Esther Sayles Root

Born in 1894, Esther Sayles Root later became known as Esther Root Adams. During World War I, she volunteered in France and wrote lively letters home about what she saw and did there. Those letters were later published with Marjorie Crocker as Over Periscope Pond, giving readers a firsthand glimpse of wartime life through the eyes of two American women.

She was also active in the struggle for women's rights. Sources about her life describe her as a supporter of the Lucy Stone League and the National Woman's Party, and she is remembered for challenging the custom that a married woman's legal identity had to disappear into her husband's name.

Root lived until 1981. Although not widely known today, she stands out as both a clear-eyed witness to World War I and a determined voice for women's independence.