Authors, Civil War Women

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps

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American Feminist Author and Social Reformer Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844-1911) was an American author and an early advocate of clothing reform, urging women to burn their corsets. She wrote fifty-seven volumes of fiction, poetry and essays. In 1868 Phelps’ story “The Tenth of January” about a tragic fire that killed scores of girls at the Pemberton Mill in Lawrence, MA established her reputation as a writer, and her novel The Gates Ajar became a national bestseller. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps was born Mary Gray Phelps in Boston on August 31, 1844, to Elizabeth Wooster Stuart Phelps and Reverend Austin Phelps. Her father was pastor of the Pine Street Congregational Church until 1848, when he accepted a position as the Chair of…

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Famous Spies, Women in the American Revolution

Agent 355

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Female Spy in the American Revolution A group of spies known as the Culper Spy Ring operated from 1778 to 1780 in an intricate network from British-occupied New York City to Setauket, Long Island, north to Connecticut, and then west to George Washington’s headquarters at Newburgh, New York. Agent 355 was the code name of a female spy in the Culper Ring. Her real identity is unknown. The spy network was particularly effective in gathering valuable information from careless conversations between the British and their sympathizers. In 1778, Benjamin Tallmadge, a young American officer who was General George Washington’s new intelligence chief, organized an ingenious top-secret network of spies. Washington ordered that not even he himself should know who they…

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Authors, Civil War Women

Susan Wallace

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Poet and Writer in the Civil War Era Susan Arnold Elston Wallace was an American author and poet who wrote six books that were published in her lifetime: The Storied Sea (1883), Ginevra (1887), The Land of the Pueblos (1888), The Repose in Egypt (1888), Along the Bosphorus and Other Sketches (1898) and The City of the King (1903). The wife of author and Civil War General Lew Wallace, she completed his autobiography after his death. Early Years Susan Arnold Elston was born on December 25, 1830 in Crawfordsville, Indiana to wealthy and influential parents, Isaac Compton and Maria Eveline (Aken) Elston. Susan had eight siblings, three brothers and five sisters. In 1835, Isaac Elston built an impressive, two-story brick…

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Famous Wives, First Ladies

Rachel Jackson

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Seventh First Lady of the United States Rachel Donelson Jackson was the wife of Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States. As a child, Rachel was brought to the homes of Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee, all of whom were colleagues of her father in the House of Burgesses. Although she died before President Jackson took office, Rachel Jackson is considered an American First Lady. Rachel Donelson was a child of the frontier. Born near present-day Chatham, Virginia in June 1767, she journeyed to the Tennessee wilderness with her parents when only 12. Her father Colonel John Donelson was a Revolutionary War soldier, member of the Virginia Assembly and co-founder of the new settlement of Fort…

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First Ladies

Louisa Adams

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Sixth First Lady of the United States Louisa Johnson Adams was born in London, England – the only First Lady born outside of the United States. She met John Quincy Adams in 1794 when he was sent to England on a diplomatic mission, and they married shortly after his father, John Adams, became President. Their marriage was stormy and her mother-in-law, Abigail Adams, reportedly disapproved of Louisa. Louisa Catherine Johnson was born February 12, 1775 in London to Catherine Nuth Johnson, an Englishwoman, and Joshua Johnson, an American merchant who was serving as United States consulate general in London. The family moved to France when Louisa was three, where she completed her education. John Quincy Adams was born July 11,…

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Civil War Women, Famous Wives

Olivia Clemens

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Well Educated Wife (and Sometimes Editor) of Mark Twain Olivia Langdon Clemens (1845-1904) was the wife of the famous American author Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain; she was a major influence on his writing. Olivia was raised in the stimulating environment of Elmira, New York, and was constantly exposed to some of the most exciting issues and women of her day, including Isabella Beecher Hooker and Anna Dickinson. Early Years Olivia Langdon was born November 27, 1845 in Elmira, New York to Jervis and Olivia Lewis Langdon. Jervis was a very wealthy coal businessman, and her family participated in a branch of the Underground Railroad that came through Elmira, and socialized with leading doctors‚ theologians and suffragists. There…

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Famous Mothers, First Ladies

Anna Harrison

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Ninth First Lady of the United States Anna Harrison, wife of the President William Henry Harrison, was First Lady of the United States during her husband’s one-month term in 1841, though she never entered the White House. She also holds the distinction of being the only First Lady to be wife of one president and grandmother of another: twenty-third president, Benjamin Harrison. She was born Anna Tuthill Symmes on July 25, 1775 at the family estate Solitude near Morristown, New Jersey to John Cleves Symmes and Anna Tuthill Symmes, who died the following year. Anna’s father was a Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court and later became a prominent landowner in southwestern Ohio. Because the Revolutionary War was…

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Civil War Women, Educators

Laura Towne

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Teacher of Emancipated Slaves When Union forces occupied St. Helena Island off the coast of South Carolina, plantation owners fled, leaving behind their homes, possessions and 10,000 slaves. Northern women like Laura Towne and Charlotte Forten volunteered to educate the freedmen and prepare them for economic independence. Image: Laura Towne class among the live oaks St. Helena Island, South Carolina The Port Royal Experiment, begun in 1862, was the first large-scale government effort to help the newly freed slaves, who promptly demonstrated their ability to work the land efficiently and live independently of white control. They assigned themselves daily tasks, and by selling their surplus crops, they acquired small amounts of property. Laura Matilda Towne was born May 3, 1825…

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Women Inventors

Mary Kies

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Woman Inventor: First to be Granted a U.S. Patent Mary Kies was an early 19th-century American who received the first patent granted to a woman by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, on May 5, 1809. Kies had invented a new technique for weaving straw with silk or thread, and First Lady Dolley Madison praised her for boosting the nation’s hat industry. Unfortunately, the patent file was destroyed in the great Patent Office fire in 1836. She was born Mary Dixon in Killingly, Connecticut on March 21, 1752, the daughter of John and Janet Kennedy Dixon. Mary married Isaac Pike I, and had a son Isaac Pike II. After his death she married John Kies. Prior to 1790, only…

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Civil War Women, Women in Theater

Anna Cora Mowatt

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Writer and Theater Actress in the Civil War Era Anna Cora Mowatt (1819–1870) was an author, playwright and actress. She was the first upper-middle-class woman to make a career in the theater, and her successes helped to legitimize acting as an occupation for women. Mowatt is generally regarded as a significant contributor to the development of American drama. Early Years Born on March 5, 1819, in France, Anna Cora Ogden was one of fourteen children born to Samuel and Eliza Lewis Ogden, both descendants of old colonial families. Eliza Ogden’s grandfather was Francis Lewis, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Samuel Ogden was one of the principal distributors of Bordeaux wines in the United States, and moved…

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