence poles, all represent what number president he was. There are 56 steps from the base to reach the building representing what age Lincoln died.

Theodore Roosevelt began construction and President Taft was the one who dedicated it after completion.

There is a sinking spring deep underneath the memorial, which is where the original farm had gotten its name.

The Visitor Center

The museum in the visitor center highlights the family history (tracing back to 1550) and displays furniture and tools used during the timeframe of Lincoln’s birth. His father was a carpenter and there’s a table he built on display. There’s also a family Bible. There’s even a game called Gateway to the Presidency.

 

Other Lincoln Things to See

The general vicinity celebrates the connection to Abraham Lincoln. In nearby Springfield, there’s a Lincoln Legacy Museum. We didn’t stop, but according to TripAdvisor it is a great spot to stop. Springfield proudly promotes that they are where Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks met and were married before leasing the land at Sinking Springs.

As we drove through Hodgenville, they had a statue of Lincoln in the center of town facing a statue of Lincoln as a young boy. The boy statue includes a dog, and I was hoping it was Fido, but Fido was Lincoln’s dog as an adult and this one was his childhood pet.

 

In downtown Lexington, there is the Mary Todd Lincoln house. We toured that as well, and I’ll share that in another post. I will say it was interesting to see the differences with how each of them were raised.

Book 4 in the Best-laid Plans Series releases May 26, 2026

California, 1870. Pastor William Baker built his life on steady faith and safe choices, but the arrival of Lydia Spencer upends everything. Independent and outspoken Lydia is unlike any woman he’s ever known. Lydia is a Pinkerton detective, undercover as a schoolteacher while tracking a dangerous crime boss. She’s determined to protect her friends in Washton even if it means keeping her distance from the kind, steadfast pastor who sees too much. But when Will and Lydia are thrown together in a search for truth they find themselves fighting not only for justice, but for a future neither had planned.

Denise M. Colby writes historical romance sweetened with faith, hope, and love. She finds history fascinating and contemplates often how it was to live in the 1800's. Her debut novel, When Plans Go Awry, is a 2025 Carol Award finalist. Sign up for her newsletter at www.denisemcolby.com or follow Denise on Facebook, Instagram, Bookbub, Pinterest, or GoodReads.