Poets and Writers

Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson

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Early American Poet and Writer Elizabeth Graeme was born on February 3, 1739, to a prosperous Philadelphia physician, Thomas Graeme, and his wife, Anne Diggs Graeme. Elizabeth was a premature baby, and was often described as frail and prone to illness throughout her life. She was the youngest of nine children, but because of various difficulties and childhood diseases, only three of her siblings were still alive when she was born. Early on, Anne Graeme read stories to Elizabeth and her siblings before bedtime, and she later encouraged Elizabeth’s interest in knowledge and learning. As the daughter of prominent doctor, Elizabeth received a well-rounded education from her parents and tutors, and she composed poems, letters, and songs. She wrote under…

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Civil War Women, Generals Wives

Elizabeth Blair Lee

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Wife of Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee Elizabeth Blair Lee (1818-1906) wrote hundreds of letters to her husband, Rear Admiral Samuel Philips Lee, who commanded the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron during the Civil War. Admiral Lee was away for long periods as commander of the USS Philadelphia, and in her letters to him Elizabeth described wartime life from her homes at Washington, DC and Silver Spring, Maryland. Elizabeth Blair was born on June 20, 1818, in Frankfort, Kentucky, and was the only daughter of Francis Preston Blair and Eliza Violet Gist Blair. She was the younger sister of Montgomery Blair and Francis Preston Blair, Jr. Her father was a journalist from Frankfort, Kentucky, and his editorials in support of the…

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Famous Wives

Margaret Brown Stone

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Wife of Signer: Thomas Stone Margaret Brown, born in 1751, was the youngest of Dr. Gustavus Brown’s fourteen children. Her mother, Margaret Boyd Brown, was Dr. Brown’s second wife. His Scottish lordship, Edinburgh education, and property holdings in Scotland and Maryland placed Dr. Brown in a social position unparalleled in the colony. Dr. Brown was also thought to be the richest man in Charles County. He provided for the wealth and education of all his children, not just his sons. Upon marriage or attaining the age of twenty-four, Margaret was to receive 300 pounds sterling. Thomas Stone was born into an old and influential colonial family at Pointon Manor near Port Tobacco in Charles County, Maryland, in 1743. He was…

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Famous Wives

Anne Hooper

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Wife of Declaration of Independence Signer: William Hooper Image: William Hooper William Hooper was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1742. His early education, at the age of seven, was seven years at the Boston Latin School. When he completed these studies, he entered the sophomore class of Harvard College in 1757, at age 16, graduating in 1760 with a B.A. degree and in 1763 with a M.A. degree. Although William Hooper’s parents wanted him to enter the clergy, but much to the chagrin of his father rejected the ministry as a profession. The next year, he further alienated his Loyalist father and isolated himself from his family by studying law under James Otis, a brilliant but radical Boston lawyer. After…

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Colonial Women, Poets and Writers

Anna Green Winslow

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Diarist and School Girl Before the Revolution Anna Green Winslow was born November 29, 1759, at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Anna came from a long line of prestigious, upper-class British colonists. When the weary Pilgrims stopped at Cape Cod – before they made their memorable landing at Plymouth Rock – a young girl jumped on shore, and was the first Englishwoman to set foot on the soil of New England. Her name was Mary Chilton; she later married John Winslow. Anna Green Winslow was Mary Chilton’s descendant in the sixth generation. Anna’s father, Joshua Winslow, was but eighteen years of age when he began his career as a soldier. In 1745, he was appointed Commissary-General of the British forces in Nova…

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Civil War Women, Generals Wives

LaSalle Corbell Pickett

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Wife of Confederate General George Pickett Image: A publicity photo taken during her early years as an author and narrator LaSalle Corbell Pickett was a prolific author and lecturer, and the third wife of George Pickett, the Confederate general best known for his participation in the doomed assault known as Pickett’s Charge during the Battle of Gettysburg. She gave her birth year as 1848 in order to perpetuate the myth that she was the Child Bride of the Confederacy, and was only 15 years old when she married General Pickett. Early Years According to the Corbell family Bible: “Sallie Ann Corbell, daughter of John David [Corbell] and Elizabeth, his wife, was born the 16th of May, 1843.” Above the entry…

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Feminists

Hannah Lee Corbin

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Early Women’s Rights Advocate Hannah Lee Corbin, Virginia’s earliest known proponent of voting rights for women was born on February 6, 1728, in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Hannah was the oldest daughter of Hannah Ludwell Lee and Thomas Lee, a prominent member of the House of Burgesses and later acting governor of the colony. In 1717, Thomas Lee had purchased the land for Stratford Hall Plantation, and he had the brick Georgian Great House built during Hannah’s childhood years. Thereafter, the Lee family lived in the elegant mansion on the Potomac River, where Hannah received an education far superior to that of most young women of her day, studying alongside her brothers in Stratford Hall’s small brick schoolhouse. Intellectually curious, Hannah…

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Famous Wives, First Ladies

Martha Washington

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Wife of President George Washington Image: Martha Washington Michael Deas, Artist Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington was the first of the First Ladies of the United States. During her lifetime, she was known as Lady Washington. When George Washington took his oath of office in New York City on April 30, 1789, and assumed the new duties of President of the United States, his wife brought to their position a tact and discretion developed over 58 years of life in Tidewater Virginia society. Martha was a rather small, pleasant-looking woman, practical with good common sense. The oldest daughter of John and Frances Dandridge, Martha was born June 2, 1731, at her parents’ Chestnut…

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Civil War Women, Generals Wives

Flora Stuart

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Wife of Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart Flora Cooke was born in Missouri on January 3, 1836, the daughter of Virginia career Army officer Philip St. George Cooke. Educated at a private boarding school in Detroit, Flora met the dashing James Ewell Brown (JEB) Stuart while her father was commanding the 2nd U.S. Dragoons at Fort Leavenworth. His friends called him “Jeb.” Stuart had recently graduated from West Point and was stationed on the Kansas frontier. As befitted the daughter of a colonel of cavalry, Flora was a skilled horsewoman, and she soon began going on long evening rides with Stuart. The young officer was as taken with Flora as she was with him, and it did not take him long…

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Women in the American Revolution

Loyalist Women of the American Revolution

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American Women Who Supported the British Image: Reception of the American Loyalists by Great Britain in 1783, offering solace and a promise of compensation. Engraving by H. Moses. American colonists who remained loyal to Great Britain during and after the Revolutionary War were termed Loyalists; the Patriots called them Tories. Although Loyalists came from all social classes and occupations, a large number were businessmen and professionals, or officeholders under the crown. They also tended to be foreign born and members of the Church of England. It is estimated that about 20% of the colonial population were Tories. The Patriots enacted harsh laws against the Loyalists and confiscated many of their estates.