Most well-know family associated with Miss Pierce's academy is the Rev. Lyman Beecher family — Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry Ward Beecher, Catherine Beecher and Isabelle Beecher. Rev. Beecher taught religion in exchange for his children attending the high-caliber educational classes that this school was known for.
Sarah Pierce, founder of one of the earliest schools of higher education for females in the United States. Sarah combined traditional women's classes with progressive academic subjects that were primarily taught to males at that time.
The national reputation of the Litchfield Female Academy attracted over 3,000 young women from other states and territories; including:
Alabama
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
New Jersey
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Vermont
Virginia
Washington DC
---
British West Indies
Canada
* Books about Sarah Pierce and her school:
1.) TO ORNAMENT THEIR MINDS Sarah Pierce's Litchfield Female Academy, 1792-1833. By Theodore & Nancy Sizer; Sally Schwager; Lynne Templeton Brickey; Glee Krueger . Published by the Litchfield Historical Society, January 1, 1993.
2.) CHRONICLES OF A PIONEER SCHOOL from 1792 to 1833 Being the History of Miss Sarah Pierce and Her Litchfield School. By Emily Noyes Vanderpoel
Published: University Press: Cambridge, MA, 1903.
3.) More Chronicles Of A Pioneer School From 1792 To 1833, Being Added History On The Litchfield Female Academy kept by Miss Sarah Pierce and her nephew, John Pierce Brace
By Emily Noyes Vanderpoel. Published by Cadmus Book Shop, NY, 1927.
4. Litchfield: A Guidebook to the History and Significance of the Litchfield Law School and Female Academy. Litchfield Historical Society. 2019.
* Online articles about Sarah Pierce:
1.) Connecticut History.org. https://connecticuthistory.org/sarah-pierces-litchfield-female-academy/
2.) Today in Connecticut History: Office of the State Historian. https://todayincthistory.com/2018/06/26/june-26-sarah-pierce-born-in-litchfield/
3.) https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2012/01/sarah-pierce.html
4.) Digital Farmington: Republican Motherhood and Sarah Pierce's Litchfield Female Academy. https://digitalfarmington.org/education/republican-motherhood-and-sarah-pierces-litchfield-female-academy/
5.) Hidden in Plain Sight: the Public History of one Connecticut Town. https://hiddeninplainsightblog.com/2014/03/15/sarah-pierces-litchfield-female-academy/
6.) The Hasbroucks of Locust Lawn. https://omeka.hrvh.org/exhibits/show/the-hasbroucks-of-locust-lawn-/litchfield-academy
7.) William & Mary Scholar works by Amy E. Whelan. All United Like sisters: Education, Friendship, and the Bonds of Womanhood at Litchfield Female Academy, 1782-1833. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6013&context=etd
Her most famous students were Harriet Beecher Stowe, Catherine Beecher and Henry Ward Beecher — children of Rev. Lyman Beecher who taught religion at the school in exchange for his children's education. Catherine went on to form The Hartford Female Seminary in 1823.
Death notice in the January 22, 1852 edition of the Litchfield Enquirer ( newspaper.)
DEATH OF MISS SARAH PIERCE. — We regret the necessity which compels us to announce the departure from this life of one who has perhaps been more extensively known for a period of sixty years, than any other lady in New England. Miss Sarah Pierce died at her residence in this village on Monday morning, the 19th inst, at the advanced age of 83 years. In 1792, Miss Pierce established a Female Seminary in this place, which, as it was the first institution of the kind in this part of the country, required great celebrity, and pupil's resorted to it from distant States as well as from various parts of our own State. — This institution was incorporated by the Legislature of Connecticut under the name of the "Litchfield Female Academy." Miss Pierce retired from the institution several years ago and has since lived in the quiet enjoyment of an ample fortune, universally respected for her consistent piety, systematic benevolence, and cheerful hospitality.
