Cornilia Thurza Crosby

Who was Cornilia Thurza Crosby?

Cornelia Thurza Crosby, or "Fly Rod", as she was popularly known, was born in Phillips, Maine, on Nov. 10, 1854. She died one day after her 92nd birthday on Nov. 11, 1946. She was the first Registered Maine Guide. In a field dominated by men, it is notable that the first Maine Guide was a woman.

Cornelia “Fly Rod” Crosby was born in Phillips, Maine, on Nov. 10, 1854, and became Maine's first licensed guide. Crosby's first cousin, James E. Porter died at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, known as Custer's Last Stand. On March 19, 1897, The Maine legislature passed a bill requiring hunting guides to register with the state. Maine registered 1316 guides in that first year. In addition to being its first licensed guide, she promoted Maine's outdoor sports at shows in metropolitan areas, and wrote a popular column that appeared in many newspapers around the country, but was nationally published in the magazine "Fly Rod's Notebook" Her efforts helped to attract thousands of would-be outdoorsmen—and women—to the woods and streams of Maine.