This is a list of American women's firsts, noting the first time that an American woman or women achieved a given historical feat. Inclusion on the list is reserved for achievements by American women that have significant historical impact. 17th century 1635 Anne Hutchinson was the first American woman to start a Protestant sect. 1640 Anne Bradstreet was the first published poet in the British North American colonies. 1647 Margaret Brent was the first American woman to demand the right to vote. 1649 Sarah White Norman and Mary Vincent Hammon were charged with "lewd behavior upon a bed." They are the first American women convicted of lesbian activity. 18th century 1700s Henrietta Johnston was the first known female portrait painter in the American colonies as well as the first woman pastelist. 1739 Elizabeth Timothy was the first woman to print a formal newspaper as well as the first female franchise holder in the colonies. 1750 Jane Colden was the first woman botanist in America. 1756 Lydia Taft was the first woman known to vote legally in Colonial America after her husband died and son left her; she was granted permission to vote through a Massachusetts town meeting. 1762 Ann Smith Franklin was the first female newspaper editor in America. 1776 Margaret Corbin was the first woman to assume the role of soldier in the American Revolutionary War and receive a pension for it. 1784 Hannah Adams was the first American woman to become a professional writer. Hannah Slater was the first American woman granted a patent. 19th century 1800s 1808 Jane Aitken was the first American woman to print the Bible in English. 1810s 1812 Lucy Brewer was one of the first American women to join the United States Marine Corps. 1820s 1828 Sarah Hale was the first American woman to become editor of a major women's magazine (Godey's Lady's Book). 1830s 1835 Harriot Kezia Hunt was one of the first American women to practice medicine professionally, and "clearly the first to achieve a marked success". 1840s 1840 Dorothy Catherine Draper was the first woman to be photographed. 1846 Sarah Bagley was the first woman in America to become a telegraph operator. Frances Whitcher was the first significant female comic protagonist in America, and the "first best-selling woman humorist". 1848 Maria Mitchell was the first female astronomer in the United States as well as the first woman elected to the