Born 25 December 1821 in Oxford, Worcester County, Massachusetts.[1] Daughter of Stephen Barton and Sarah (Sally) Stone.[2] Began teaching, 1839; founded a school for millworkers and their children, 1845, and established the first free public school in Bordentown, Burlington County, New Jersey, 1852.[3] Moved to Washington, DC; one of the first women to serve as a clerk in the United States Patent Office, 1854–1857.[4] Nursed wounded soldiers and facilitated their care during the American Civil War; collected and delivered supplies to battlefields, 1861–1865.[5] Led postwar search efforts for missing soldiers, 1865–1868; successfully petitioned Congress for funds, February 1866.[6] Met Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony; aligned herself with the suffrage movement, 1867.[7] While in Europe in 1869, learned about the International Red Cross; provided aid during the Franco-Prussian War, 1870–1871.[8] Founder and president of the American Red Cross, 1881–1904.[9] Attended a reception for the National Council of Women in Washington, DC, 21 February 1891; Emmeline B. Wells and Utah delegates were also in attendance.[10] Emmeline B. Wells visited her home in Glen Echo, Montgomery County, Maryland, 1901.[11] Spent an evening hosting Emmeline B. Wells and other Utah delegates while they were in Washington, DC, to attend the First Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, February 1902; Barton wrote a verse to Wells and the Utah delegation titled “Adieu to My Beloved Friends of Utah.”[12] Died 12 April 1912 in Glen Echo.[13]
[1] Oxford, MA, Vital Records, 1714–1894, microfilm 754010, Births/Marriages/Deaths/Intentions 1714–1866, p. 598, 25 Dec. 1821, FamilySearch Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City (FamilySearch Library hereafter FSL).
[2] Oxford, MA, Vital Records, 1714–1894, microfilm 754010, Births/Marriages/Deaths/Intentions 1714–1866, p. 598, 25 Dec. 1821, FSL; Oxford, MA, microfilm 859254, Marriages and Intentions of Marriage, 1799–1839, p. 8, 22 Apr. 1804, FSL; Vital Records of Oxford, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (Franklin P. Rice, 1905), 109; “Sarah ‘Sally’ Stone Barton,” North Cemetery, Oxford, Worcester Co., MA, Memorial ID 20888999, Find a Grave, accessed 24 June 2024, findagrave.com.
[3] Merle Curti, “Barton, Clara,” in Edward T. James, ed., Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971), 1:104; Elizabeth Brown Pryor, Clara Barton, Professional Angel (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1987), 20, 28–30.
[4] Curti, “Barton, Clara,” in James, Notable American Women, 1:104; Percy H. Epler, The Life of Clara Barton (Macmillan, 1930), 25–26; Pryor, Clara Barton, 56–64.
[5] H. E. S., “Barton, Clara,” in Allen Johson, ed., Dictionary of American Biography, vol. 2 (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1929), 19; William E. Barton, The Life of Clara Barton: Founder of the American Red Cross (Houghton Mifflin, 1922), 1:121–300.
[6] Curti, “Barton, Clara,” in James, Notable American Women, 1:105; Clara Barton, Memorial to 39th Congress, 1 Feb. 1866, available at United States House of Representatives, History, Art, and Archives, history.house.gov.
[7] Pryor, Clara Barton, 150–151.
[8] Barton, Life of Clara Barton, 2:1, 3–8, 10–32.
[9] Barton, Life of Clara Barton, 2:120–172, 300.
[10] Emmeline B. Wells, Diary, 22 Feb. 1891, Diaries of Emmeline B. Wells, Church Historian’s Press, churchhistorianspress.org/emmeline-b-wells; M. Y. R., “A Glimpse of Washington,” Woman’s Exponent (Salt Lake City), 1 Mar. 1891, 132.
[11] Wells, Diary, 2 Mar. 1901.
[12] Wells, Diary, 12 and 28 Feb. 1902; Ida Husted Harper, ed., The History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 5 (National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1922), 23, 25, 31; Susa Young Gates, “The Red Cross,” Relief Society Magazine, Sept. 1917, 496–497.
[13] Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911–1915, microfilm 2399101, Deaths, 1912, vol. 79, p. 288, 12 Apr. 1912, FSL.