Margaret Buell

Wife of Union General Don Carlos Buell Don Carlos Buell, named for an uncle, was born on March 23, 1818, near Marietta, Ohio. He was the first son of Salmon D. Buell and Eliza Buell, born on the farm of his grandfather, Judge Salmon Buell. He was named after his uncle, Don Carlos Buell, who was a lawyer in Ithaca, New York. His father died in 1825, and Buell grew up with his uncle in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, where he attended public schools, and proved himself a fair student. In 1837, Buell received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, and graduated in 1841, ranking 32 in a class of 52 graduates. Buell served in the military,…

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Grace Growden Galloway

Loyalist in the American Revolution Image: Growden Mansion Bensalem, Pennsylvania Joseph Growden built this home which was later expanded upon by his son Lawrence, Grace Growden Galloway’s father. Grace later inherited this home, but since married women at that time were not allowed to own property, her husband Joseph Galloway automatically became the owner. One of the most interesting diaries written during the American Revolution was written by Grace Growden Galloway, while the world as she had known it was completely destroyed. Her family history was typical of colonial American families. Her grandfather settled in Pennsylvania and accumulated a large amount of property. His second son Lawrence sought his fortune as a merchant in England, where he got married. Lawrence’s…

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Ann Savage Taylor

Wife of Declaration of Independence Signer: George Taylor Image: George Taylor And his signature on the Declaration of Independence Ann Savage was born in Ireland in 1718. Ann’s grandfather came to Pennsylvania from Wiltshire, England in 1684, and became Surveyor General of Chester County, which then accounted for about one-third of the colony. Later, her father served as Chester’s Deputy Surveyor General. Ann’s family belonged to the Society of Friends or Quakers, but she was disowned as a Quaker in 1733 for marrying Samuel Savage, a non-Quaker. George Taylor was born in Ireland, and came to America in 1716, when he was about twenty years of age, landing in Philadelphia in 1736. He was the son of a respectable clergyman,…

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Irene Sheridan

Wife of Union General Philip Sheridan While a bridesmaid at a wedding in Chicago in 1874, Irene Rucker met General Philip Sheridan, who made his headquarters there. For the next few months, he courted her steadily, and contemporaries recalled the hero of the Civil War and “Miss Rucker riding down Wabash avenue in an open carriage.” Irene Sheridan was the daughter of Brigadier General Daniel H. Rucker, Quartermaster General of the US Army, and she spent all her life connected to the military. General Rucker’s first wife, Flora McDonald Coodey, was the daughter of Joseph Coodey, a half-blood Cherokee, and granddaughter of Jane Ross, a sister of the celebrated Cherokee Chief John Ross. Joseph Coodey was a well to do…

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Susanna Farnham Clarke Copley

Wife of American Portrait Artist John Singleton Copley Susannah Farnham Clarke was born on May 20, 1745, in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Richard Clarke and Elizabeth Winslow, both of whom were of high social position. Richard had graduated from Harvard College in 1729, and became one of the most prominent merchants in Boston, later under the name of Richard Clarke & Sons. Elizabeth Winslow’s ancestry goes back to Mary Chilton, who came from England on the Mayflower in 1620. John Singleton Copley was born July 26, 1738, son of humble Irish parents, Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, recent Irish immigrants, who lived in a very simple home and ran a tobacco shop on Long Wharf in Boston. Long Wharf…

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Mrs. Almira Russell Hancock, circa 1860s

Almira Hancock

Wife of Union General Winfield Scott Hancock While stationed in southern California just prior to the Civil War, Almira and her husband, future Union General Winfield Scott Hancock, threw a party for the many friends they had made there. Almira Hancock later stated that six of the future Confederates who attended that party were killed by Hancock’s troops at the Battle of Gettysburg. Childhood and Early Years Almira (Allie) Russell was the daughter of a prominent merchant in St. Louis, Missouri, where Winfield Scott Hancock was stationed after the Mexican-American War. West Point classmate Don Carlos Buell introduced Hancock to Almira, and after a short courtship, they were married in 1850 and had two children. A career soldier, Major General…

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Sarah Hopkins

Wife of Declaration of Independence Signer: Stephen Hopkins Image: Stephen Hopkins By John Hagen Sarah Scott was born on June 24, 1707, the daughter of Silvanus and Joanna Jenckes Scott, and a great-granddaughter of Richard Scott, said to be the first Quaker in Rhode Island. Richard Scott’s wife was Catharine Marbury, sister of Anne Marbury Hutchinson, who was driven from Boston during the period of religious intolerance in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the seventeenth century. Stephen Hopkins was born in Providence on March 7, 1707, in Cranston, Rhode Island, the son of William and Ruth (Wilkinson) Hopkins. He was descended from the Thomas Hopkins who emigrated to Plymouth Plantation in 1635, and he was raised in his mother’s Quaker…

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Frances Montresor Buchanan Allen

Wife of Patriot Ethan Allen Image: Ethan Allen Frances Montresor, also known as Fanny, was born April 4, 1760, and grew up in New York City. She was very interested in botany and was an accomplished musician. She was likely the biological daughter of Captain John Montresor. Her stepfather was Crean Brush, a colonel in the British army, who had served under General John Bradstreet at Albany, where he met and married Margaret Montresor, Frances’ mother. Crean Brush was born about 1725 in Dublin, Ireland, and came to America between 1758 and 1762 and settled in New York City. He was a lawyer and for some time he held the office of Secretary of the Province of New York. He…

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Lydia McLane Johnston

Wife of Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston Lydia McLane was born January 31, 1822, at Wilmington, Delaware. She was the daughter of Catherine and Louis McLane. Her father was a diplomat and U.S. Cabinet officer, serving as U.S. Minister to England from 1829-1831, and from 1845-1846. Joseph Eggleston Johnston was born February 3, 1807, at Longwood House in Farmville, Virginia, the eighth son of Judge Peter and Mary Johnston. He was named for the officer his father served under during in the Revolutionary War. When he was four years old, the family moved to Panicello, their new home near Abingdon, a location more convenient for Peter to serve the southwestern Virginia circuit. Judge Johnston was an ardent huntsman, and his…

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Lady Stirling

Wife of General William Alexander Image: Lady Stirling Sarah Livingston Alexander Sarah Livingston was born in October 1725, the daughter of Philip and Catharine Van Brugh Livingston and a member of that prominent Hudson Valley family. Her brother Philip was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and her brother William was Governor of New Jersey. William Alexander was born in 1726 in New York City. His father, James Alexander, was a Jacobite who emigrated to America in 1715. William received an excellent education, and was especially proficient in mathematics and astronomy. He became a lawyer, and held various public offices.