L. Fidelia Woolley Gillette

[1] L. Fidelia Woolley Gillette's literary work started when she was 16 years old under the pen-names "Lyra" and "Carrie Russell", "Ruth Dinsmore" and her own name.

In 1888 Gillette was the first woman ordained to preach of any denomination in Canada: she was ministering at the Universalist Church of Bloomfield, Prince Edward County, Ontario.

[3] There was a faint suggestion of the dramatic in Gillette's style of speaking that gave it charm; the elegance of her language, the richness of her imagery, the striking and original character of her illustrations was as refreshing as they were entertaining.

In October 1874, Gillette opened and closed the 6th annual meeting of the National Woman Suffrage Association in Detroit.

[1] In 1873, Gillette's daughter, Florence, joined a theater company based in Chicago and later married Eugene Russell Soggs, an actor, on February 25, 1875.

Florence Gillette was a protege of Charlotte Saunders Cushman and co-worker of George Vanderhof and Edwin Booth.

[4] Gillette spent the last years of her life at the Messiah Universalist Home in Germantown, Philadelphia, and died on October 14, 1905, at Standing Stone Township, Pennsylvania.