Civil War Women, Generals Wives

Susan Tarleton

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Bride-To-Be of Stonewall Jackson of the West Susan Tarleton was born January 6, 1840 in Talladega County, Alabama. She was the daughter of a cotton farmer in Mobile, Alabama. She attended Barton Academy there and was accomplished in music and literature. Best Man and Best Woman Confederate General Patrick Cleburne served as Best Man at the wedding of his friend General William Hardee in Demopolis, Alabama on January 13, 1864. Susan Tarleton, the 24-year-old daughter of an Alabama planter, was the Maid of Honor for Hardee’s bride, Mary Foreman Lewis. There Cleburne met Susan and immediately fell in love with her. He received permission to visit her the following day, and then the two traveled with the wedding party to…

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Women Settled the West

Mollie Dorsey Sanford

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Women Who Settled the Midwest and the West Image: Mollie Dorsey Sanford Mollie, left, and her sister Nan In 1857, the year they moved to Nebraska City Mollie Dorsey Sanford was a young bride who crossed the plains – from the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains – during the Colorado Gold Rush. Her diary, published as Mollie, the Journal of Mollie Dorsey Sanford in Nebraska and Colorado Territories 1857 to 1866 (1959), is regarded as one of the most accurate accounts of life on the frontier and an important document in the history of the American West. Backstory The Midwestern United States (or Midwest) is a name for the north-central states of the United States of America. The states…

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Civil War Women, Gettysburg

Sherfy Farm

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Farm on the Gettysburg Battlefield Joseph Sherfy purchased a fifty-acre farm along the Emmitsburg Road about a mile south of the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1842. At the time of the battle, the farm included the famous Peach Orchard to the south of Wheatfield Road as well as both Big and Little Round Tops and the Devil’s Den. Image: Photograph taken from the air above Cemetery Ridge, year unknown Sherfy Farm buildings (upper left) and the Peach Orchard (lower right) There were surely many peach orchards in America on July 2, 1863, but General Daniel Sickles’ troops defended these fields so valiantly that it will be forever known as The Peach Orchard. Sherfy Family Joseph and Mary Sherfy were…

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Famous Wives, Women in Religion

Eunice White Beecher

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Wife of the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher Eunice White Beecher was also author of a novel, From Dawn to Daylight, and several books about housekeeping. Her husband, Henry Ward Beecher of the illustrious Beecher family, became one of the most famous men in the United States during the 19th century. Early Years Eunice White Bullard was born August 26, 1812 in West Sutton, Massachusetts, the daughter of Lucy White Bullard and Dr. Artemas Bullard. Eunice was educated in Hadley, Massachusetts. In the meantime, Henry Ward Beecher, almost a year younger than Eunice, had a stammer and was considered one of the less promising of the brilliant Beecher children. THIS MY 500th POST !
Civil War Women, Generals Wives

Martha Head Price

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Wife of Confederate General Sterling Price During the Civil War, Martha Head Price left Missouri and settled in Washington, Texas. In the spring of 1866, she joined her husband in Mexico, and returned with him to Missouri the following year. Early Years Born May 2, 1810 in Orange County, Virginia, Martha Head was the daughter of Judge Walter Head, a wealthy planter who emigrated to Missouri in 1830 from Orange County, Virginia. Sterling Price was born on September 11, 1809, in Prince Edward County, Virginia, into a wealthy planting family. He received his education at Hampden-Sidney College. At the age of 22 went to Missouri with his father in 1831, first settling in Fayette, where Sterling worked in the tobacco…

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Poets and Writers, Women in Art

Maria Martin Bachman

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She Painted Backgrounds for Audubon’s Famous Birds Maria Martin Bachman was one of the most influential woman in natural history in the nineteenth century. She is best known as a skilled illustrator of flora and fauna who worked in collaboration with the famed naturalist and artist John James Audubon. Early Years Maria (pronounced ma-RY-ah) Martin, the youngest of two daughters, was born July 6, 1796 to Rebecca Solars and John Jacob Martin. The widow Rebecca Solar’s dower provided generously for the family they would have together, and Martin nurtured it into a fortune. Records of Maria’s childhood years were destroyed by General William Tecumseh Sherman‘s March to the Sea in 1864 during the Civil War.
African Americans, Civil War Women

Wives of U.S. Colored Troops

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Wives Fought to Keep Families Together Image: Unidentified African American soldier in Union Uniform with his wife in dress and hat and two daughters in matching coats and hats. As the news of the attack on Fort Sumter spread, free black men hurried to enlist in the Union Army, but a 1792 Federal law barred African Americans from bearing arms for the United States. However, by the summer of 1862 the escalating number of former slaves and the pressing need of men to fill the ranks for the Union Army caused the government to reconsider. Backstory African Americans have volunteered to serve their country in time of war since the American Revolution. The National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) in…

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Famous Wives, Poets and Writers, Women in Education

Mary Peabody Mann

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Activist, Educator, and Wife of Horace Mann Mary Peabody Mann was a teacher, author, and wife of education reformer Horace Mann. Mary carried a passion for education, especially of young children, in her breast from her youngest days. She was well educated by her mother and role model Eliza Palmer Peabody, who ran a school from their home and was an early advocate of women’s rights. Early Years Mary Tyler Peabody was born November 16, 1806 in Cambridge and grew up in Salem, both in Massachusetts. Her parents, Nathaniel and Elizabeth Peabody were schoolteachers when they married; after the wedding, they reserved one room in their home as a classroom.
Abolitionists, Civil War Women, Educators, Philanthropists

Emily Howland

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Pioneer in Education for African Americans and Children Emily Howland and the Civil War Abolitionist, educator, philanthropist and suffragist from the village of Sherwood in Cayuga County, New York, Emily Howland was an avid supporter of education for women and African American children. She founded and financially supported fifty schools for emancipated blacks and taught in several of them. She donated the land and financial backing to build a school for black children in her hometown, which later became Emily Howland School. Early Years Emily Howland was born in 1827 on a farm near Sherwood, New York to Quakers and wealthy landowners Slocum and Hannah Howland. Slocum Howland was an anti-slavery advocate, banker, entrepreneur, and a leader in his community….

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First Women, Women in Science

First American Women in Science I

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Female Scientists Who Inspired Others to Follow Maria Mitchell Astronomer (1818-1889) After she discovered a comet in 1847, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the most prestigious honorary societies, elected Maria Mitchell as its first woman member. The Academy was founded during the American Revolution by Founding Fathers John Adams, John Hancock, and other patriots. Image: Maria Mitchell and her brass telescope Mitchell and her students used this telescope; now more than 150 years old, it remains among Vassar’s treasures. Matthew Vassar founded Vassar College in 1861, the second of the Seven Sisters schools to offer higher education strictly for women. In 1865, he appointed Maria Mitchell (1818-1889) the first person on the Vassar faculty. The well-known…

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