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Woodhull, Victoria Claflin (1838-1927)

American Spiritualist, social reformer, and feminist. Born September 23, 1838, in Homer, Licking County, Ohio, she traveled with a medicine show when only a child, giving demonstrations of fortune-telling and Spiritualist séances together with her younger sister Tennessee (1846-1923). Victoria married Canning Woodhull, a physician, before she was 16, was divorced in 1864, and later remarried twice.

In 1868 the sisters moved to New York City where they met Cornelius Vanderbilt, who was interested in Spiritualism. Vanderbilt installed them in a stock-brokerage office as Woodhull, Claflin & Company, where the "Lady Brokers" made considerable profits. From this enterprise they founded the journal Woodhull and Claflin's Weekly in 1870. This publication advocated equal rights for women, free love, and other feminist issues.

In 1871, Victoria Woodhull spoke on women's rights before the House Judiciary Committee and became a prominent leader in the cause of women's suffrage. In 1872 she was the first woman to be nominated for the presidency, sponsored by the Equal Rights Party. Although she did not expect to be elected, she and her sister publicized their cause and attracted much attention by attempting to vote.

The February 2, 1872, issue of their Weekly contained a sensational story alleging intimacy between Henry Ward Beecher and the wife of Theodore Tilton. This scandal was reported largely to discredit Beecher's sisters, who had attacked the Weekly 's stand on free love. In the event, Beecher went on a trial for adultery, but was exonerated. Interestingly enough the Weekly was the first periodical in the United States to publish the Communist Manifesto.

In 1877, the sisters moved to England, where they continued to publicize women's rights. Victoria Woodhull married a wealthy London banker and became well known for charitable work. With her daughter, Zula Maud Woodhull, Woodhull published Humanitarian magazine from 1892 to 1910. She died in England June 10, 1927.