Source of the following text: Litchfield Historical Society —
Sarah Pierce was born in Litchfield, Connecticut on June 26, 1767. She was the youngest of Mary Paterson Pierce and John Pierce's seven children. Sarah's mother died when she was only three years old. Her father remarried two years later and had three more children with his new wife. The Pierce children were frequently surrounded by highly educated individuals, as John Pierce was heavily involved in education. Sarah Pierce's step-mother pushed all her children to pursue their education to the fullest extent. Sarah attended a dame school at the age of four or five, which led to her to admire many of her female teachers.
After the passing of her father in 1783, John Pierce Jr. was responsible for the family's survival. With a step-mother and nine younger siblings, John needed assistance from his six younger sisters and pushed Sarah and another one of her sisters to study in New York City for a formal education. John hoped each sister could financially fend for themselves so he could concentrate more on his future and have the opportunity to establish a family of his own. Though John Pierce Jr. felt education was a necessity for his sisters, his views on the extent of education for a female was limited as he felt young women should only need "enough education to be pleasant and intelligent companions," and he frequently asked his sisters not to read his books he left behind. Sarah felt quite the opposite about education, as she hoped, and eventually did, teach several different topics that were once looked at as subjects only men could learn.
Just as the Pierce family began to get financially stable, their family was struck by another devastating loss, as John Pierce Jr. died in 1788. He was only thirty five. Fortunately for the older women in the family, their education was either complete or nearing completion, allowing them to either find a suitor or teach. For two of Sarah's sisters, they found happiness in marriage and began to raise a family of their own. For Sarah Pierce, this was never a desire. She was less inclined than her sisters to get married. She would rather spent her days being a role model to young girls and boys and by 1792 she had the formal education to do so. She began teaching girls and boys in her home, and by 1798 the school became so successful that an academy building was built. The Litchfield Female Academy thrived throughout the early 19th century, as thousands of girls and boys received a quality education not found in many other places across the country. Her nephew John Pierce Brace joined the Female Academy in 1814 as a teacher, and became the director in 1827. At that time Sarah stepped down as head of the school, but continued to teach, focusing on her favorite subject – history. Sarah Pierce died in Litchfield on January 19, 1852 and was buried in the West Burying Ground.
Sarah Pierce, founder of one of the earliest schools of higher education for females in the United States. Sarah combined traditional women's classes with progressive academic subjects that were primarily taught to males at that time.
The national reputation of the Litchfield Female Academy attracted over 3,000 young women from other states and territories; including:
Alabama
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
New Jersey
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Vermont
Virginia
Washington DC
---
British West Indies
Canada
* Books about Sarah Pierce and her school:
1.) TO ORNAMENT THEIR MINDS Sarah Pierce's Litchfield Female Academy, 1792-1833. By Theodore & Nancy Sizer; Sally Schwager; Lynne Templeton Brickey; Glee Krueger . Published by the Litchfield Historical Society, January 1, 1993.
2.) CHRONICLES OF A PIONEER SCHOOL from 1792 to 1833 Being the History of Miss Sarah Pierce and Her Litchfield School. By Emily Noyes Vanderpoel
Published: University Press: Cambridge, MA, 1903.
3.) More Chronicles Of A Pioneer School From 1792 To 1833, Being Added History On The Litchfield Female Academy kept by Miss Sarah Pierce and her nephew, John Pierce Brace
By Emily Noyes Vanderpoel. Published by Cadmus Book Shop, NY, 1927.
4. Litchfield: A Guidebook to the History and Significance of the Litchfield Law School and Female Academy. Litchfield Historical Society. 2019.
