Barely a Cyclist, She Set Off Around the World

Fact check

The facts and where they come from

1. She had barely ridden a bicycle. The Jewish Women’s Archive: she “had ridden a bicycle for the first time only days before her departure from Boston.” Wikipedia: “never having ridden a bicycle until a few days before her trip.” Peter Zheutlin: “A novice cyclist.” 123
2. She set off to ride around the world, and is remembered for it. The Jewish Women’s Archive: “She was the first woman to ride a bicycle around the world in 1894-1895.” 1
3. Her name was Annie Kopchovsky. Peter Zheutlin: “the Boston lady with the Irish surname was actually Annie Cohen Kopchovsky, a 23-year-old Jewish immigrant from near Riga, Latvia.” 4
4. She was a Jewish immigrant from Latvia, and a Boston mother of three. The West End Museum: “Latvian/Jewish immigrant Annie Cohen Kopchovsky” … “left her husband, three small children, and their Spring Street home in the West End.” Peter Zheutlin: “the mother of three children, ages 5, 3, and 2.” 453
5. In June 1894, 500 people watched her ride away. Zheutlin’s site: “On June 25, 1894, Annie Cohen Kopchovsky, a young mother of three small children, stood before a crowd of 500 friends, family, suffragists, and curious onlookers at the Massachusetts State House.” The Christian Science Monitor: “a young woman carrying only a change of clothes and a pearl-handled revolver climbed onto a Columbia bicycle before a crowd of 500 people on the steps of the Massachusetts State House in Boston” … “sailed away like a kite down Beacon Street.” The Jewish Women’s Archive: she “set out from Boston on June 25, 1894.” 631
6. She claimed two rich men had bet that no woman could do it. Wikipedia: “Later in 1894, two rich Boston men allegedly wagered $20,000 against $10,000 that no woman could travel around the world by bicycle in 15 months and earn $5000.” … “The alleged bettors were never named.” Zheutlin’s site: “The trip was purportedly set in motion by a wager.” 26
7. Her biographer believes she made the bet up. Peter Zheutlin, her great-grandnephew (“Annie was my great-grandfather’s sister”) and author of Around the World on Two Wheels (2007): “It’s virtually certain, for example, that she concocted the wager story to sensationalize her trip.” Wikipedia calls him the “author of the authoritative history of her journey.” The West End Museum: “Kopchovsky created the story that a wager with Boston businessmen over women’s physical capabilities instigated the trip. That myth, including a fictional payoff, lives on.” 325
8. A water company paid her to take its name, Londonderry. The Jewish Women’s Archive: she “accepted $100 from the company’s representative in return. In addition, she agreed to be known as Annie Londonderry.” Wikipedia: “for which the company paid her $100 and she in turn agreed to go by the name ‘Annie Londonderry’ for the duration of her trip.” The Christian Science Monitor: “she went by the name Londonderry by agreement with her first sponsor, the Londonderry Lithia Spring Water Company of Nashua, N.H.” 124
9. By Chicago she was exhausted and nearly quit. The Christian Science Monitor: “reaching Chicago in early autumn exhausted from riding her 42-pound bike.” The Jewish Women’s Archive: “there she nearly gave up the trip altogether.” 31
10. She swapped her skirts for bloomers. Zheutlin’s site: “The men’s frame meant that riding in skirts was no longer feasible and Annie took to wearing bloomers, and later a men’s riding suit.” The Christian Science Monitor: “Later in her trip Annie acquired a man’s Sterling bicycle, donned bloomers, and then a man’s riding suit.” 64
11. She traded her heavy bike for a men’s model. The Jewish Women’s Archive: she “traded in her 42-pound ladies’ bicycle for a men’s model that weighed half as much.” The Christian Science Monitor: “returning to New York on a 21-pound men’s Sterling bicycle.” 13
12. She crossed the oceans by steamship, from France to Egypt, Ceylon and Japan. The Christian Science Monitor: “She sailed to Le Havre, France, in November 1894.” Wikipedia: “on November 24, 1894, she boarded the French liner La Touraine”; “Londonderry left Marseille on the 413-foot steamship Sydney.” The Jewish Women’s Archive: “Kopchovsky sailed from Marseilles all the way to East Asia, with brief stops in Egypt, Sri Lanka, and Singapore.” … “she was in Japan by March. On March 23, she arrived back in the United States through San Francisco Bay’s Golden Gate.” 321
13. She rode back east from San Francisco, taking trains on some stretches. The Christian Science Monitor: “Her route back east took her from San Francisco south to Los Angeles, across Arizona and New Mexico to El Paso”; she “hopped a train across much of Nebraska.” Wikipedia: “She rode the train across most of Nebraska because of the muddy roads.” The New England Historical Society: “No doubt she covered far more miles on steamers and trains than she did on a bicycle.” 327
14. In September 1895 she rolled into Chicago, almost fifteen months after she left. The Jewish Women’s Archive: “reaching Chicago on September 12, 1895, just under fifteen months from her original departure from Boston.” Wikipedia: “She was back home in Boston on September 24, arriving fifteen months after she had left.” 12
15. A New York newspaper called it “the most extraordinary journey ever undertaken by a woman.” The Christian Science Monitor: “It was, The New York World declared a year later, ‘the most extraordinary journey ever undertaken by a woman.’” Zheutlin’s site: “Fifteen months later The New York World called it” the same. Wikipedia: the World published her account on October 20, 1895, and “the newspaper headline described it as ‘the Most Extraordinary Journey Ever Undertaken by a Woman.’” 362
16. She told tall tales along the way. The Christian Science Monitor: “Annie was a showwoman and a teller of tall tales” … “she said she traveled to the front, fell through a frozen river, took a bullet in the shoulder, and was thrown into a Japanese prison.” Wikipedia: “she told stories about hunting tigers in India with German royalty and getting sent to a Japanese prison with a bullet wound.” 32

Sources

1. First woman to cycle the globe begins journey Jewish Women’s Archive (This Week in History)
2. Annie Londonderry Wikipedia
3. Backstory: Chasing Annie Londonderry The Christian Science Monitor (Peter Zheutlin), August 28, 2006
4. Backstory: Retracing Annie Londonderry’s Victorian odyssey The Christian Science Monitor (Peter Zheutlin), August 29, 2006
5. Cycling Legends of the West End The West End Museum, Boston
6. About Annie Londonderry annielondonderry.com (Peter Zheutlin)
7. Annie Londonderry Rode Her Bicycle Around the World New England Historical Society

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