The Claflin Sisters: “Bewitching Brokers and Queens of Finance”

Image Courtesy of: From the New York Evening Telegraph, February 18th, 1870. Reprinted in One Moral Standard for All: Extracts from the lives of Victoria Clafin Woodhull and Tennessee Clafin. Museum of the City of New York.

In 1868, Victoria Woodhull and her sister Tennessee Claflin relocated to New York to pursue their dreams—

Victoria and her sister Tennessee “Tennie” Claflin continued to work as healers during their time in New York. Through this, the sisters were introduced to Cornelius Vanderbilt, famous railroad tycoon. The Claflin sisters capitalized on this relationship to build a fortune acting on stock tips from Vanderbilt during the gold panic. Within six weeks, the sisters had netted approximately $700,000— a major feat today, let alone in the late 1860s. (Greenspan for History.com, 2018)

These funds allowed them to open a brokerage firm, “Woodhull, Claflin, & Co.”, in February of 1870. The Claflin sisters were the first women to own and operate a brokerage firm on Wallstreet. (NPS, 2021)

Woodhull’s sights were later set on greater ambitions, using the brokerage firm as a platform to advocate for women’s rights, labor workers, and the poor.