* Online articles about Sarah Pierce:
1.) Connecticut History.org. https://connecticuthistory.org/sarah-pierces-litchfield-female-academy/
2.) Today in Connecticut History: Office of the State Historian. https://todayincthistory.com/2018/06/26/june-26-sarah-pierce-born-in-litchfield/
3.) https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2012/01/sarah-pierce.html
4.) Digital Farmington: Republican Motherhood and Sarah Pierce's Litchfield Female Academy. https://digitalfarmington.org/education/republican-motherhood-and-sarah-pierces-litchfield-female-academy/
5.) Hidden in Plain Sight: the Public History of one Connecticut Town. https://hiddeninplainsightblog.com/2014/03/15/sarah-pierces-litchfield-female-academy/
6.) The Hasbroucks of Locust Lawn. https://omeka.hrvh.org/exhibits/show/the-hasbroucks-of-locust-lawn-/litchfield-academy
7.) William & Mary Scholar works by Amy E. Whelan. All United Like sisters: Education, Friendship, and the Bonds of Womanhood at Litchfield Female Academy, 1782-1833. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6013&context=etd
Her most famous students were Harriet Beecher Stowe, Catherine Beecher and Henry Ward Beecher — children of Rev. Lyman Beecher who taught religion at the school in exchange for his children's education. Catherine went on to form The Hartford Female Seminary in 1823.
Death notice in the January 22, 1852 edition of the Litchfield Enquirer ( newspaper.)
DEATH OF MISS SARAH PIERCE. — We regret the necessity which compels us to announce the departure from this life of one who has perhaps been more extensively known for a period of sixty years, than any other lady in New England. Miss Sarah Pierce died at her residence in this village on Monday morning, the 19th inst, at the advanced age of 83 years. In 1792, Miss Pierce established a Female Seminary in this place, which, as it was the first institution of the kind in this part of the country, required great celebrity, and pupil's resorted to it from distant States as well as from various parts of our own State. — This institution was incorporated by the Legislature of Connecticut under the name of the "Litchfield Female Academy." Miss Pierce retired from the institution several years ago and has since lived in the quiet enjoyment of an ample fortune, universally respected for her consistent piety, systematic benevolence, and cheerful hospitality.
Source of the following text: Litchfield Historical Society —
Sarah Pierce was born in Litchfield, Connecticut on June 26, 1767. She was the youngest of Mary Paterson Pierce and John Pierce's seven children. Sarah's mother died when she was only three years old. Her father remarried two years later and had three more children with his new wife. The Pierce children were frequently surrounded by highly educated individuals, as John Pierce was heavily involved in education. Sarah Pierce's step-mother pushed all her children to pursue their education to the fullest extent. Sarah attended a dame school at the age of four or five, which led to her to admire many of her female teachers.
After the passing of her father in 1783, John Pierce Jr. was responsible for the family's survival. With a step-mother and nine younger siblings, John needed assistance from his six younger sisters and pushed Sarah and another one of her sisters to study in New York City for a formal education. John hoped each sister could financially fend for themselves so he could concentrate more on his future and have the opportunity to establish a family of his own. Though John Pierce Jr. felt education was a necessity for his sisters, his views on the extent of education for a female was limited as he felt young women should only need "enough education to be pleasant and intelligent companions," and he frequently asked his sisters not to read his books he left behind. Sarah felt quite the opposite about education, as she hoped, and eventually did, teach several different topics that were once looked at as subjects only men could learn.
Just as the Pierce family began to get financially stable, their family was struck by another devastating loss, as John Pierce Jr. died in 1788. He was only thirty five. Fortunately for the older women in the family, their education was either complete or nearing completion, allowing them to either find a suitor or teach. For two of Sarah's sisters, they found happiness in marriage and began to raise a family of their own. For Sarah Pierce, this was never a desire. She was less inclined than her sisters to get married. She would rather spent her days being a role model to young girls and boys and by 1792 she had the formal education to do so. She began teaching girls and boys in her home, and by 1798 the school became so successful that an academy building was built. The Litchfield Female Academy thrived throughout the early 19th century, as thousands of girls and boys received a quality education not found in many other places across the country. Her nephew John Pierce Brace joined the Female Academy in 1814 as a teacher, and became the director in 1827. At that time Sarah stepped down as head of the school, but continued to teach, focusing on her favorite subject – history. Sarah Pierce died in Litchfield on January 19, 1852 and was buried in the West Burying Ground.
