1892 - August 26, Elizebeth Smith born in Huntington, Indiana.
1911 began to attended The College of Wooster (Ohio)
1913
ES left school at Wooster
1914
ES returned to school, but to Hillsdale College (Michigan)
1915, summer
Took degree in English from Hillsdale.
Started her first year teaching in a nearby school.
Also, served as principal.
1915, September
William Friedman starts working at Riverbank as a geneticist.
1916, June
Quit teaching and looked for a new job. Went to Chicago to an
employment agency and also to visit the Newberry Library which had an original 1623 folio of Shakespeare.
The librarian introduced her to Col Fabyan, who wanted to hire someone to look into ciphers connected with Bacon and Shakespeare
Met William Friedman
1917
ES's mother dies February 14 1917
US enters WWI April 6, 1917
ESF marries William Friedman May 21, 1917
1918
Cipher Bureau created in Washington DC, headed by
Yardley, assisted by Manly
1923
Started working for US Navy (cheif of code building section) - January 1923
Moved to "Green mansion" - their home in Md, where they stayed until 1925.
Cassie was hired as cook, family caregiver, and housekeeper.
She was much loved by the Friedman family but, sadly, died in 1932 of cancer at the age of 39.
First child Barbara born - October 14, 1923.
ESF's father dies November 16, 1923.
Late 1925
EF called by CAPT Root and offered job as CG crypto special agent
1926
Son John was born, July 28, 1926
1927
EF began work with the United States Coast Guard's Intelligence Unit.
June, July: Went to CA to instruct CG personnel on methods of
decrypting traffic from rumrunners.
From "Listening to the Rumrunners": During May 1927-January 1930,
ESF decrypted, on her own, 3300 cipher messages
between rumrunner fleets on the west coast and
principals in Vancouver CA. They operated
about 25 black ships and 5 radio stations. They
used nearly 50 distinct cryptosystems, many employing
multiple encryptions.
1928
EF sent to Houston, Texas to solve some messages
which the District Attorney there had subpoenaed
from Western Union and which was expected to
produce evidence of value against defendants in
the liquor smuggling business who had been indicted
in the Southern District of Texas. A pile of
messages had been subpoenaed from Western Union
which was the size of a small truck.
June 1930
EF appeared in one case in Texas for the trial of three men who were charged with not only conspiracy but the actual operation of smuggling of liquor from Belize, British Honduras, to the Texas coast.
1933
EF appeared as a witness in the Bert Morrison case, as it was known, in New Orleans.
1941
EF's Coast Guard unit was transferred to the Navy where they solved a difficult Enigma machine code used by German Naval Intelligence.
1950
EF worked as a security consultant for the International Monetary Fund.
Upon retirement from government service, she collaborated with her husband William Friedman on a book, "The Shakespearean ciphers examined" (Cambridge University Press, 1957).
1969
William Friedman died November 12, 1969
ESF works on organizing WF's collected papers, and her own, at the
George C. Marshall Foundation.
1980
On October 31, Elizebeth Friedman dies in Plainfield, New Jersey.
(Some photos were found on the internet, others are courtesy of Craig Bauer, editor of Cryptologia, and the NSA Cryptologic Museum.)
