Ruth Randall Edström

Ruth Miriam Edström (née Randall; June 24, 1867 – October 5, 1944) was an American peace activist and fighter for women's rights. She worked with the pre-work for the third peace conference in The Hague (after the first conferences in 1899 and 1907). She participated in the international women's congress in 1915. Ruth was the wife of the head of Asea, J. Sigfrid Edström.

Early life Ruth Randall was the eldest of seven siblings born in Wilmington, Illinois, to Oscar Theodore Randall and Jane Mariah (née Lewis) Randall. The family moved to Chicago in 1870 and settled in the suburbs, a few miles from the city centre.

In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire burnt down the Randall's shop, however, their house survived.

The Randall family belonged to the Reformed Church, but later started to attend service at the Unity Chapel that belonged to All Souls Unitarian Church, where Jenkin Lloyd Jones preached.

The children were educated in the Unitarian belief system at the Church, specifically being taught religious and philosophical education. They became friends with author Ralph Waldo Emerson and Robert Browning and many others, often participating in the end of year historical party, with dramas of Charles Dickens and Charles Kingsley. In one instance, Ruth suggested the play about Hypatia to be performed, and got to select the actors and direct the play.

Education and later life After a two year course at Cook County Normal School for Teachers, Randall worked at a public primary school in Chicago. She was shortly headhunted to work at the Forestville School in Chicago.

In the summer of 1896 the teachers of the school went on a trip to Europe, they traveled by the new atlantic steam boat Etruria, where Randall met Swedish engineer Sigfrid Edström, who was moving to work for an electric company in Cleveland, Ohio. 220px

In the summer of 1903, she, her husband and their two children, Miriam and Björn, moved to Västerås, where Sigfrid worked for the stock company ASEA.