1787 – 1870 A.D. Emma Hart Willard, a leader in the American moement for the higher education of women, founder of the Troy Female Seminary, and active in the great national revival of common schools in the United States. She was born at Berlin, Conn., and was the sixteenth of a family of seventeen children. She began her career as a teacher in 1803, and in 1809 was married to Dr. John Willard. In 1814, at her home in Middlebury, Vt., she opened a boarding-school for girls in which she introduced various improvements in methods of instruction and also taught subjects hitherto not included in the curriculum of girls’ schools. Desiring a broader field for the development of her ideas of eduction, she addressed to the New York Legislature in 1819 a treatise entitled A Plan for Improving Female Education.” It was an able exposition of excellent ideas and found favor with Governor John Clinton, resulting in the establishment in that year of a seminary for girls at Waterford, New York, which was incorporated and was partially supported by the State. Mrs. Willard removed to Troy, New York, in 1821 where she was presented by the city with a suitable building, henceforth known as the Troy Female Seminary, which served as the Vassar College of New York State a half century before the establishment of the institution at Poughkeeppsie. The seminary not only gave women collegiate education, but it trained a large number of women teachers.  Troy Female Seminary After conducting this school for seventeen years, Mrs. Willard resigned her duties into the hands of her son, and gave herself to educational missionary work. During the years 1845 – 1847 she traveled 8,000 miles by packet boat, stage coach, and private carriage through the States of the South and West, agitating and counseling in the matter of public education. Her European influence extended to the founding of a school for girls in Athens, Greece, and in 1854 she was present at the World’s Educational Convention in London. Emma Willard is one of the most prominent figures in the history of higher education for women in the United States. She was not only an advocate of advancement but a practical worker for it, and brought to her task great earnestness of purpose, coupled with high abilities and executive capacity. Her school books were widely used and were translated into European and Asiatic languages. Sjhe also wrote some excellent verse, which includes the famous Rocked in the Cradle Deep. A statue was unveiled to her memory at Troy in 1905. ~*~ Reference: Famous Women; An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women By Joseph Adelman. Copyright, 1926 by Ellis M. Lonow Company.
She was born Emma Hart on the 23rd February 1787 in Berlin, Connecticut into a very large family of seventeen children, some of which had been born to her father’s first wife. Emma was the 16th of those and all the children were encouraged to read and be of independent thought. She was a particularly bright child, able to converse about predominantly “male” subjects such as politics and mathematics. She learned a lot at home and was fifteen years old before she entered school for the first time. Within two years she was teaching at the Berlin academy. She spent the next few years teaching but was dismayed by what she found, with female students constantly at a disadvantage compared to their male counterparts. In 1814 she set up, in her own home, a boarding school for girls. Her belief was that women were just as capable of studying serious subjects rather than just being sent to finishing schools to turn them into society ladies. In 1819 she wrote a pamphlet called A Plan for Improving Female Education and was disappointed to receive a lukewarm response from members of the New York Legislature. Eventually, getting some kind of encouragement, she opened up a school in the Waterford district of New York but the promised financial support did not materialise so she moved the operation to new premises in Troy. Her new, revolutionary seminary opened in 1821 and was a great success. Even though not all students went on to have careers in business or other areas, her aim was fulfilled. She felt that women should have the opportunity to get an education but she did not support the women’s suffrage movement. Willard also made a name for herself as a writer, specialising in books on American history in the main. Examples were History of the United States, or Republic of America (1828) and Last Leaves of American History, published in 1849. She also published a collection of poetry called The Fulfilment of a Promise and the best known of the poems in this book is probably Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep. It is believed that this was composed while on a transatlantic voyage. Here is the poem: Emma was married twice, firstly to John Willard, whose name she took, and then to Doctor Christopher Yates. The second marriage did not last long though and she spent the rest of her life dedicated to the furtherance of women’s education, both at home and abroad. Although her literary output was fairly large she will best be remembered for her efforts as an educator. In 1895 her school was renamed the Emma Willard School, in her honour. Memorial statues were raised in Troy, New York and Middlebury, Vermont and, in 1905, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame for Great Americans. Emma Hart Willard died peacefully on the 15th April 1870 at the grand old age of 93.
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A pioneer in women’s education, Emma Hart Willard founded Troy Female Seminary, the first school for young women in the United States. Emma Hart was the sixteenth of seventeen children, born in Berlin, Connecticut, to a family that valued education. Her mother was literate at a time when very few women in New England could read and write, and her father believed in educating his daughters as well as his sons. Hart attended local schools and began her teaching career in 1804. In 1807, she moved to Middlebury, Vermont to manage a women’s academy. Two years later, she married John Willard and, as was customary, she retired from teaching for a period of time. In 1814, Willard returned to her profession and opened a girls’ school in her home. Struck by the contrast between the education she could offer her students and the curriculum provided to young men at a nearby college, she wrote A Plan for Improving Female Education. The document advocated equal education for young women through the academy level. At the encouragement of Governor DeWitt Clinton, Willard moved to New York in 1819 and opened a school in Waterford. In 1821, she relocated again, to Troy, and opened Troy Female Seminary. Renamed the Emma Willard School in her honor in 1895, the school saw thousands of young women pass through its doors during Willard’s lifetime. In 1838, Willard left daily management of the school to her son and daughter-in-law and spent the last 30 years of her life traveling and writing. She returned often to the school, entertaining students in her house at the edge of the grounds, or even filling the role of principal as needed. At the time of her death in 1870, Willard was proclaimed the best-known woman in America. Since its founding, the Emma Willard School has been one of the nation’s leading schools for young women. Back to search results |
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