Catherine Brewer Benson

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Widely credited as the first woman to earn a college degree, Catherine Brewer moved with her family to Macon, GA. from Massachusetts in the 1830's(?). She entered Georgia Female College (now Wesleyan College) in 1839 when the college, chartered in 1836, began offering classes. The honor of being the first woman to earn a degree from a chartered college fell to her because her name came first alphabetically among the graduates of the class of 1840, an honor of which she was well aware, as Wesleyan alumnae relate anecdotally[1].

She was a mother of six(?), including the notable Admiral William S. Benson, USN (1855-1932) who became the nation's first Chief of Naval Operations, an office created May 11, 1915. She died at her home in Macon March, 1908 at the age of 86[[2]].

History of women's rights in the United States