Ellen Tarr O’Connor worked as a journalist. As a young woman, she worked as a mill-hand in Lowell, Massachusetts, an experience that radicalized her. She became a feminist, socialist, vegetarian, and dress reform advocate. She moved to DC to work as a governess in the home of abolitionist Gamaliel Bailey, and began writing for his newspaper, the National Era. She also contributed to other progressive papers, including the Liberator, and a monthly paper on women’s rights called Una.
She married William Douglas O’Connor in 1856, and did not write or publish again until their separation, when she published Myrtilla Miner: A Memoir (1885) about the founder of an antebellum school for African American girls in DC. She reconciled with her husband at the end of his life, in time to nurse him through his final illness. After his death, in 1889, she edited two posthumous books of his, Three Tales, and Heroes of the Storm. She subsequently moved to Providence, Rhode Island and married Albert L. Calder in 1892. She is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown.
The Homes
Ellen Tarr O’Connor Calder
1015 O St. NW, Washington DC
Located in Shaw/Logan Circle neighborhood, Northwest - East of Rock Creek