Most well-know family associated with Miss Pierce's academy is the Rev. Lyman Beecher family — Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry Ward Beecher, Catherine Beecher and Isabelle Beecher. Rev. Beecher taught religion in exchange for his children attending the high-caliber educational classes that this school was known for.
Sarah Pierce, founder of one of the earliest schools of higher education for females in the United States. Sarah combined traditional women's classes with progressive academic subjects that were primarily taught to males at that time.
The national reputation of the Litchfield Female Academy attracted over 3,000 young women from other states and territories; including:
Alabama
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
New Jersey
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Vermont
Virginia
Washington DC
---
British West Indies
Canada
* Books about Sarah Pierce and her school:
1.) TO ORNAMENT THEIR MINDS Sarah Pierce's Litchfield Female Academy, 1792-1833. By Theodore & Nancy Sizer; Sally Schwager; Lynne Templeton Brickey; Glee Krueger . Published by the Litchfield Historical Society, January 1, 1993.
2.) CHRONICLES OF A PIONEER SCHOOL from 1792 to 1833 Being the History of Miss Sarah Pierce and Her Litchfield School. By Emily Noyes Vanderpoel
Published: University Press: Cambridge, MA, 1903.
3.) More Chronicles Of A Pioneer School From 1792 To 1833, Being Added History On The Litchfield Female Academy kept by Miss Sarah Pierce and her nephew, John Pierce Brace
By Emily Noyes Vanderpoel. Published by Cadmus Book Shop, NY, 1927.
4. Litchfield: A Guidebook to the History and Significance of the Litchfield Law School and Female Academy. Litchfield Historical Society. 2019.
* Online articles about Sarah Pierce:
1.) Connecticut History.org. https://connecticuthistory.org/sarah-pierces-litchfield-female-academy/
2.) Today in Connecticut History: Office of the State Historian. https://todayincthistory.com/2018/06/26/june-26-sarah-pierce-born-in-litchfield/
3.) https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2012/01/sarah-pierce.html
4.) Digital Farmington: Republican Motherhood and Sarah Pierce's Litchfield Female Academy. https://digitalfarmington.org/education/republican-motherhood-and-sarah-pierces-litchfield-female-academy/
5.) Hidden in Plain Sight: the Public History of one Connecticut Town. https://hiddeninplainsightblog.com/2014/03/15/sarah-pierces-litchfield-female-academy/
6.) The Hasbroucks of Locust Lawn. https://omeka.hrvh.org/exhibits/show/the-hasbroucks-of-locust-lawn-/litchfield-academy
7.) William & Mary Scholar works by Amy E. Whelan. All United Like sisters: Education, Friendship, and the Bonds of Womanhood at Litchfield Female Academy, 1782-1833. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6013&context=etd
Her most famous students were Harriet Beecher Stowe, Catherine Beecher and Henry Ward Beecher — children of Rev. Lyman Beecher who taught religion at the school in exchange for his children's education. Catherine went on to form The Hartford Female Seminary in 1823.
Death notice in the January 22, 1852 edition of the Litchfield Enquirer ( newspaper.)
DEATH OF MISS SARAH PIERCE. — We regret the necessity which compels us to announce the departure from this life of one who has perhaps been more extensively known for a period of sixty years, than any other lady in New England. Miss Sarah Pierce died at her residence in this village on Monday morning, the 19th inst, at the advanced age of 83 years. In 1792, Miss Pierce established a Female Seminary in this place, which, as it was the first institution of the kind in this part of the country, required great celebrity, and pupil's resorted to it from distant States as well as from various parts of our own State. — This institution was incorporated by the Legislature of Connecticut under the name of the "Litchfield Female Academy." Miss Pierce retired from the institution several years ago and has since lived in the quiet enjoyment of an ample fortune, universally respected for her consistent piety, systematic benevolence, and cheerful hospitality.
