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{{short description|American activist and social worker}}
{{Short description|American activist (1800–1877)}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Abigail May Alcott
| name = Abigail May Alcott
| image = File:Abby May Alcott.jpg
| image = Abby May Alcott.jpg
| image_size =
| image_size =
| caption = Abigail May Alcott
| caption = Abigail May Alcott
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| education =
| education =
| occupation = [[Housewife]], [[Social Worker]]
| occupation = [[Housewife]], [[Social Worker]]
| spouse = [[Amos Bronson Alcott]]
| spouse = {{Marriage|[[Amos Bronson Alcott]]|1830}}
| parents = Colonel Joseph May and Dorothy Sewall
| parents = Colonel Joseph May and Dorothy Sewall
| relatives = [[Samuel Joseph May]] (brother), [[Eve LaPlante]] (great-niece)
| children = [[Anna Alcott Pratt]] <br /> [[Louisa May Alcott]] <br /> [[Elizabeth Sewall Alcott]] <br /> [[Abigail May Alcott Nieriker]]
| children = [[Anna Alcott Pratt]] <br /> [[Louisa May Alcott]] <br /> [[Elizabeth Sewall Alcott]] <br /> [[Abigail May Alcott Nieriker]]
}}
}}
'''Abigail''' "'''Abba'''" '''Alcott''' (née '''May'''; October 8, 1800 &ndash; November 25, 1877)<ref>[http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GSfn=abigail&GSmn=&GSln=alcott&GSbyrel=all&GSby=&GSdyrel=all&GSdy=&GScntry=0&GSst=0&GSob=n ] Abigail May Alcott at [http://www.findagrave.com/index.html Find a Grave]</ref> was an American activist for several causes and one of the first paid [[social worker]]s in the state of [[Massachusetts]]. She was the wife of [[Transcendentalist]] [[Amos Bronson Alcott]] and mother of four daughters, including Civil War novelist [[Louisa May Alcott]].
'''Abigail''' "'''Abba'''" '''Alcott''' (née '''May'''; October 8, 1800 &ndash; November 25, 1877) was an American activist for several causes and one of the first paid [[social worker]]s in the state of [[Massachusetts]]. She was the wife of [[Transcendentalism|transcendentalist]] [[Amos Bronson Alcott]] and mother of four daughters, including Civil War novelist [[Louisa May Alcott]].


==Biography==
==Early life==
⚫
Abigail May came from a prominent [[New England]] family. On her mother's side, she was born into the families of Sewall and [[Quincy political family|Quincy]]. Her mother, Dorothy Sewall, was great-granddaughter of [[Samuel Sewall]], a presiding judge of [[Salem witch trials]]. Her father, Colonel Joseph May, was a lauded [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] layman.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classbrain.com/artbiographies/publish/louisa_may_alcott.shtml |title=Alcott, Louisa May |accessdate=2007-04-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203111222/http://www.classbrain.com/artbiographies/publish/louisa_may_alcott.shtml |archivedate=2007-02-03 }} A biography of Louisa May Alcott that includes several details about Abigail May Alcott</ref> As a child she did not regularly attend a formal school.


