Women do amazing things, and amazing women have been doing them since the beginning of the modern era – and before too!
These women are courageous, determined, and unstoppable. My mission is to bring you their stories to give you inspiration and encouragement. I write about Women Without Limits, women who have endured hardship, left home, fought against enemies and oppression, and traveled alone. I’ve found brave, daring, determined women in many countries and situations.
Here they are, in no particular order (but I’m saving my favorite until last):
Isabel Godin Conquered the Amazon—Alone!
Isabel des Odonaise’s extraordinary story begins with her marriage to Jean Godin, a French explorer who was part of a scientific expedition in 1743. Isabel lived in Riobamba, Ecuador, and Jean wanted to take her back to France with him, but first, he decided to make his way east to French Guiana to prepare the way for her.
After 18 years of waiting for him, she finally got word that he had sent a ship to bring her to him. But she would have to travel over the Andes and down the Amazon to meet the ship. This was 1769; Isabel had been a young girl of 14 when Jean left; she was now a stout matron of 32.
The journey was horrendous. Everyone but Isabel died, and she lost everything. She had to make her way through the jungle alone, through wild animals in a dense jungle, with no food or water. And she survived! Read more about her amazing story.
Weetamoo – An Amazing Chief in a Clash of Cultures
Weetamoo became a chief of the Wampanoag tribe during a time of cultural upheaval in colonial New England. Before King Philip’s War between the tribes and the colonial governments, she often went to court to negotiate to get back native tribal lands. During the war, she led the fight against the colonial armies. She gathered up her people (including the elderly and children) and led the armies on a merry chase through the swamps of Rhode Island before they escaped north.
The war finally ended with Weetamoo’s capture. Her head was cut off and stuck on a pike to remind the native tribes of the dominance of the colonists. There’s lots more to her story; read more about Weetamoo.
Joey Guerrero – Leper Spy and Heroine in World War II
As a person with leprosy, Joey had an advantage as a spy because people avoided her. She became a courier and messenger, and soon she was all over Manila spying. Her greatest spy adventure came after the Americans landed. She had to travel through Japanese territory alone to deliver a message about troop locations, knowing that she would be tortured and killed if she was found.
Her life after the war is a testament to her courage and resilience; she found a place that could cure her Hansen’s disease, but she had to leave behind her young daughter and husband to go to the U.S. to be treated. I loved reading her story.
Alexandra David-Neel – Extraordinary Traveler Risked Death to Travel in Forbidden Tibet
Of all the amazing women I’ve read and written about, Alexandra David-Neel has to be at the top for courage – and stubbornness. In her 40s, she traveled to India and China, studying as a Buddhist scholar. She desperately wanted to go to Tibet and to the Forbidden City of Lhasa, even more so when she was told she couldn’t go.
She took a long, twisting route of several years to get to the Tibetan border. Then in 1923 she and her adopted son Yongden disguised themselves, left almost everything behind, and walked across the border and up into the Himalayas. They slept on slim mountain ledges, under snow and bushes, and traveled outside of villages and at night to avoid being seen. They went days without food or shelter and were close to being found out many times.
Finally, they entered Lhasa, the forbidden city. Of course, Alexandra didn’t stop there. She continued to travel and write. On her 100th birthday, ever the optimist, she renewed her passport. Read more of her fantastic story.
Grace O’Malley – Fearless Sea Captain – and Pirate!
Grace O’Malley was the greatest pirate of her age (in the 1500s in Ireland). She was a nonconformist in warfare and diplomacy, and she fiercely protected her clan’s interests.
She did most of her fighting at sea, but she also had to contend with the English, especially Richard Bingham, governor of Connaught. Her castles were taken from her, and she and her sons were jailed several times, but they were either released or escaped.
Bingham tried to break up the clans, but she did an end run around him and went to London in 1593 to meet Queen Elizabeth I. She was told she had to curtsey, but she said, “We’re both queens and equals.” She received Elizabeth’s agreement for protection and promised not to pirate anymore.
