Emma Hunter

Emma A. Hunter (1831–1904) was an American telegraph operator from West Chester, Pennsylvania. She was hired by the Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph Company in 1851 and worked as a telegrapher until 1868. She is known as the second female telegrapher in Pennsylvania, preceded only by Helen Plummer of Greenville in 1850. Although she was widely noted in her lifetime as the first female telegrapher in the United States, historical research has shown she was not. However, she may have been the first telecommuter, as Thomas Jepsen has argued.

Life and career Hunter was born in Meadville, Pennsylvania, in 1831. After her father's death, Hunter's mother Agnes relocated the family to West Chester in 1848. To support herself and her children, she opened a store on Church Street, which sold books and stationery. Emma, along with her brother John, grew up working in the family business, which is where she probably learned her bookkeeping skills.

Using the telegraphic pseudonym (known as a sine) "Emma of S," Hunter quickly gained a reputation in the company as one of their most capable telegraphers. Her male coworkers reportedly treated her respectfully and apologized when she called out their mistakes. At the end of her first year of work, her annual salary was increased by management from $50 per year to $144 annually. She also received a bonus of $150. As the lines grew busier and the social stigma of being a female telegrapher faded, in 1857, Hunter moved her office to her mother's store. Later, she relocated to East Gay Street, working out of the Pennsylvania Railroad depot. She was widely described at her death as the first female telegrapher in the United States, though later historians have disproved this claim. Thomas Jepsen, a writer who focuses on the history of technology, has argued that she was the world's earliest electronic commuter, as she worked from her home to send and receive telegraph messages and keep the company's books.