Rather, she was educated in history, languages, and sciences by her tutor Abigail Allyn in [[Duxbury, Massachusetts]]. She was introduced to her future husband, Amos Bronson Alcott in Brooklyn, Connecticut. Abigail May later applied for an assistant position in Alcott's school in Boston. They married in 1830 and collaborated on projects such as the failed utopian community [[Fruitlands (transcendental center)|Fruitlands]] and the Temple School.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/bronsonalcott.html |title=Bronson and Abigail Alcott |accessdate=2007-04-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070515180337/http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/bronsonalcott.html |archivedate=2007-05-15 }} Bronson and Abigail Alcott</ref>
===Family life and education===
⚫
Abigail May came from a prominent New England family. On her mother's side, she was born into the families of Sewall and [[Quincy political family|Quincy]]. Her mother, Dorothy Sewall, was the great-granddaughter of [[Samuel Sewall]], a presiding judge of the [[Salem witch trials]]. Her father, Colonel Joseph May, was a lauded [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] layman.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classbrain.com/artbiographies/publish/louisa_may_alcott.shtml |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2007-04-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203111222/http://www.classbrain.com/artbiographies/publish/louisa_may_alcott.shtml |archivedate=2007-02-03 }} A biography of Louisa May Alcott that includes several details about Abigail May Alcott</ref> As a child she did not regularly attend a formal school. Rather, she was educated in history, languages, and sciences by her tutor Abigail Allyn in [[Duxbury, Massachusetts]]. She was introduced to her future husband, Amos Bronson Alcott in Brooklyn, Connecticut. Abigail May later applied for an assistant position in Alcott's school in Boston. They married in 1830 and collaborated on projects such as the failed utopian community [[Fruitlands (transcendental center)|Fruitlands]] and the Temple School.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/bronsonalcott.html |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2007-04-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070515180337/http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/bronsonalcott.html |archivedate=2007-05-15 }} Bronson and Abigail Alcott</ref>


===Writings===
==Activism==
⚫
<!-- Commented out because image was deleted: [[Image:Maydidiji.jpg|right|frame|May in later years|150px]] -->
A [[Woman suffrage|woman suffragist]] and an activist for the [[temperance movement]], the poor, and the [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolition]] of slavery, Abigail May Alcott imbued strong values in her four children. She and her husband served as stationmasters on the [[Underground Railroad]].

⚫
According to her second daughter, author Louisa May Alcott, she "always did what came to her in the way of duty and charity, and let pride, taste, and comfort suffer for love's sake".<ref>[http://www.louisamayalcott.org/abigailtext.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106221230/http://www.louisamayalcott.org/abigailtext.html|date=2018-11-06}} Abigail May Alcott Text</ref> Such humanitarian ideals extended beyond her household to the city of [[Boston, Massachusetts]], where she accepted a full-time job as a social worker in 1848.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alcott.net/alcott/home/champions/Alcott.html?index%3D0 |title=Abigail May Alcott |accessdate=2007-04-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070404075538/http://alcott.net/alcott/home/champions/Alcott.html?index=0 |archivedate=2007-04-04 }} On Abigail May Alcott</ref>

==Writings==
Abigail May Alcott's personal writings were first collected and published in 2012, under the title ''My Heart Is Boundless: Writings of Abigail May Alcott, Louisa's Mother'' (Free Press). The collection was edited by her great-niece [[Eve LaPlante]] (descended from Abba's brother [[Samuel Joseph May]]), the author of the dual biography ''Marmee & Louisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother'' (Free Press, 2012).
Abigail May Alcott's personal writings were first collected and published in 2012, under the title ''My Heart Is Boundless: Writings of Abigail May Alcott, Louisa's Mother'' (Free Press). The collection was edited by her great-niece [[Eve LaPlante]] (descended from Abba's brother [[Samuel Joseph May]]), the author of the dual biography ''Marmee & Louisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother'' (Free Press, 2012).


She compiled a collection of vegetarian recipes (her husband was a vegetarian and cousin of [[William Alcott]] who was a student of the dietary reformer [[Sylvester Graham]]). The recipes were similar to the diet depicted in ''[[Transcendental Wild Oats]]'' (1873), [[Louisa May Alcott]]'s fictionalized account of [[Fruitlands (transcendental center)|Fruitlands]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Scharnhorst |first=Gary |title=Literary Eats |publisher=McFarland |page=6}}</ref>
She compiled a collection of vegetarian recipes (her husband was a vegetarian and cousin of [[William Alcott]] who was a student of the dietary reformer [[Sylvester Graham]]). The recipes were similar to the diet depicted in ''[[Transcendental Wild Oats]]'' (1873), [[Louisa May Alcott]]'s fictionalized account of [[Fruitlands (transcendental center)|Fruitlands]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Scharnhorst |first=Gary |title=Literary Eats |publisher=McFarland |page=6}}</ref>


