Will The Circle Be Unbroken? Women's Church Groups

In the mid 19th century woman began to band together in North America in new and focused ways to achieve social and spiritual good.

Groups such as :
Ladies Aid Society
Women's Foreign Missionary Society
Women's Home Missionary Society
Women's Society if Christian Service
Wesleyan Service Guild

In the early 20th century a term appeared and was used widely: The Circle.  The Encyclopedia of Women and Religion Suggests that these groups grew out of the "sewing circle" or "social circles" and became a simple way to refer to small groups of women who gathered around a simple motive (missionary work, learning, social activism, fellowship).

Details of this use are hard to pin down.  Anyone with sources, information ,etc. is asked to add a comment.