Catherine Beecher

Catherine Beecher

1800-1878

Emily Marshall and Micah Swift

 Family Life 

Catherine Beecher was born in 1800, to a prominent family in East Hampton, New York. She was born to Dr. Lyman Beecher; a Presbyterian minister,  and Roxanna Beecher. The Beecher family was one of the most influential families during the late nineteenth century. Lyman Beecher was famous for his evangelism. Her sister was the famed Harriet Beecher Stowe along with her other sister Isabella Beecher Hooker. Hooker was a well known women suffrage leader. Her brother, Henry Ward Beecher was a pastor at Plymouth Church and was famous for supporting temperance, women suffrage and abolition of slavery during the mid nineteenth century. As the eldest of thirteen children, she learned leadership skills that she used later on in life.

Early Work

Beecher produced many poems and ballads that were widely distributed around local literary circles. 

Professor Alexander Fisher fell in love with Beecher's work and thus began a relationship between the two. They soon became engaged and planned to move to New Haven where Fisher worked in the scholarly community of Yale. Fisher died in a shipwreck on his way back from Europe. Beecher vowed to dedicate all of her time to the field of education as tribute to her late fiancee. 

She co-founded a school for women with her sister, Mary.  The school trained women to become mothers and teachers. Her career skyrocketed as the school expanded. Beecher left the Hartford Female Seminary after eight years of service in 1831. 

Beecher The Abolitionist

Catherine Beecher was especially famous for her belief that slavery was morally wrong, however she went about the abolition of slavery in a different way then most abolitionist at that time. Beecher believed that the abolitionist rallies and movements would only inflame the south, who in turn would fight for slavery harder. Beecher craved a domestic reform throughout society. She was an an advocate for women's  education and a peaceful abolitionist. Beecher was strong in the belief system that peaceful protest was the way to end slavery. She did not accept agitation and  confrontation.   
Beecher wrote a essay, in the form if a personal letter, to other abolitionist of the time period.

Essay

Named the An Essay on Slavery and Abolitionism in Reference to the Duty of American Females, the essay became widely circulated and extremely popular. It was written in response to the Grimke sisters controversial lectures, they were radical speeches for the abrupt end to slavery. Both the Grimke sisters and Catherine Beecher wanted to end slavery, however they went about it in different ways. Beecher focused on the literary aspects of communicating while the Grimke sisters were loud protesters. Beecher addressed more than anything that slavery was a problem for the whole nation not just the south, as many northerners saw it that way. 

 

Not a Feminist

One of the more interesting parts about Catherine Beecher was that she was not a feminist, however she realized how great the impact that women would start to have society.  Beecher wanted to educate women in cooking, cleaning, etiquette  and household knowledge. Treatise on Domestic Economy was the first book that really gave women an idea of rules for the household. Later on she wrote for free public education for women in The Duty of American Women to their Country. After she realized that her books were greatly influential, Beecher continued to write, publish and support her beliefs; leaving a great and early mark on American literature.

Video 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psSz-naxysc

Source

"National Women's History Museum."Education & Resources. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2014. <http://www.nwhm.org/education-resources/biography/biographies/catharine-beecher/>.