===Children===
==Children==
* [[Anna Alcott Pratt|Anna Bronson Alcott]] (March 16, 1831 – July 13, 1893)
* [[Anna Alcott Pratt|Anna Bronson Alcott]] (March 16, 1831 – July 13, 1893)
* [[Louisa May Alcott]] (November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888)
* [[Louisa May Alcott]] (November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888)
* [[Elizabeth Sewall Alcott]] (June 24, 1835 – March 14, 1858)
* [[Elizabeth Sewall Alcott]] (June 24, 1835 – March 14, 1858)
*Frederick Alcott (April 4, 1839 - April 6, 1839)
*Frederick Alcott (April 4, 1839 - April 6, 1839)
* [[May Alcott]] (July 26, 1840 – December 29, 1879)
* [[Abigail May Alcott Nieriker]] (July 26, 1840 – December 29, 1879)


===Death===
==Death==
The death of Elizabeth "Lizzie" Sewall, the model for Beth in ''Little Women,'' on March 14, 1858, made Abba depressed and sad. Nineteen years after Lizzie's death, Abba herself died in November 1877. Louisa wrote in her journal: "I never wish her back, but a great warmth seems gone out of life... She was so loyal, tender, and true, life was hard for her and no one knew all she had to bear but her children." Abba is buried in the [[Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord]] alongside her husband and three of her daughters.
The death of Elizabeth "Lizzie" Sewall, the model for Beth in ''Little Women,'' on March 14, 1858, made Abba depressed and sad. Nineteen years after Lizzie's death, Abba herself died in November 1877. Louisa wrote in her journal: "I never wish her back, but a great warmth seems gone out of life... She was so loyal, tender, and true, life was hard for her and no one knew all she had to bear but her children." Abba is buried in the [[Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord]] alongside her husband and three of her daughters.

==Activism==
⚫
<!-- Commented out because image was deleted: [[Image:Maydidiji.jpg|right|frame|May in later years|150px]] -->
⚫
A [[Woman suffrage|woman suffragist]] and an activist for the [[temperance movement]], the poor, and the [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolition]] of slavery, Abigail May Alcott imbued strong values in her four children. She and her husband served as stationmasters on the [[Underground Railroad]]. According to her second daughter, author Louisa May Alcott, she "always did what came to her in the way of duty and charity, and let pride, taste, and comfort suffer for love's sake".<ref>[http://www.louisamayalcott.org/abigailtext.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106221230/http://www.louisamayalcott.org/abigailtext.html |date=2018-11-06 }} Abigail May Alcott Text</ref> Such humanitarian ideals extended beyond her household to the city of [[Boston, Massachusetts]], where she accepted a full-time job as a social worker in 1848.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alcott.net/alcott/home/champions/Alcott.html?index%3D0 |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2007-04-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070404075538/http://alcott.net/alcott/home/champions/Alcott.html?index=0 |archivedate=2007-04-04 }} On Abigail May Alcott</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:May Alcott, Abigail}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:May Alcott, Abigail}}
[[Category:Alcott family]]
[[Category:Alcott family]]
[[Category:May family]]
[[Category:American social workers]]
[[Category:American social workers]]
[[Category:1800 births]]
[[Category:1800 births]]
[[Category:1877 deaths]]
[[Category:1877 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Concord, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:People from Concord, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:American women activists]]
[[Category:Underground Railroad people]]
[[Category:Underground Railroad people]]
[[Category:American abolitionists]]
[[Category:American temperance activists]]
[[Category:American temperance activists]]
[[Category:Activists from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Sewall family]]
[[Category:Sewall family]]
[[Category:Quincy family]]
[[Category:Quincy family]]
[[Category:American suffragists]]
[[Category:Suffragists from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Burials at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (Concord, Massachusetts)]]

