Biography

Jane Grey Swisshelm (nee Cannon) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1815, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Cannon. Her father died when she was eight years old, leaving the family in financial straits, and forcing Jane to take a position doing piece-work on clothing. Eventually she became a teacher. In 1836, she married James Swisshelm, a farmer, and two years later they moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where Jane became an outspoken abolitionist. During the 1840s she wrote poems, stories, and essays for publication in local newspapers. In 1847, Jane began publishing her own paper the Pittsburgh Saturday Visitor. Her paper had a strong women's rights and abolition voice. In 1850, Jane began working for the New York Tribune, commenting on politiical life in Washington, D.C.. Her work for the Tribune ended when she published an inflammatory story libeling Daniel Webster. In 1852, Jane had a daughter, Mary Henrietta. In 1857, however, upset with her husband and his overbearing mother-in-law, Jane ran away with Mary to Minnesota, and James filed for divorce from her based on desertion. In Minnesota, Jane continued to publish women's rights and abolition articles. Her opinions angered local Democrat politicians, who, broke into her newspaper office and destroyed her press and type. During the Civil War, she lived in Washington, D.C., serving as one of the first female clersk in the quartermaster general's office, and tending to wounded Union soldiers in the area. In 1865 she started the newspaper The Reconstructionist, however, she gave up her role as newspaper editor when an arsonist attempted to set fire to her home and office. She spent the last years of her life trying to make a living as a freelance journalist and public speaker.