Celebrating Women of Spiritualism

As we begin the Month of March 2023, The Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp pays tribute to the women that have played such a big role in the creation of Spiritualism and also celebrate the anniversary of Modern Spiritualism on March 31, 1848.  

On that date in 1848, The Fox sisters began interacting with the Spirit world. As is described on the website "Beyond the Veil, Spiritualism in the 19th Century"  "Modern Spiritualism began in the 1840s in a small town in New York, and quickly grew to become one of the greatest – and most divisive – religious movements of the 19th Century. Almost all historians point to movement beginning in 1848 in Hydesville, New York, where sisters Maggie and Kate Fox began communicating with a “spirit” in their home through rappings and knockings. The girls became a phenomenon; before long they were communicating with spirits around the nation in front of hundreds of rapt audience members. Soon, spiritual mediums could be found in almost every town. America’s new religion had taken root and showed no signs of stopping."  

Mrs. Marion H. Skidmore 1825-1895 

Born Marion Johnson, September 8th 1825 Marion H. Skidmore was a very active women of her day in support of Spiritualism.  She is the subject of an interesting article published in the monthly periodical known as the Cassadagan in Meadville Pennsylvania in 1895.  Lily Dale Assembly, a sister camp to the Southern Cassadaga Camp and located in Lily Dale NY is the home of the Marion H Skidmore Library that houses the largest collection of Spiritualist Books in the world. 

Cora Lodencia Veronica Scott (April 21, 1840 – January 3, 1923) was one of the best-known mediums of the Spiritualism movement of the last half of the 19th century. Here is a link to her Wikipedia page.

Leonora Piper (Leonora Evelina Simonds; 27 June 1857 – 3 June 1950) was a famous American trance medium in the area of Spiritualism. ​​​​Here is a link to her Wikipedia page. 

There are many more women in Spiritualism that could be mentioned here and would be worth researching. We hope you will continue to pursue investigating the history of other pioneers of Spiritualism and those instrumental in its formation into what it is today.