foremother

noun

1. A female ancestor.

   ““My strain has remained clearer than the rest because for countless ages my foremothers were high priestesses—the sacred office descends from mother to daughter.””

2. (figuratively)A female predecessor, especially one of an earlier generation.

   “This compelling narrative [The Other Sappho by Ellen Fry] is a historical romance, a colorful tapestry of a time gone by in which the author has endeavored to share her version of the lives of women-identified women who were our foremothers.”