Augusta Jane Chapin

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Augusta Jane Chapin (July 16, 1836-June 30, 1905), born in Lakeville, New York, was a Universalist minister, educator and activist for women's rights.

In December 1863 became one of the first women to be ordained as a minister. In 1893 Chapin was conferred a Doctor of Divinity degree by Lombard University; the first ever awarded to a woman in America. In 1893 she chaired the Woman's Committee of the World Parliament of Religions as part of the Chicago World's Fair. She was a charter member of the American Woman Suffrage Association.

Chapin served many congregations during her ministerial career: itinerancy in Michigan, 1859-63; Bennington, Michigan, 1864-67; Mount Pleasant, Iowa, 1868; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1869; Iowa City, Iowa, 1870-73; Allston, Massachusetts, 1874; San Francisco, California and Oregon, 1874; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1875-76; Blue Island, Illinois, 1876-77; Chicago, Illinois, 1878; Aurora, Illinois, 1878-79; itinerancy in Michigan, 1880-83; Hillsdale, Michigan, 1884-85; Oak Park, Illinois, 1886-92; Omaha, Nebraska, 1894-95; and Mount Vernon, New York, 1897-1901.