Betsy Mix Cowles was an early leader in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 abolitionist movement. She was an active and influential Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

-based reformer, and was a noted Feminist and an educator. She counted among her friends and acquaintances people such as Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...

, William Lloyd Garrison

William Lloyd Garrison

William Lloyd Garrison was a prominent American abolitionist, journalist, and social reformer. He is best known as the editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, and as one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, he promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United...

, Henry C. Wright, and Abby Kelley Foster.

She was born in Bristol, Connecticut

Bristol, Connecticut

Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States southwest of Hartford. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 61,353. Bristol is primarily known as the home of ESPN, whose central studios are in the city. Bristol is also home to...

, the eighth child of Giles Hooker Cowles and Sally White Cowles. Cowles did not marry and supported herself as a teacher

Teacher

A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...

 and school system administrator in Ashtabula County, Ohio

Ashtabula County, Ohio

Ashtabula County is the northeasternmost county in the state of Ohio. As of 2010, the population was 101,497, its county seat is Jefferson. The county is named for a Native American word meaning "river of many fish"....

, where Cowles and her family settled.

Edwin Cowles

Edwin Cowles

Edwin Cowles , born in Austinburg, was the publisher of The Cleveland Leader, Vice-President of the 1884 Republican National Convention, postmaster of Cleveland, April 4, 1861 - July 11, 1865, and elder brother of Alfred Cowles, Sr., also a newspaper publisher.-References:...

, publisher of the Cleveland Leader in Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

, and Alfred Cowles, Sr.

Alfred Cowles, Sr.

Alfred Cowles, Sr. was an American businessperson and newspaper publisher. During the 1860s to 1880s he was bookkeeper, treasurer and business manager of the Chicago Tribune of which he was part owner....

 who owned one third of the Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...

, were sons of her brother Edwin Weed Cowles and Almira Mills Foote.
Betsey Mix Cowles is known for her contributions to education, abolitionism, and women's rights

Women's rights

Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...

 in Ohio.