Category: Famous Wives

Wife of Declaration of Independence Signer Arthur Middleton Middleton Family Portrait Benjamin West, Artist, 1771 Mary Izard was born on July 31, 1747, in Charleston, South Carolina, the daughter of Walter and Elizabeth Gibbes Izard. Arthur Middleton was born on June 26, 1742, at his family plantation, Middleton Place, near Charleston, South Carolina. Arthur’s father, Henry Middleton, sent Arthur to England at the age of twelve to be educated at the Hackney School, and at eighteen, he began study at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Middleton excelled in the classics, and developed a refined taste for painting, music, and literature while traveling through Europe after his graduation. Middleton returned home just before Christmas 1763. Middleton Family History In 1678, Edward Middleton emigrated…

Wife of Signer of the Declaration and the Constitution George Clymer George Clymer Elizabeth Meredith was born in 1743, the daughter of Reese Meredith, a prominent and wealthy merchant in Philadelphia for more than half a century prior to the Revolutionary period. She was described as a handsome accomplished girl of most exemplary character. Reese Meredith and George Washington were friends, long before the Revolution. According to legend, Mr. Meredith was lunching at an inn in Philadelphia, and started a conversation with a tall young Virginian, and before separating, Mr. Meredith invited the young man to his home, and Washington accepted, and the friendship continued for the rest of their lives. George Clymer was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March…

Wife of Declaration Signer Charles Carroll of Carrollton Mary Darnall, daughter of Colonel Henry Darnall, was a young lady of beauty, fortune, and ancient family. Charles Carroll of Carrollton was born in Annapolis, Maryland, September 30, 1737, at the home of his parents, Charles Carroll of Annapolis and Elizabeth Brooke. Charles and his mother enjoyed mutual tenderness and affection, but it was his father’s intense love and rigorous discipline that formed his character and gave him the skills and drive to succeed. A brilliant businessman, Carroll of Annapolis expanded his lands and capital and made his son an heir worthy and fit to receive them. Although Maryland had been founded by and for Catholics on the basis of religious toleration…

Wife of Declaration of Independence Signer George Read Gertrude Ross was born in 1733, the daughter of Reverend George Ross, who was for more than half a century a clergyman of Newcastle, Delaware. Gertrude was well educated by her father, beyond the common lot of most girls of her day, even in educated families. It is said, “her person was beautiful, her manners elegant, and her piety exemplary.” She was the sister of George Ross, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and half-sister of John Ross, an eminent lawyer at the Philadelphia bar. George Read, the son of John and Mary Howell Read, was born in the town of North East, Maryland, on September 18, 1733. His father was…

Wife of Declaration of Independence Signer Thomas McKean Thomas McKean Artist: C. W Schreyleer Mary Borden, born January 1, 1743, was the eldest daughter of Thomas Borden of Bordentown, New Jersey, a wealthy and public-spirited citizen, who was later to become an active patriot during the war of the Revolution. Mary Borden and her younger sister, Ann, were said to be the handsomest girls in New Jersey. Ann afterward married Francis Hopkinson, who also became a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas McKean was born March 19, 1734, the son of well-to-do Irish-American parents in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Thomas rose through the influence of his mother’s family. He was educated at the New London Academy and the school of…

Wife of Signer Thomas Nelson, Jr. Thomas Nelson, Jr. Engraved by H.B. Hall Lucy Grymes was born on August 24, 1743, in Middlesex County, Virginia, the daughter of Philip and Mary Randolph Grymes. Through her mother’s family, Lucy was the cousin of many of the Founding Fathers who served with her husband, including Virginia patriots Peyton Randolph, Carter Braxton, and Thomas Jefferson. Her first cousin once removed, also named Lucy Grymes, married Henry Lee II, and was the mother of Henry ” Light Horse Harry” Lee, who was the father of Confederate General Robert Edward Lee. Thomas Nelson, Jr. was born at Yorktown, Virginia, on December 26, 1738, the son of William and Elizabeth Burwell Nelson. (He was given the…

Wife of Declaration of Independence Signer Samuel Chase Anne Baldwin was born in Annapolis, Maryland, daughter of Thomas Baldwin and his wife Agnes. Samuel Chase was born on April 17, 1741, in Somerset County, Maryland. His father, Thomas Chase, was a British-born clergyman for the Church of England. His mother, Matilda Walker Chase, died when he was born. In 1744, Samuel and his father moved to Baltimore, where Samuel grew up and received a classical education under his father’s supervision. Anne Baldwin Chase With her daughters Anne and Matilda Charles Willson Peale, 1772 Chase studied law in Annapolis, Maryland, at the office of Attorney John Hall from 1759 until he was admitted to the bar in 1763. William Paca was…

Wife of Declaration Signer William Paca Mary Chew was born in 1736 at Anne Arundel County, Maryland, into one of Maryland’s most prominent families. She was the daughter of Samuel and Henrietta Lloyd Chew, and a direct descendant of John Chew, who arrived at Jamestown in 1622 on the ship Charitie. William Paca was born on October 31, 1740, at his family’s home near Abingdon, in the British colony of Maryland. He was the second son of John Paca – a wealthy planter of Italian descent. William was a member of the fourth generation of Paca men in Maryland, his great-grandfather Robert having emigrated in the 1640s. William was educated in Philadelphia, graduating from the College of Philadelphia in 1759…

Wife of Declaration Signer Samuel Huntington Martha Devotion, oldest daughter of Reverend Ebenezer and Martha Lathrop Devotion, was born in 1740. Samuel Huntington was born on July 16, 1731, at Windham, Connecticut, the fourth of ten children. His father, Nathaniel Huntington, son of one of the founders of the town, settled along the banks of Merrick’s Brook near the center of Windham. There he and his wife Mehetabel raised their large family on a 400-acre farm and played an active role in the community. Samuel Huntington Nathaniel, as befitting his status as eldest son, was sent to Yale College, and became a Congregational minister in Ellington. Second son Samuel watched several of his brothers attend college, while he worked on…