American teacher and writer, eldest child of Lyman; born at East Hampton, Long Island, on the 6th of September 1800; died at Elmira, NY, on the 12th of May 1878. She was educated at Litchfield Seminary. Her betrothed lover, Professor Fisher of Yale, was drowned while on a voyage to Europe, and her sorrow was so great that, according to her brother, Henry Ward, her religious faith was almost wrecked, and she only found relief by plunging into a life of great activity. The cause of female education was very dear to her heart, and in 1822 she started a school for young ladies at Hartford, CT. For ten years the school was carried on and Harriet Beecher assisted in the teaching. The institution prospered, and 160 pupils were in attendance. She was the author of some school-books, several works on the woman question, and a number of books on religion. She believed and taught that physical and moral training should receive the same attention as intellectual development. For two years she conducted a school in Cincinnati, OH. She assisted ex-Governor Slade of Vermont in a plan for supplying women teachers in the great West. Miss Beecher was an intensely practical woman; earnest, patient, energetic, and of great good humor. She did not approve of classical and modern music, neither was she an admirer of art. For many years she worked under the disadvantage of great physical weakness. In her youth she was a Presbyterian, but in after years she became a member of the Episcopal Church. Among her best-known works are Domestic Economy; Physiology and Calisthenics; Elementary Theology; and Common Sense Applied to Religion.
