Famous Children

Theodosia Burr Alston

• Maggie

Daughter of Vice President Aaron Burr Theodosia Burr Alston (1783–1813) was a brilliant, independent and highly-educated woman in an age which valued none of those traits in females. From her birth into New York’s high society, her childhood among the leaders of the new nation, her marriage to a Southern slaveholding aristocrat, to her mysterious disappearance at sea, Theodosia Burr Alston’s life was quite unique for a woman in 19th century America. Childhood and Early Years Theodosia Burr was born on June 21, 1783 in Albany, New York, the daughter of Theodosia Prevost Burr and the controversial U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr. Burr had distinguished himself as an officer in the Revolutionary War, during which he became a member of…

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Civil War Women

Sarah Bush Lincoln

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Stepmother of Abraham Lincoln Sarah Bush Lincoln (December 13, 1788 – April 12, 1869) was the second wife of Thomas Lincoln and stepmother of Abraham Lincoln. While Lincoln’s relationship with his father appeared to be strained, he remained close to his stepmother after he left home to make his way in the world. After becoming a successful attorney in Springfield, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln saved his family’s land from forced sale. Early Years Sarah Bush was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, on December 13, 1788. She was one of three daughters of Christopher and Hannah Bush. The Bush family consisted of nine children. The male children were William, Samuel, Isaac, Elijah, Christopher and John. The female children were Hannah, Rachel and…

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First Ladies

Julia Tyler

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11th First Lady of the United States Julia Tyler (1820–1889), the beautiful daughter of a prominent New York family, quickly became the darling of Washington society. Congressmen wooed her, but it was the widowed President John Tyler, thirty years her senior, who won her hand in marriage. Beginning at age 23 Julia Tyler served as First Lady of the United States from June 26, 1844, to March 4, 1845, captivating Americans with her beauty, gaiety, and love of public adulation. Childhood and Early Years Julia Gardiner was born on July 29, 1820 on Gardiner’s Island – a 3000-acre island off the eastern tip of Long Island, New York. She was the daughter of Juliana McLachlan Gardiner and David Gardiner, a…

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Civil War Women, Educators, Famous Firsts

Ann Preston

• Maggie

First Woman Medical School Dean Ann Preston (December 1, 1813–April 18, 1872) was a doctor and educator of women in Pennsylvania. One of the most notable achievements of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in the 19th century was the role it played in the entrance of women into medicine. Ann Preston was one of those pioneer Quaker women doctors. Through her leadership and her persuasive influence, Dr. Preston promoted educational, professional and social changes that eventually established the right of women to study medicine and removed the barriers which blocked the path of those women who aspired to become competent and successful physicians. Early Years Ann Preston was born on December 1, 1813 in West Grove, Pennsylvania, Quaker community…

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Feminists, Philanthropists, Social Reformers, Suffragists

Elizabeth Smith Miller

• Maggie

Feminist, Philanthropist and Social Reformer Image: Elizabeth Smith Miller (right) with daughter Anne Fitzhugh Miller Elizabeth Smith Miller (1822–1911 ) was a lifelong advocate and financial supporter of the women’s rights movement. Miller was well known for her hospitality and often opened her home to raise money for the women’s suffrage campaign. She is best known as a dress reformer, developing the practical knee-length skirt over pantaloons that became known as bloomers after activist Amelia Bloomer popularized them in her periodical The Lily.
Civil War Women

Belle Starr

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Bandit Queen of the American West? Belle Starr was a Confederate sympathizer and supposedly a notorious outlaw of the American West. She has been credited with a long list of spectacular crimes, but it appears that she might have done little more than traffic in stolen horses, bribe law enforcement officers and provide a haven for her outlaw friends. Image: Belle Starr Monument At the Woolaroc Museum Woolaroc, Oklahoma Early Years Belle Starr was born Myra Maybelle Shirley on February 5, 1848 on a farm near Carthage, Missouri. Her parents, John and Eliza Shirley, called their daughter Belle. The Shirleys had moved to Missouri in 1839, and had become wealthy raising wheat, corn, horses and livestock. In 1856, they sold…

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Dorothea Dix
Civil War Nurses, Civil War Women, Famous Firsts, Humanitarians, Poets and Writers, Social Reformers, Women in Education

Dorothea Dix

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Educator, Social Reformer and Humanitarian Dorothea Dix (1802–1887) was a social reformer, primarily for the treatment of the mentally ill, and the most visible humanitarian of the 19th century. Through a long and vigorous program of lobbying state legislatures and the U.S. Congress, Dix created the first generation of American mental hospitals. During the Civil War, she served as Superintendent of Army Nurses for the Union Army. Dorothea Lynde Dix was born on April 4, 1802 in Hampden, Maine. She was the first child of three born to Mary Bigelow Dix and Joseph Dix, an itinerant Methodist preacher. Her mother suffered from depression and was bedridden during most of Dorothea’s childhood. Her father was an abusive alcoholic. After her mother…

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Abolitionists, Women in Education

Prudence Crandall

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Connecticut Educator of African American Girls Prudence Crandall (1803-1890) was controversial for her education of African American girls in Canterbury, Connecticut. In the fall of 1831, she opened a private school, which was boycotted when she admitted a 17-year-old African-American female student in fall 1833. This is widely regarded as the first integrated classroom in the United States. Crandall is Connecticut’s official State Heroine. Prudence Crandall was born in Hopkinton, Rhode Island on September 3, 1803 to a Quaker family. In 1820 her father moved the family to the small town of Canterbury, Connecticut. Most women during the early 1800s did not receive much education, but Quakers believed in equal education, regardless of gender. Prudence Crandall attended the New England…

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Civil War Women, Famous Firsts, Women in Religion

Mary Baker Eddy

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First Woman to Found a Major Religion in the United States Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) was an influential American author, teacher and religious leader, noted for her groundbreaking ideas about spirituality and health, which she named Christian Science. She articulated those ideas in her major work, Science and Health (1875). Four years later she founded the Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, which today has branch churches and societies around the world. Early Years Mary Morse Baker was born on July 16, 1821 in Bow, New Hampshire, the youngest of six children of Abigail and Mark Baker. Mary’s formal education was interrupted by periods of sickness. When not in school, she read and studied extensively at home, writing prose…

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African Americans, Civil War Women, Famous Firsts

Harriet Wilson

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First African American Woman Novelist Image: Harriet Wilson Memorial Statue Bicentennial Park, Milford, New Hampshire Harriet Wilson is considered the first African American of any gender to publish a novel on the North American continent as well as the author of the first novel by an African American woman. Her novel Our Nig, or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black was published anonymously in 1859 in Boston, Massachusetts, and was not widely known. It was re-discovered in 1982 by Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., which led to the publication of a facsimile edition in 1983. Image: Harriet Wilson Memorial Statue Bicentennial Park, Milford, New Hampshire Early Years Born a mixed race free person of color in Milford, New…

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