Emma Willard
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Emma Hart Willard (February 23, 1787 - April 15, 1870), was an American women's rights advocate, who founded the first women's school of higher education.
Willard was born Berlin, Connecticut and was the 17th child of Samuel Hart. She attended a district school at Worthington Point. Emma had started teaching at the age of 17 and shortly after turning 20, she received teaching job offers from Westfield, Massachusetts, Middlebury, Vermont, and Hudson, New York. She accepted the offer from Vermont and moved there. In 1809 she married Dr. John Willard. In 1814, she opened the Middlebury Female Seminary in her home. After moving to New York she opened the Waterford Academy in 1819 in Waterford, New York, but it had to be closed in 1821 because of a lack of funding. In September, however, the city of Troy requested the school to be moved there, and Willard accepted the offer and founded the Troy Female Seminary. She co-authored, "A System of Universal Geography on the Principles of Comparison and Classification".
External links
- Article from the New York State Senate (http://204.168.97.3/sws/wod/ed_willard.html)
- Biography from Famous Americans (http://www.famousamericans.net/emmawillard/)
- Biography from the Willard School (http://www.willardschool.org/allabout.htm)
- Article from the Emma Willard School (http://www.emma.troy.ny.us/about/history/ehwillard.shtml)