Category: Famous Wives

Wife of Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Fanny Longfellow (1817-1861), wife of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, was a skilled artist and was well-read in many subjects. Fanny’s father Nathan Appleton gave Craigie House to the Longfellows as a wedding gift, and it became a meeting place for literary and philosophical figures such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Julia Ward Howe. During their happy marriage, Fanny gave birth to six children (two boys and four girls). Image: This portrait of Fanny was done by Samuel Rowse in 1859. It hangs over the fireplace in the Gold Ring Room, Longfellow’s bedroom at Craigie House in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as it did when he was alive. Childhood and Early Years (Frances) Fanny Appleton…

Wife of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney Anne Key (1783-1855) was the sister of Francis Scott Key, who wrote the words to our national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, during the dramatic bombardment of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry in the War of 1812. She was also the wife of Roger B. Taney, the eleventh United States Attorney General and the fifth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, holding that office from 1836 until his death in 1864. Image: Anne and Roger Brooke Taney House Frederick, Maryland The property includes the house, detached kitchen, root cellar, smokehouse and slave quarters in the rear, and interprets the life of Roger and Anne Key Taney, who lived here until 1821, as well as various aspects…

Wife of Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Fanny Holmes was the wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Fanny suffered a severe attack of rheumatic fever in July 1872, just a month after their wedding. She eventually recovered, but another bout of that illness in the mid-1890s caused her hair to turn gray almost overnight. They had no children, and except for her relationship with her husband, she was virtually a recluse. Image: Fanny Holmes, c. 1890-1900 Fanny Bowditch Dixwell was born in December 1840. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 8, 1841, to prominent writer and physician, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. and noted abolitionist Amelia Jackson Holmes. During the…

Wife of Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory Angela Mallory (1815-1901) was best known as a devoted civic leader in the pioneer days of Florida before it was admitted to the Union (1904). The University of Florida at Gainesville officially admitted 500 women in 1947, and Angela Mallory Hall, one of the first dormitories for female students, was named in her honor. It was dedicated on February 17, 1950 and was the last remaining women-only hall until Fall 2004 when it became coed by floor. Angela Sylvania Moreno, daughter of a Spanish patriarch, was born in Pensacola, Florida, on June 20, 1815. Her father was a prominate leader in Pensacola and the surrounding area. Stephen Russell Mallory was born…

Wife of Confederate Guerrilla William Clarke Quantrill Sarah Quantrill (1848-1930) was the wife of William Quantrill, Confederate guerrilla leader during the Civil War. At age 14 Sarah King ran off with Quantrill and soon married him, spending most of their short marriage living in tents with him. In the summer of 1863, his most infamous action was perpretated on the citizens of Lawrence, Kansas in the Lawrence Raid. In four hours Quantrill’s Raiders murdered 200 old men and young boys. In May 1865 Quantrill was finally killed trying to escape Union forces in Kentucky. Sarah Katherine King was born in 1848, the daughter of Robert and Malinda King whose farm was near Blue Springs, Missouri. William Clarke Quantrill was born…