The Lycoming County commissioners met this week and took time to acknowledge March as Women’s History Month, expressing gratitude for the women who have shaped and continue to shape this community. The recognition felt fitting for a county that has been home to some truly remarkable women throughout its history.
While the commissioners handled their usual county business, including employee transactions and departmental movements, the acknowledgment of women’s contributions deserved deeper exploration. Lycoming County has its own Mount Rushmore of historical women, a shout-out to my fellow AWLs who will appreciate that reference, and these four figures stand as pillars of what this place has been and what it continues to be.
Madame Montour arrived on the Pennsylvania frontier around 1667 and became the most powerful woman in the region. She founded the village of Otstonwakin in 1727, which we now know as Montoursville. She served as an interpreter and diplomat, the bridge between Native American tribes and colonial governors. Without her, the entire political landscape of early Pennsylvania would have looked different. She understood that communication builds nations, and she used that gift to shape the world around her.
Julia C. Collins taught at Williamsport’s school for African Americans in the 1860s, but her impact reached far beyond this county. In 1865, she wrote The Curse of Caste; or The Slave Bride, recognized by historians as the first novel ever published by an African American woman. She died young, at just 21 years old, but her literary achievement places her among figures of national importance. She proved that talent and vision do not need permission to emerge.
Dr. Jean Saylor Brown shattered the glass ceiling of Victorian medicine in 1843 and became the first female physician in Lycoming County. She performed the region’s first major surgery in 1881 and helped start the Williamsport Hospital Training School for Nurses. Her work brought professional healthcare to the entire Susquehanna Valley. She entered a field that told her she did not belong and proved that skill matters more than prejudice.
Mary Slaughter was born into slavery in 1850 and became one of Williamsport’s most respected civic leaders. She founded the Home for Aged Colored Women, the first facility of its kind in the region. Her ability to get state funding and community support during a time of intense segregation makes her a force of local reform. She understood that dignity does not end with age, and she built something to honor that belief.
These four women represent the best of what Lycoming County has produced. They worked in different times, faced different challenges, and left different legacies. But they shared something important. They refused to accept the limits others placed on them. They built, they wrote, they healed, they reformed. They left the world better than they found it.
The meeting also celebrated the local 4H clubs and their programs, which continue to develop young people across Pennsylvania’s largest county by land area. The four Hs stand for Head for clearer thinking, which means decision making and problem solving. Heart for greater loyalty, which builds personal values and concern for others. Hands for larger service, which focuses on community involvement and skill development, and health for better living, which promotes healthy lifestyles and physical well-being.
The 4H programs carry the same spirit that defined Madame Montour, Julia C. Collins, Dr. Jean Saylor Brown, and Mary Slaughter. They teach young people to think clearly, care deeply, serve actively, and live well. These are not abstract ideas. They are the tools for building strong communities, the same tools those four women used to build their legacies.
Women’s History Month asks us to remember, but remembering alone is not enough. We honor these women by continuing the work they started, by refusing to accept limits, by building things that serve others, and by making sure the next generation has the tools and values to shape their own futures.
The commissioners acknowledged women’s contributions this week, and they were right to do so. But the real acknowledgment comes in the daily work of governing a county that benefits from centuries of women who refused to be told no. From the frontier interpreter who built a town to the teacher who wrote a novel to the doctor who performed surgeries to the formerly enslaved person who founded a home for the elderly, Lycoming County’s history is written by women who demanded to be counted.
Penn State quarterback Todd Blackledge once said, “My mother was and still is my best friend. She taught me that you can accomplish anything you want in life if you work hard enough and never give up.”