Source of the following text: Litchfield Historical Society —
Sarah Pierce was born in Litchfield, Connecticut on June 26, 1767. She was the youngest of Mary Paterson Pierce and John Pierce's seven children. Sarah's mother died when she was only three years old. Her father remarried two years later and had three more children with his new wife. The Pierce children were frequently surrounded by highly educated individuals, as John Pierce was heavily involved in education. Sarah Pierce's step-mother pushed all her children to pursue their education to the fullest extent. Sarah attended a dame school at the age of four or five, which led to her to admire many of her female teachers.
After the passing of her father in 1783, John Pierce Jr. was responsible for the family's survival. With a step-mother and nine younger siblings, John needed assistance from his six younger sisters and pushed Sarah and another one of her sisters to study in New York City for a formal education. John hoped each sister could financially fend for themselves so he could concentrate more on his future and have the opportunity to establish a family of his own. Though John Pierce Jr. felt education was a necessity for his sisters, his views on the extent of education for a female was limited as he felt young women should only need "enough education to be pleasant and intelligent companions," and he frequently asked his sisters not to read his books he left behind. Sarah felt quite the opposite about education, as she hoped, and eventually did, teach several different topics that were once looked at as subjects only men could learn.
Just as the Pierce family began to get financially stable, their family was struck by another devastating loss, as John Pierce Jr. died in 1788. He was only thirty five. Fortunately for the older women in the family, their education was either complete or nearing completion, allowing them to either find a suitor or teach. For two of Sarah's sisters, they found happiness in marriage and began to raise a family of their own. For Sarah Pierce, this was never a desire. She was less inclined than her sisters to get married. She would rather spent her days being a role model to young girls and boys and by 1792 she had the formal education to do so. She began teaching girls and boys in her home, and by 1798 the school became so successful that an academy building was built. The Litchfield Female Academy thrived throughout the early 19th century, as thousands of girls and boys received a quality education not found in many other places across the country. Her nephew John Pierce Brace joined the Female Academy in 1814 as a teacher, and became the director in 1827. At that time Sarah stepped down as head of the school, but continued to teach, focusing on her favorite subject – history. Sarah Pierce died in Litchfield on January 19, 1852 and was buried in the West Burying Ground.
Sarah Pierce, founder of one of the earliest schools of higher education for females in the United States. Sarah combined traditional women's classes with progressive academic subjects that were primarily taught to males at that time.
The national reputation of the Litchfield Female Academy attracted over 3,000 young women from other states and territories; including:
Alabama
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
New Jersey
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Vermont
Virginia
Washington DC
---
British West Indies
Canada
* Books about Sarah Pierce and her school:
1.) TO ORNAMENT THEIR MINDS Sarah Pierce's Litchfield Female Academy, 1792-1833. By Theodore & Nancy Sizer; Sally Schwager; Lynne Templeton Brickey; Glee Krueger . Published by the Litchfield Historical Society, January 1, 1993.
2.) CHRONICLES OF A PIONEER SCHOOL from 1792 to 1833 Being the History of Miss Sarah Pierce and Her Litchfield School. By Emily Noyes Vanderpoel
Published: University Press: Cambridge, MA, 1903.
3.) More Chronicles Of A Pioneer School From 1792 To 1833, Being Added History On The Litchfield Female Academy kept by Miss Sarah Pierce and her nephew, John Pierce Brace
By Emily Noyes Vanderpoel. Published by Cadmus Book Shop, NY, 1927.
4. Litchfield: A Guidebook to the History and Significance of the Litchfield Law School and Female Academy. Litchfield Historical Society. 2019.
