Ursula N. Gestefeld (1845–1921)

Ursula Newell was born in Maine, and married Theodore Gestefeld, a newspaperman, with whom she had four children. She was best known for her popular novel, The Woman Who Dares (1892).
Though originally a friend of Mary Baker Eddy and a member of the Christian Science group, when she published her Statement of Christian Science (1888), she was expelled from the organization. Mrs. Gestefeld responded with Jesuitism and Christian Science (1888), which criticized Mary Baker Eddy and her leadership style. She later established the Gestefeld Publishing Company, and edited the monthly magazine Exodus for the New Thought Movement she helped to found. She was a frequent speaker at metaphysical movement congresses, and served as member of the executive committee of the Metaphysical League.