Latest revision as of 00:38, 13 November 2024

Abigail May Alcott
Abigail May Alcott
BornOctober 8, 1800
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedNovember 25, 1877 (aged 77)
Concord, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation(s)Housewife, Social Worker
Spouse
​
(m. 1830)​
ChildrenAnna Alcott Pratt
Louisa May Alcott
Elizabeth Sewall Alcott
Abigail May Alcott Nieriker
Parent(s)Colonel Joseph May and Dorothy Sewall
RelativesSamuel Joseph May (brother), Eve LaPlante (great-niece)

Abigail "Abba" Alcott (née May; October 8, 1800 – November 25, 1877) was an American activist for several causes and one of the first paid social workers in the state of Massachusetts. She was the wife of transcendentalist Amos Bronson Alcott and mother of four daughters, including Civil War novelist Louisa May Alcott.

Early life

[edit]

Abigail May came from a prominent New England family. On her mother's side, she was born into the families of Sewall and Quincy. Her mother, Dorothy Sewall, was great-granddaughter of Samuel Sewall, a presiding judge of Salem witch trials. Her father, Colonel Joseph May, was a lauded Unitarian layman.[1] As a child she did not regularly attend a formal school.

Rather, she was educated in history, languages, and sciences by her tutor Abigail Allyn in Duxbury, Massachusetts. She was introduced to her future husband, Amos Bronson Alcott in Brooklyn, Connecticut. Abigail May later applied for an assistant position in Alcott's school in Boston. They married in 1830 and collaborated on projects such as the failed utopian community Fruitlands and the Temple School.[2]

Activism

[edit]

A woman suffragist and an activist for the temperance movement, the poor, and the abolition of slavery, Abigail May Alcott imbued strong values in her four children. She and her husband served as stationmasters on the Underground Railroad.

According to her second daughter, author Louisa May Alcott, she "always did what came to her in the way of duty and charity, and let pride, taste, and comfort suffer for love's sake".[3] Such humanitarian ideals extended beyond her household to the city of Boston, Massachusetts, where she accepted a full-time job as a social worker in 1848.[4]

Writings

[edit]

Abigail May Alcott's personal writings were first collected and published in 2012, under the title My Heart Is Boundless: Writings of Abigail May Alcott, Louisa's Mother (Free Press). The collection was edited by her great-niece Eve LaPlante (descended from Abba's brother Samuel Joseph May), the author of the dual biography Marmee & Louisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother (Free Press, 2012).

She compiled a collection of vegetarian recipes (her husband was a vegetarian and cousin of William Alcott who was a student of the dietary reformer Sylvester Graham). The recipes were similar to the diet depicted in Transcendental Wild Oats (1873), Louisa May Alcott's fictionalized account of Fruitlands.[5]

Children

[edit]

Death

[edit]

The death of Elizabeth "Lizzie" Sewall, the model for Beth in Little Women, on March 14, 1858, made Abba depressed and sad. Nineteen years after Lizzie's death, Abba herself died in November 1877. Louisa wrote in her journal: "I never wish her back, but a great warmth seems gone out of life... She was so loyal, tender, and true, life was hard for her and no one knew all she had to bear but her children." Abba is buried in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord alongside her husband and three of her daughters.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Alcott, Louisa May". Archived from the original on 2007-02-03. Retrieved 2007-04-24. A biography of Louisa May Alcott that includes several details about Abigail May Alcott
  2. ^ "Bronson and Abigail Alcott". Archived from the original on 2007-05-15. Retrieved 2007-04-24. Bronson and Abigail Alcott
  3. ^ [1] Archived 2018-11-06 at the Wayback Machine Abigail May Alcott Text
  4. ^ "Abigail May Alcott". Archived from the original on 2007-04-04. Retrieved 2007-04-24. On Abigail May Alcott
  5. ^ Scharnhorst, Gary. Literary Eats. McFarland. p. 6.
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