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Autobiographical Letter of Margaret Bailey Norton, Undated | The Norton Strange Townsend collection includes an autobiographical sketch of Margaret Bailey Norton and ephemera related to Monticello Female Seminary, where she was educated after her parents died. The autobiographical letter was written when she was thirty years old--approximately 1853 or 1854--to a friend she later married. It describes her years as an orphan ward in Missouri, her subsequent placement at Monticello Female Seminary in western Illinois in the 1850s and later teaching at Putnam Female Seminary in Zanesville, Ohio. 1 Both Monticello and Putnam had ties to prominent women's educational enterprises. Monticello received student aid from one of the earliest philanthropic groups devoted to women's education, the Ladies Education Society, of Illinois. 2 This group raised money to send orphans and children of the clergy as students to Monticello. Putnam on the other hand, had ties to Hartford Female Seminary where Catharine and Harriet Beecher had developed new methods of educating women in the 1820s. Putnam was financed by Eunice Buckingham, the grandmother of one of Beecher's pupil's at Hartford. Putnam Female Seminary was to be run along the lines of the Hartford Female Seminary. 3 However, ideas about who should be educated and how differed between Monticello and Putnam. Monticello was established by Benjamin Godfrey, an uneducated entrepreneur who founded it to teach the daughters of plain farmers; he insisted that all students assist with the school laundry and other tasks which led to a "laundry rebellion" on the part of well-to-do students (many of whom associated laundry with slave labor). Eunice Buckingham, on the other hand, was a member of an exceedingly wealthy family. (Buckingham Fountain on Chicago's downtown lake front is named after this family). Catharine and her father Lyman Beecher both believed that teaching and preaching should never alienate the wealthy, since their wealth gave them the means to accomplish much good. Putnam Female Seminary replicated the Hartford methods. Excellent records of both seminaries are extant. Margaret Bailey Norton saved scattered clippings related to Monticello Female Seminary, as well as her school girl's slate and a potholder from which she taught her students to sew. This exhibit includes a newspaper clipping from the Alton Telegraph, August 16, 1869, a 1845 flyer describing the seminary, and an undated postcard view of the seminary. The letters are transcribed literally to duplicate punctuation and spelling except when to do so would obscure the meaning. |
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Margaret Bailey Norton Autobiographical Account, undated | ||
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[Norton-Townsend: Margaret Bailey, Autobiography, undated, page 1] [notes in margin not transcribed] Saturday A.M. Was feeling quite sure I should hear from you this morning. When your letter was handed me because I concluded I was about desperate enough to be gratified In answering, I will first give what you wish & should have had before & what I have purposed several times to give you but always get my sheets filled without as you do about yr. neighbors. viz. a history of myself parts of it you have had, but I will now try to present it as a whole - I was born near Clarksburg, Harrison Co. Va. July 26, 1823 & am therefore 30 years old. When I was about a year old my parents left the state & went into Kentucky & resided there. I [end of page 1] |
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[Norton-Townsend: Margaret Bailey, Autobiography, undated, page 2] I think, three years, on a farm - & must have lived in very plain & simple style, for my father was poor - He next removed to Missouri & settled in St. Louis Co. where he resided [crossed out word] dividing his time between farming & preaching till about 3 years before his death, he moved into Jefferson Co. adjoining St. Louis Co. My parents both died in August of 1835 leaving a family of 5 orphan children, the oldest my brother was 14 & my youngest sister two & I was 12 years old. Tho we did not then fully realize our loss - for we ["heart" crossed out] were too young - still our young hearts were very desolate & that was a sad P.M. when in one group with a colored woman & child beloning to my father, we were conveyed to the houses of a [end of page 2] |
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[Norton-Townsend: Margaret Bailey, Autobiography, undated, page 3] man who had been appointed guardian & adminstrator, leaving home entirely vacant. It would seem like home still, for my dear parents were still there. My much loved father chose to be buried there in a green mossy spot where many a time I had played & my mother was of course laid by his side - At this time, I was very much a child of nature - had gone to school about a year, could read & write & was extravagantly fond of my books & nothing did I so much desire as a good education. Indeed I can scarcely remember when I had not of secret determination that somehow or other I would have one - & it grew with me - Soon after the death of my parents a brother of my father residing [end of page 3] |
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[Norton-Townsend: Margaret Bailey, Autobiography, undated, page 4] in the northern part of the state made us a visit & took my brother to live with him. My two youngest sisters were put into a family to board for so much per year & 3 months after a physician residing in an adjoining neighborhood who had been married several years, but had no children offered to take my other sister & self adopting us as his own - saying that he would give us good educations & make us his heirs - The offer was considered a fine one & we were speedily conveyed to a new home promising much. But alas! he never [unclear word] anything in but servitude - I always think of it as the white slave period of my life - In this family we remained til I was 17. [three crossed out words] When nothing having been done for us that had been promised & my spirit having become a little too strong for longer oppression I penned my guardian a note entreating him to take us away & he did so. So soon as he understood the case - He was not the first appointed for us, but a much more intelligent & better man [crossed out word] he [end of page 4] |
