Rachel Lloyd

Rachel Lloyd (January 26, 1839 – March 7, 1900) was an American chemist who studied the chemistry and agriculture of sugar beets (Beta vulgaris). She studied at the Harvard Summer School and earned her doctorate from the University of Zurich in 1886. She was the first American woman to earn a doctorate of chemistry and the first woman to publish work in a major chemistry journal. Lloyd worked as a professor of chemistry and head of the chemistry department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her work in determining the sucrose concentration of sugar beets helped establish a commercial sugar industry in Nebraska. In 1891, she became the first regularly admitted female member of the American Chemical Society. On October 1, 2014, the Society designated her research and professional contributions to chemistry at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln a National Historic Chemical Landmark. Early life and education Rachel Abbie Lloyd (née Holloway) was born in Flushing, Ohio, to Quaker parents Robert Smith Halloway and Abigail Taber. Both of her parents were teachers until her father became the postmaster in Smyrna, Ohio. Lloyd experienced loss at a young age; all three of her siblings died in infancy, her mother died when she was five, and her father died when she was 12. She was raised by her father's second wife. At the age of 13, Holloway began attending Friends School in Flushing, Ohio, and continued her education at Westtown School in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Her final year of schooling was completed at Miss Margaret Robinson's School for Young Ladies, where she would also begin teaching. During her time at Robinson's School she met Franklin Lloyd, a chemist with Powers and Weightman. On May 11, 1859, when she was 20 years old, Rachel and Franklin got married. Lloyd noted that Franklin kept a chemical laboratory in their home, which is where her interest in the field originated. In 1863, the couple moved to Bangor Township, Bay County, Michigan, where Franklin managed a saw mill, salt works and barrel factory for lumber merchants in Philadelphia. The couple had two children together: Fannie Lloyd (1860–1860) and William C. Lloyd (1865–1865), both of whom died in infancy. Frannie died of "disease of the brain" and William died of jaundice.