Helen Barrett Montgomery Biography

Helen Barrett Montgomery (July 31, 1861 – October 19, 1934) was an American social reformer, educator and writer. In 1921 she was elected as the first woman president of the Northern Baptist Convention (and of any religious denomination in the United States). She had long been a delegate to the Convention and a policymaker. In 1893 she helped found a chapter of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union in Rochester, New York, and served as president until 1911, nearly two decades. In 1899 Montgomery was the first woman elected to the Rochester School Board and any public office in the city, 20 years before women could vote.