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[Norton-Townsend: Margaret Bailey, Autobiography, undated, page 5] had been our guardian only a few months - our first guardian soon after a home was found for us moved to another & distant part of the state & only saw us 2 or 3 times after, or our condition would probably have been sooner improved. The physician died not long after in a fit of delirium tremens & his wife of cholera & as they had no children his name is literally blotted out & I think of them as monuments of God's displeasure towards those who oppress the fatherless - I never knew how much my father's estate was worth, our guardian never told us & some say he cheated us greatly, but we finally received several $100s each. I now wanted very much to expend what was coming to me in going to school, but it was not convenient just then, so I waited another year which made me of age. That year, I had [end of page 5] |
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[Norton-Townsend: Margaret Bailey, Autobiography, undated, page 6] a good home with a sister of my new guardian, a refined & most excellent woman - Mrs. [Baldwin?] Turner residing in Godfrey, 4 miles from Alton & 25 above St. Louis, in Illinois. Rather than expend any of the small patrimony coming to me I hired myself to Mrs. G. for a consideration - She was very kind, treated me with respect & confidence & introduced me into good society - & I very soon found friends in the best families in the place - I began to respect myself & to hope that my long cherished purpose might be realized - for there was a flourishing female seminary in the place - During the year I became as I thought a christian & united with the Presbyterian ch. that worshiped in the Sem. chapel. My preparation to enter the sem. as a student, I knew was not what [end of page 6] |
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[Norton-Townsend: Margaret Bailey, Autobiography, undated, page 7] it should be, so I commenced studying usually devoting the hours from 9 to 12 to my books, unless driven to bed before - I entered the sem. & graduated after taking a 4 years course, at the age of 22. My way was cheered by success in study & evidence of confidence, love & respect on the part of my teachers & mates. My funds were not sufficient to keep me in school so long, so I worked part of the time for 1/2 my board & part of the time boarded myself. About a month before graduating one of my teachers [Mary Cone] was invited to take charge of Putnam Sem in this state & she very considerately & kindly invited me to come with her, which I was very glad to do, instead of teaching a district school, as I had previously engaged to do. I taught in P. six years giving all that I earned, above what was necessary for a moderate wardrobe to pay [unclear word] of debt on the education of my two younger sisters - & now in dollars & cents I'm worth nothing & when I think of the love that I believe you cherish for me, its value is increased by the fact that I know you must love me for myself. this & the ability to return it in kind constitutes the greatest blessing of my [end of page 7 |
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[Norton-Townsend: Margaret Bailey, Autobiography, undated, page 8] somewhat eventful life - Fear I have been tedious for my life is much longer than I meant to have it. Please dont let it be known what a fine biographer I am. I might be tempted to a post with Harpers or Putnam - Tis now quite likely that I shall make a visit in Cleveland but cant say when. My first business must be to put a long & much neglected wardrobe in something of a proper condition & while I do it shall remain here - Yearnings for a home "many indeed I have - I've written myself so tired will stop here -- Your Margaret. |
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Norton Strange Townsend Papers: Margaret Bailey, | ||
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Norton Strange Townsend Papers: Margaret Bailey, | ||
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Norton Strange Townsend Papers:Margaret Bailey | ||
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| Reading Between the Lines | ||
Autobiographical sketches are written after the events transpire, and for that reason are often not considered primary source "evidence" of the events they recount. Historians have to judge the reliability of the facts they relate. To begin to develop your own judgment in this area, ask yourself how accurately you could portray the story of your life in a letter. What would you leave out? Would you want to present yourself in a certain light? What could your audience trust as true? How could you corroborate the facts of Margaret's autobiography? What role did religion and religious people play in her life? What role did economic and social position play? The flyer for Monticello is a wealth of information about the school, however, it was printed by the school to advertise itself. Can you trust what you read in it? Is it more trustworthy than a private, autobiographical account? In what ways? |
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Sources Cited | ||
Young, Homer Floyd. "Origin and Early History of Monticello Female Seminary, 1834-1865." Ph.D. diss., Washington University, 1951. Moore, Margaret King. "The Ladies' Association for Education Females, 1833-1937." Journal of the State Historical Society of Illinois. 35 (1937): 166-187. There are no secondary sources describing this institution, but information can be found by contacting the John McIntyre Library in Zanesville, Ohio. | ||
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