History of American Women

Wife of Declaration of Independence Signer Elbridge Gerry Elbridge Gerry James Bogle, Artist Ann Thompson was born on August 12, 1763, and was educated in Europe. She was the daughter of Catharine (Walton) and James Thompson, a wealthy New York mechant from an old and highly honored family. Ann’s grandfather, Jacob Walton, first married Maria Beekman and later Polly Cruger. Both wives were members of distinguished colonial families in New York. Elbridge Thomas Gerry was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, on July 17, 1744, the third of Thomas and Elizabeth Greenleaf Gerry’s eleven/twelve children. A former ship’s captain who emigrated from England in 1730, Thomas Gerry was a pillar of the Marblehead community, serving as a justice of the peace and…

Wife of Declaration of Independence Signer Robert Treat Paine Robert Treat Paine Edward Savage and John Coles, Jr., Artists Sarah Cobb was born on May 15, 1744, in Taunton, Massachusetts, where her father, Captain Thomas Cobb, was a prominent citizen, magistrate, and member of the legislature. Her mother was Lydia Leonard, whose father and grandfather were both called Captain James Leonard, had been prominent in the early history of Bristol County. Her brother, General David Cobb, served all through the Revolution, three years of that time as an aide on the staff of George Washington. Sarah’s early life and education were similar to that of other daughters of well-to-do citizens of the commonwealth. Robert Treat Paine was born in Boston…

Wife of Declaration of Independence Signer Francis Lightfoot Lee Francis Lightfoot Lee There are no known portraits of Rebecca Tayloe Lee Rebecca Tayloe was born in 1753, one of the eight daughters of John Tayloe of Mount Airy, a mid-Georgian plantation house in Richmond County, Virginia. Tayloe, a fourth generation tobacco planter, began construction of the house. The project was started around 1748 with completion in 1758. Its twenty-five spacious rooms afforded generous accommodation for the guests who were eager to accept the invitations of Colonel and Mrs. Tayloe. Francis Lightfoot Lee was born on October 14, 1734, to Thomas and Hannah Ludwell Lee at Stratford Hall Plantation, the family estate in Westmoreland County on the Northern Neck – a…

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…