Harriet "Hattie" L. Whitaker (b. Shriver) (1839-1911) was born in Ohio and died in Los Angeles, California. In 1866, she married Reuben Whitaker, a Civil War veteran, in Oskaloosa, Iowa. He went into business with her brother, Levi P. Shriver, from 1878-1887 as Whitaker & Shriver, book-sellers and stationers in Oskaloosa. Whitaker first received Christian Science treatment through prayer from Jennie B. Fenn, a student of Mary Baker Eddy, in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1886. After a successful healing, the Whitakers both became interested in Christian Science and studied with Fenn. They later became students of Eddy, completing the Primary Class in March 1888 and joining the Christian Scientist Association that same year. They moved to Los Angeles around 1889, where they were involved with setting up The Second Church of Christ, Scientist, Los Angeles, California. The Whitakers joined The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 31, 1892. In 1904, they became members of the General Association of Teachers. The couple worked together as practitioners. Hattie was listed in the directory of The Christian Science Journal as a Christian Science practitioner in Oskaloosa in 1887 and in Los Angeles from 1890 until her death.

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