* Online articles about Sarah Pierce:
1.) Connecticut History.org. https://connecticuthistory.org/sarah-pierces-litchfield-female-academy/
2.) Today in Connecticut History: Office of the State Historian. https://todayincthistory.com/2018/06/26/june-26-sarah-pierce-born-in-litchfield/
3.) https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2012/01/sarah-pierce.html
4.) Digital Farmington: Republican Motherhood and Sarah Pierce's Litchfield Female Academy. https://digitalfarmington.org/education/republican-motherhood-and-sarah-pierces-litchfield-female-academy/
5.) Hidden in Plain Sight: the Public History of one Connecticut Town. https://hiddeninplainsightblog.com/2014/03/15/sarah-pierces-litchfield-female-academy/
6.) The Hasbroucks of Locust Lawn. https://omeka.hrvh.org/exhibits/show/the-hasbroucks-of-locust-lawn-/litchfield-academy
7.) William & Mary Scholar works by Amy E. Whelan. All United Like sisters: Education, Friendship, and the Bonds of Womanhood at Litchfield Female Academy, 1782-1833. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6013&context=etd
Her most famous students were Harriet Beecher Stowe, Catherine Beecher and Henry Ward Beecher — children of Rev. Lyman Beecher who taught religion at the school in exchange for his children's education. Catherine went on to form The Hartford Female Seminary in 1823.
Death notice in the January 22, 1852 edition of the Litchfield Enquirer ( newspaper.)
DEATH OF MISS SARAH PIERCE. — We regret the necessity which compels us to announce the departure from this life of one who has perhaps been more extensively known for a period of sixty years, than any other lady in New England. Miss Sarah Pierce died at her residence in this village on Monday morning, the 19th inst, at the advanced age of 83 years. In 1792, Miss Pierce established a Female Seminary in this place, which, as it was the first institution of the kind in this part of the country, required great celebrity, and pupil's resorted to it from distant States as well as from various parts of our own State. — This institution was incorporated by the Legislature of Connecticut under the name of the "Litchfield Female Academy." Miss Pierce retired from the institution several years ago and has since lived in the quiet enjoyment of an ample fortune, universally respected for her consistent piety, systematic benevolence, and cheerful hospitality.
Source of the following text: Litchfield Historical Society —
Sarah Pierce was born in Litchfield, Connecticut on June 26, 1767. She was the youngest of Mary Paterson Pierce and John Pierce's seven children. Sarah's mother died when she was only three years old. Her father remarried two years later and had three more children with his new wife. The Pierce children were frequently surrounded by highly educated individuals, as John Pierce was heavily involved in education. Sarah Pierce's step-mother pushed all her children to pursue their education to the fullest extent. Sarah attended a dame school at the age of four or five, which led to her to admire many of her female teachers.
After the passing of her father in 1783, John Pierce Jr. was responsible for the family's survival. With a step-mother and nine younger siblings, John needed assistance from his six younger sisters and pushed Sarah and another one of her sisters to study in New York City for a formal education. John hoped each sister could financially fend for themselves so he could concentrate more on his future and have the opportunity to establish a family of his own. Though John Pierce Jr. felt education was a necessity for his sisters, his views on the extent of education for a female was limited as he felt young women should only need "enough education to be pleasant and intelligent companions," and he frequently asked his sisters not to read his books he left behind. Sarah felt quite the opposite about education, as she hoped, and eventually did, teach several different topics that were once looked at as subjects only men could learn.
Just as the Pierce family began to get financially stable, their family was struck by another devastating loss, as John Pierce Jr. died in 1788. He was only thirty five. Fortunately for the older women in the family, their education was either complete or nearing completion, allowing them to either find a suitor or teach. For two of Sarah's sisters, they found happiness in marriage and began to raise a family of their own. For Sarah Pierce, this was never a desire. She was less inclined than her sisters to get married. She would rather spent her days being a role model to young girls and boys and by 1792 she had the formal education to do so. She began teaching girls and boys in her home, and by 1798 the school became so successful that an academy building was built. The Litchfield Female Academy thrived throughout the early 19th century, as thousands of girls and boys received a quality education not found in many other places across the country. Her nephew John Pierce Brace joined the Female Academy in 1814 as a teacher, and became the director in 1827. At that time Sarah stepped down as head of the school, but continued to teach, focusing on her favorite subject – history. Sarah Pierce died in Litchfield on January 19, 1852 and was buried in the West Burying Ground.
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