Details

Abstract / Summary

Lucy Cargill Waldo (1762-1830) was born in Pomfret, Connecticut, to Captain Benjamin Cargill, a prominent mill owner, and his wife Mary Cargill. On 16 July 1787, she married Albigence Waldo (1750-1794), a physician from Pomfret, Connecticut, who had served during the American Revolutionary War as a surgeon for the American army. By his first wife, Lydia Hurlbut (1751-1785), whom he had married on 19 November 1772, Dr. Waldo already had six children, including Elisha Hurlbut Waldo (1773-1801), who was later apprenticed to Isaiah Thomas (1749-1831) in Worcester, Massachusetts. Lucy and Albigence Waldo had two daughters of their own, Lucy Waldo (1788-1809) and Laura Waldo (1789-1795).

Lucy's father's home and mill complex at Quinebaug, Conneticut, was a local hub of both technical and cultural activity: besides expanding to provide the surrounding community with malting, dying, grist-milling, smithing, sawing and distilling services, it provided a venue for Lucy's interest in literary society and Albigence's role in founding a county and state medical society. Lucy developed a local reputation as a writer of poetry and prose, and her papers include her own poetry and essays in addition to correspondence and extracts copied from published materials.

Following her husband's death at the age of 44 and her father's sale of his mill complex, Lucy moved to Palmer, Massachusetts, and subsequently to Northampton, Massachusetts, where she died in 1830. During this time, she maintained copies of letters she wrote in an effort to find a publisher for her husband's papers covering his war experiences and medical pursuits.

Throughout her life, in addition to her own correspondence and creative works, Lucy documented her interests and perspectives by copying out passages from the newspapers, religious periodicals, poetry, and prescriptive literature of her day.

Field of Interest

Letters and Diaries

Content Type

Letter

Duration

0 sec

Format

Text

Page Count

798

Publication Year

2010

Publisher

Alexander Street

Place Published / Released

Alexandria, VA

Subject

Letters and Diaries, History, Daily Life, Domestic life