Category: Famous Wives

Wife of Thomas Paine, Author of Common Sense Thomas Paine was born on January 29, 1737, in Thetford, England. His father, Joseph, was a poor Quaker corset maker who tried to provide his son with an education at the local grammar school, but eventually was forced to apprentice him to his trade. Paine was unable to accept this occupation. For the next 24 years, he failed or was unhappy in every job he tried. He went to sea at 19, lived in a variety of places, and was for a time a corset maker like his father, then a tobacconist, grocer, and teacher. On September 27, 1759, Thomas Paine married Mary Lambert. His business collapsed soon after. Mary became pregnant,…

General Joseph Warren Wife of Revolutionary War General Joseph Warren Joseph Warren was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, on June 11, 1741. After attending the Roxbury Latin School, he went to Harvard College, graduating in 1759, and then taught for about a year at Roxbury Latin. He studied medicine with James Lloyd and opened his own practice in 1764, and he quickly became the most prominent doctor in Boston. Warren clearly demonstrated that he recognized and accepted his civic role in his work in public clinics, conducting smallpox vaccinations and treating its victims in Boston. He remained in Boston during the 1763 smallpox epidemic, administering to the ill, and opened an inoculation hospital at Castle William in Boston Harbor. The success…

Wife of Revolutionary War General Benjamin Lincoln Major General Benjamin Lincoln Charles Willson Peale, Artist Mary Cushing was born in 1730, the daughter of Elijah Cushing and Elizabeth Barker Cushing of Pembroke, Massachusetts, whose ancestors were among the founders of Hingham, Massachusetts. Benjamin Lincoln was born on January 24, 1733, the son of Colonel Benjamin Lincoln (1699-1771) and Elizabeth Thaxter Norton Lincoln also of Hingham, MA. He spent his early life working on the family farm, and attended the local school. A prominent farmer, Benjamin’s father was a Colonel and served on the Governor’s Council as well as in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. His father’s wealth allowed him to accept responsibilities at an earlier age than most of his…

Wife of Declaration of Independence Signer Robert Morris Mary White Morris Gilbert Stuart, Artist Mary White was born in 1749. Her parents, Colonel Thomas and Esther White, were described by one historian as “people of the highest character,” who were much respected and socially important members of the Philadelphia community. Her father came to this country from London in early life and settled on the eastern shore of Maryland. After his first wife died, he moved to Philadelphia, and married a widow named Newman. With her he had two children: Mary and her brother William. Robert Morris was born on January 20, 1734, to Robert Morris, Sr. and Elizebeth Murphet in Liverpool, England. At the age of thirteen, Robert moved…

Wife of Declaration of Independence Signer Benjamin Rush Julia Stockton was born March 2, 1759, at Morven, the family estate near Princeton, New Jersey. She was the eldest daughter of signer Richard Stockton and poet Annis Boudinot Stockton. Julia received as liberal an education as was open to women of her day, supplemented by her association with the cultivated people whom her father and mother gathered in their home. The daughter of a lawyer and trustee of the College of New Jersey, Julia grew up in a home where her father’s library was reputed to be among the best in the colonies. Julia Stockton Rush Painted by Charles Willson Peale in 1776, around the time of her marriage, the portrait…

Wife of Declaration of Independence Signer James Wilson Justice James Wilson The official Supreme Court portrait Rachael Bird was born in 1750, the youngest daughter of William Bird of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, proprietor of the fine country seat and iron works on the Schuylkill River, known as Birdsborough. Through her mother, Brigetta Huling Bird, Rachel was a descendant of the Marquis Jean Paul Frederick de Hulingues, a Huguenot nobleman attached to the court of Henry of Navarre. Rachel’s brother, Mark Bird, married Mary Ross, the sister of George Ross, a future signer of the Declaration of Independence. James Wilson was born on September 14, 1742, in Carskerdo, Scotland, the son of William Wilson and Aleson Lansdale Wilson. His father was…