Famous Wives

Mary Middleton Butler

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Wife of Founding Father Pierce Butler Image: Pierce Butler Mary Middleton was born in 1750, the daughter of Thomas Middleton, South Carolina planter and slave importer. Mary’s uncle Arthur Middleton was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Mary’s grandmother Mary Brandford Bull willed her holdings, including Toogoodoo Plantation, to her four granddaughters. Three of the granddaughters died soon after receiving their inheritance and Bull’s vast fortune was all transferred to Mary. Pierce Butler was born in Ireland on July 11, 1744, and came to America in 1768 as an officer in the British Army. He was a major in the 29th Regiment, which was sent to Boston in 1768 in an effort to suppress the growing colonial resistance against…

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Civil War Women, Famous Wives

Fanny Longfellow

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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…

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Slavery in America

Lord Dunmore’s Promise of Freedom

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Slavery and the American Revolution In early 1775, Patriots in the Virginia Colony began to organize militia companies and seek out military supplies (weapons, ammunition, and gunpowder) to arm and equip them for the conflict that seemed to be inevitable. The Virginia Conventions were organized by the Patriots after Royal Governor Lord Dunmore (John Murray, fourth earl of Dunmore) dissolved the House of Burgesses in an effort to retain Royal control of the colony. After Patrick Henry gave his “Give me Liberty, or give me Death!” speech on March 23, 1775, at the Second Virginia Convention, Dunmore became concerned. Among the delegates to the convention were future U.S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. The conventions would serve as a…

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Civil War Women, Generals Wives

Mary Pinkney Hardy MacArthur

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Wife of Union General Arthur MacArthur, Jr. Mary Pinkney Hardy MacArthur was the wife of Arthur MacArthur, Union general and Medal of Honor recipient for his actions at the Battle of Missionary Ridge, and the mother of General Douglas MacArthur, one of the most highly decorated American soldiers in World War I and supreme allied commander of the Southwest Pacific Theater during World War II, reaching the rank of a five-star General of the Army. Image: Mary Pinkney Hardy MacArthur With son West Point Cadet Douglas MacArthur, 1899 Mary Pinkney Hardy, always known as Pinky, was born on May 22, 1852, at her family’s plantation, Riveredge, just outside of Norfolk, Virginia. Her father, Thomas Asbury Hardy, migrated to Norfolk in…

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Famous Wives

Sarah Strong

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Wife of Massachusetts Founding Father Caleb Strong Sarah Hooker was born on January 30, 1758, in Northampton, Massachusetts, the daughter of Reverend John Hooker and Sarah Worthington Hooker. Caleb Strong was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, on January 9, 1745, the only son of Lt. Caleb Strong and Phebe Lyman Strong. Caleb’s ancestor, the Elder John Strong, who settled in Northampton in 1659, established a tannery and became a leading citizen in the affairs of the town and of the church. The Strong tannery was inherited by Caleb’s father. Caleb Strong graduated from Harvard College with highest honors in 1764, then studied law with the eminent Judge Joseph Hawley. Strong returned to Northampton and opened a practice in 1772.
Authors, Civil War Women

Elizabeth Meriwether

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Writer and Women’s Rights Activist Elizabeth Avery Meriwether (1824–1916) was a Tennessee author and publisher. Because of her vocal opposition to the Union Army, General William Tecumseh Sherman ordered her to leave Memphis in December 1862. Meriwether was also a prominent activist in the women’s suffrage movement, and is depicted in a life-size bronze statue in the Women’s Suffrage Memorial in Knoxville, Tennessee. Image: Tennesee Woman’s Suffrage Memorial Depicts (left to right) Lizzie Crozier French, Anne Dallas Dudley and Elizabeth Meriwether, representing East, Middle and West Tennessee respectively. The statue was dedicated on August 26, 2006 in Knoxville’s Market Square. Elizabeth Avery was born in Bolivar, Tennessee, on January 19, 1824. Financial problems led the family to move to Memphis…

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Women in the American Revolution

Mary Dowd

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North Carolina Loyalist Image: Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge “King George and Broadswords!” shouted Loyalist forces as they charged toward Moores Creek Bridge on February 27, 1776. Just beyond the bridge nearly a thousand North Carolina Patriots waited quietly with cannons and muskets poised to fire. Everyone who lived in the colonies was part of the war for independence. North Carolina women contributed and suffered much on both sides. At that time, the population of North Carolina was mostly rural. Men lived with their wives and families on farms. Like women everywhere in those days, all the women in the household had established roles within the family. A woman’s life centered on her family and home – cooking, washing clothes,…

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Women in the American Revolution

Anna Maria Lane

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Woman Soldier in the Revolutionary War Anna Maria Lane is best known as Virginia’s only female soldier in the Revolutionary War. Anna Maria followed her husband, when he joined the Continental Army in 1776. Although many women worked as cooks or laundresses at the military camps, Anna Maria dressed in men’s clothing and performed the duties of a soldier. John and Anna Maria fought in battles in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Georgia. The Lanes were with New England troops under General Israel Putnam when he linked up with General George Washington‘s army near Philadelphia after the Battle of Brandywine.
Civil War Women, Famous Wives

Anne Key

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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…

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Famous Spies, Women in the American Revolution

Anna Smith Strong

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Member of the Culper Spy Ring Image: Map Showing the Routes Taken by the Culper Spy Ring – Long Island, New York The British occupied New York City in August 1776, and the city would remain a British stronghold for the duration of the Revolutionary War. The Culper Ring, also known as the Setauket Spy Ring, was a group of operatives whose purpose was General George Washington aware of the movements of the British in New York City and Long Island. Some credit Nathan Hale’s capture and execution with having launched the Culper Spy Ring. Nathan Hale, a young Patriot, volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission to the city, but the British captured Hale carrying drawings of their fortifications in his…

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