Tennessee Clafin (1844-1923)

Tennessee Celeste Claflin, sister of the famous Victoria Woodhull, was a fortune teller, “table-rapper,” stockbroker, journalist, and healer. She advocated for the Free Love platform: the right to marry, divorce, and bear children without government interference. As a girl, “Tennie” practiced clairvoyance in her family’s medicine show. In 1868 she became the magnetic healer of the New York millionaire Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877). With backing from Vanderbilt, Tennie and Victoria founded the first female Wall Street brokerage firm. The elderly Vanderbilt promised to marry Tennie. When he died in 1877, Tennessee accepted a tidy $100,000 from the Vanderbilt family for promising she would not contest his will.