Edith Nourse Rogers (1881-1960) was the first woman from New England to be elected to Congress. Reelected 17 times, she worked tirelessly for veterans' concerns throughout her congressional career.

Edith Nourse Rogers, daughter of Franklin Nourse and Edith Frances Riversmith, was born March 19, 1881, in Saco, Maine. Her family was well-to-do and they moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1895, when her father became the manager for the second largest textile mill in Lowell. Edith was educated by private tutors and then at Rogers Hall School, a private girls' boarding school, graduating in 1899. Her parents sent her to a finishing school at Madame Julien's School in Paris. Upon her return she plunged into the social whirl and was married to John Jacob Rogers in October 1907.

John Rogers began a successful law practice before turning to politics and being elected to Congress in 1912. He carried his district six more times before dying in...