Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Claflin: First Female Stockbrokers
Even by today’s standards, 19th century women’s rights advocate Victoria Woodhull was a bit of a wild child. She and her sister, Tennessee Claflin, had little formal education and spent their early years roaming the country with their family working as child mediums. Eventually, however, the pair would make waves on Wall Street in addition to becoming controversial society figures.
The sisters’ fortunes turned when they moved to New York City in 1868 and started giving psychic advice to railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt. Soon after, he provided them with the financial backing to open their own brokerage house, Woodhull, Claflin & Co. The press and fellow Wall Streeters flocked to the business on opening day to get a glimpse of “The Lady Bankers,” and by most accounts they were successful early on. Woodhull and Claflin would use the profits from their business to start a newspaper that espoused their views on such issues as women’s suffrage, sex education, free love and fair wages, as well as to fund Woodhull’s 1872 bid as the first female presidential candidate. (She ran under the Equal Rights Party, which she founded.)
The brokerage eventually shut down during the Panic of 1873, but Woodhull continued her advocacy, trying twice more to run for president. The sisters’ financial legacies would later be outshined by other scandals, but there’s no denying Woodhull and Claflin broke the mold on Wall Street: Not only were they the first women to run a brokerage, they also catered to female clients and encouraged them to take charge of their money.