Grace outlived two husbands and she was still actively sailing the seas up to her 70s. Her story was lost in traditional history for many years, but it was kept alive by Irish legends. Today she’s an Irish folk hero. Read more about her adventures.
Annie Smith-Peck – Amazing Queen of the Climbers
Annie was unconventional and not afraid of anything. She was born in 1850 and was quite a tomboy. Denied entrance into college when the president said, “Women aren’t encouraged to seek higher education,” she found another college and got a Master’s degree in ancient history.
By the time she was in her 30s, she had found her passion—climbing mountains. She climbed all over Europe and the U.S., looking for bigger challenges and a “virgin peak” that no one had climbed before. She settled on Mt. Huascarán, the highest peak in Peru and the second highest in South America.
Unfortunately, Annie’s climbing ability wasn’t matched by her ability to select guides. Most abandoned her, saying it was impossible. It took her six tries to get to the top of Huascaran, but she did it! Read more about her adventures.
Ada Blackjack – Reluctant Adventurer Stranded in the Arctic
Who would want to spend almost a year on a deserted island with only the animals, the snow, and a corpse for company? Not Ada Blackjack, but she toughed it out. Ada was born in 1898 in an Inuit community near Nome, Alaska. She was educated in Nome, so she missed out on all the traditional native survival skills of hunting, fishing, and building shelter. Ada married a violent man, and, tired of his brutality, she took her son and left him, walking 40 miles to safety.
In 1921, she answered an ad asking for someone to go on an expedition to Wrangel Island, a deserted island in the Arctic near Russia. She would get paid $50 for what was supposed to be only a few months on the island by sewing and cooking for the expedition. She needed the money, so she reluctantly accepted.
The four men and Ada reached the island and explored it, but the rescue ship never came in time to bring them home before the ice closed off the passage for the year. Three men took off to look for the ship, never to be seen again, and she was left with the fourth man, who soon died. Ada spent another six months on the island trying to stay alive. This is an unbelievable story; I admired Ada’s determination to survive. Read her story here.
The “Rabbit-proof Fence” Girls
The girls – Molly (14), Gracie (10), and Daisy (8) – had been forcibly taken from their homes to the settlement, a place right out of a Charles Dickens novel. They figured out how to escape and just walked out one night. They had no maps, only a general sense of direction, but their father had told them if they were ever lost to “follow the rabbit-proof fence,” and that’s what they did.
The authorities were looking for them to bring them back because they were “anxious that no harm may come to them in the bush.” Since the girls had grown up in the bush and knew how to use their skills to survive, this was a pretty lame excuse.
Gracie quit the trip after six weeks, but Molly and Daisy kept on going, arriving at their homes after nine weeks of travel. Read more about their journey. (This story might sound familiar. It was made into a movie in 2002.)
Dervla Murphy – Bicycling Over Mountains and Around the World
At age 6 1/2, she committed herself to read as many books as possible before she died. And at age 10, she received a bicycle as a gift, and she made a resolution to cycle to England. She later enlarged that goal, deciding to bicycle to India.
This journey was only the beginning, and she went on to ride her bicycle throughout the world for many years, from South America, Asia, and Africa to Cuba, the Middle East, and Siberia, writing 24 books about her adventures. My favorite of her books was the first one – Full Tilt.
If you would like more interesting stories about Women Without Limits, you can find them on my Substack page.
And check out my short book One Trip Wonders, about three courageous women who did it for the money.
$0.99 on Kindle
One Trip Wonders is the story of three ordinary women in the 1890s who took on extraordinary challenges for the promise of a prize. Annie Edson Taylor, a sixty-three-year-old widow, became the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Helga Estby walked across the United States to win a wager that could save her family’s farm. And Annie Londonderry bicycled around the world (sort of) to prove that a woman could do anything a man could and collect the reward. Their true stories are funny, fearless, and sometimes heartbreaking, reminders that courage often begins with desperation and a dash of audacity
