Elizabeth Lynch

Founding Father Thomas Lynch Jr. Wife of Declaration Signer Thomas Lynch Jr. Elizabeth Shubrick was born on February 5, 1749, in South Carolina. She would become the childhood sweetheart of Thomas Lynch, Jr., who was born on August 5, 1749, at Hopsewee Plantation on the North Santee River, Prince George’s Parish, Winyah, South Carolina. Jonack Lynch, the great-grandfather of Lynch, Jr., emigrated from Ireland and worked a small farm in the low country along the Atlantic coast, but had only modest financial success. At his death, he left his son Thomas his property and a little money, which was used to buy land and cultivate rice, which was to bring him a fortune. Hopsewee Plantation was built by the Lynch…

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Mary Singleton McDuffie Hampton

Wife of Confederate General Wade Hampton III Mary Singleton McDuffie was born on July 7, 1830, in South Carolina. Wade Hampton III, son of Wade II and Ann (Fitzsimmons) Hampton, was born on March 28, 1818, in Charleston, SC, the eldest son of a wealthy and prominent cotton plantation owner. Raised in the aristocratic class, Hampton’s family was one of the richest in the antebellum South. His father taught him how to hunt and fish, and he became an excellent horseman and an expert shot. General Wade Hampton Owning as many as 3000 slaves, who worked the family’s enormous holdings, Wade Hampton I was a member of the US House of Representatives, and served as major general during the War…

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Mary Bartlett

Wife of Declaration Signer Dr. Josiah Bartlett Mary Bartlett was born in 1730 in the town of Newton, New Hampshire, one of ten children. Her father, Joseph Bartlett, had been made captive by the French and Indians in 1707, and carried to Canada and held there for four years. Mary Bartlett grew into a lady of excellent character. Josiah Bartlett was born in on November 21, 1729, to shoemaker Stephen and Hannah (Webster) Bartlett in Amesbury, Massachusetts. He was their fifth child and fourth son. He attended the common schools, but with uncommon success. By the age of sixteen, he had built a foundation in Latin and learned some Greek. In 1745, Josiah began to study medicine, working in the…

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Clara Rice Slocum

Wife of Union General Henry Warner Slocum Henry Warner Slocum was born on September 24, 1827, in Delphi Falls, New York. He was the sixth child of eleven born to Matthew Barnard Slocum and Mary Ostrander Slocum. Image: General Henry Slocum Along with the other children in the area, Henry attended the Delphi Public School. In addition to school, Henry helped out in his father’s store. To raise extra money, he raised sheep. Henry attended Cazenovia Seminary in nearby Madison County, and at age 16 received a Public School Teacher’s Certificate. He worked as a teacher in the winter of 1847-48 in a one-room school in the hamlet of New Woodstock. In 1848, Henry Slocum received an appointment to the…

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Elizabeth Wythe

George Wythe Wife of Signer George Wythe George Wythe (pronounced “with”) was born in 1726 on his family’s plantation on the Back River in Elizabeth City County, Virginia. George’s father died when George was three years old, but fortunately, his grandfather had given his mother an excellent education, and George received his early education from her. She instilled in her son a love of learning that served him all his life. In his teens, Wythe entered the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg. He was poor, however, and his stay was necessarily brief. A family connection opened the door for him to study in the law office of Thomas Dewey, and at age twenty he was admitted to the…

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Sarah Hildreth

Wife of Union General Benjamin Franklin Butler Sarah Jones Hildreth was born on August 17, 1816, in Dracut, Massachusetts, the daughter of Dolly Jones and Dr. Israel Hildreth. Having shown considerable talent in dramatics, she was sent to Boston at the age of sixteen for formal training, after which she acted onstage to great acclaim in Boston, New York, Charleston, South Carolina and Cincinnati, Ohio. Benjamin Franklin Butler was born on November 5, 1818, in Deerfield, New Hampshire, the son of Captain John Butler, who served under Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812 (during the Battle of New Orleans). After the death of his father in 1828, Benjamin moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, with his mother, Charlotte (Ellison) Butler, where…

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Mary Osborn Hall

Wife of Declaration of Independence Signer Lyman Hall Dr. Lyman Hall Mary Osborn was born on August 8, 1736, at Fairfield, Connecticut, the daughter of Samuel and Hannah Osborn. Lyman Hall, son of John Hall and Mary Street Hall, was born April 12, 1724, in Wallingford, Connecticut, to a well-connected family. Lyman’s paternal grandfather, the Honorable John Hall, was a member of the Governor’s Council and a Justice of Connecticut’s Supreme Court. His maternal grandfather was the Reverend Samuel Street, Wallingford’s first pastor. Lyman went to Yale College and studied theology, graduating in 1747 at the age of 23. He also studied theology with his uncle, the Reverend Samuel Hall in Cheshire, Connecticut. He was called to pastor in 1749…

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Anne Ross

Wife of Declaration Signer George Ross Portrait of Anne Ross By Benjamin West West’s Anne Lawler Ross depicts a seated woman outdoors, holding a book on her lap in her right hand and a flower in her left. Her costume includes a pear-shaped pearl, bow and lace at the bodice. Her almond-shaped eyes and simplified modeling are characteristic of West’s colonial portraits. Anne Lawler, born July 10, 1731, was the only child of Mary Lawler, a widow in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who owned considerable property. George Ross was born May 10, 1730, in Newcastle, Delaware, where his father was clergyman of the Episcopal Church. His father was also twice married and had eleven children, all of whom became prominent members of…

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Teresa Sickles

Wife of Union General Daniel Sickles Born in New York City in 1836, Teresa Da Ponte Bagioli was the daughter of the wealthy and well-known Italian singing teacher Antonio Bagioli and his wife, Maria Cooke. During her youth, Teresa sometimes lived and studied in the household of her grandfather, Lorenzo Da Ponte, the noted music teacher who had worked as Mozart’s librettist on such masterpieces as The Marriage of Figaro. An exceptionally bright child, Teresa spoke five languages by the time she was a young adult. Daniel Edgar Sickles was born October 20, 1819, in New York City to Susan Marsh Sickles and George Garrett Sickles, a patent lawyer and politician. (Sickles’ year of birth is sometimes given as 1825….

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Abigail Carey Ellery

Wife of Declaration Signer William Ellery Abigail Carey was born in Bristol County, Rhode Island, on November 12, 1742, the daughter of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Wanton Carey. William Ellery was born in Newport, Rhode Island, to a wealthy mercantile family on December 22, 1727. His father, of the same name, was graduated at Harvard in 1722, became a successful merchant in Newport, and served successively as judge, senator, and lieutenant governor of the colony. Newport was then a unique community where despite many religious differences, there was a degree of tolerance. The elder Ellery prepared young William for college, and he entered Harvard in 1743. He was not enthused about becoming a merchant like his father, and entertained thoughts of…

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