Notable Johnstown Women in History
Local Women Who Made A Difference
Mary “Molly” Brant, born in 1736 a Canajoharie Mohawk, also known as Konwatsi’ tsiaienni (meaning Someone lends her a flower), was a woman of dignity and influence who was comfortable in two very different cultures. She played a major role as consort of Sir William Johnson in maintaining good relations with Native Americans in the Mohawk Valley region of Upstate NY.
Following his death, Molly Brant influenced several tribes to unite around the cause of the British during and after the Revolutionary War from 1775–1783.
Rose Knox was born on November 18, 1857. She moved with her family to Gloversville, New York, where she met and married Charles Knox in 1883.
Mrs. Knox went on to run one of the most successful commercial enterprises in the United States, Knox Gelatine. She was the first woman to serve on the board of directors of the American Grocery Manufacturers' Association in 1929.
In a 1937 Time magazine interview, Rose asserted, “I just used common sense—a man would call it horse sense— in running my business. But from the first I determined to run it in what I called a woman’s way because, after all, it was women who purchased gelatine.”
She ordered the factory kept clean as a kitchen, beautified the grounds, and abolished the rear door for employees because "we are all ladies and gentlemen here together."
Rose Knox was named America’s foremost woman industrialist in a 1949 Collier’s article. She stepped aside as the company's president only when she reached her 90th birthday, but she retained her position as chairperson. Rose died in 1950 at her home located on Second Avenue in Johnstown, which is open periodically during the year to visitors.
Click here for more extensive biography of Rose Knox.
Barbara McMartin was born in Johnstown and grew up at 9 S. William Street, the house where Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony worked on the third volume to their “History of Woman Suffrage” in 1884.
Barbara completed PhD work in mathematics and then became involved in the environmental movement in the Adirondacks. Her primary focus was the nature, culture and management in the park. She wrote 25 books, both guidebooks and histories of the Adirondacks, and maintained the popular 11-book Discover series, which covers all regions of the Adirondack Park.
Ms. McMartin died of breast cancer on September 27, 2005.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton Hometown Association
P.O. Box 753
Johnstown, NY 12095-0753
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