Life History

Eunice Foote Portrait (Eunice ... 2024)

Biography

Eunice Foote was born Eunice Newton on July 17, 1819 in Connecticut to Thirza and Isaac Newton Jr., a farmer and entrepreneur (Leonard 1915). She had six sisters and five brothers, and by 1820, the family had moved to Ontario County in New York.

Eunice Newton married lawyer Elisha Foote Jr., born 1809, in 1841. The couple then moved into the historical Elizabeth Cady Stanton House in Seneca Falls, New York. In 1842, she gave birth to her first daughter, Mary, then her second daughter, Augusta, in 1844. In 1860, the family moved to Saratoga Springs, New York (Leonard 1915).

Elisha Foote died in 1883 at the age of 74. Eunice Foote died in the end of September, 1888 at the age of 69 (Leonard 1915).

Emma Willard School Photograph (Emma Willard School (U.S. National Park Service))

Education

Between 1836 and 1838, Foote attended Troy Female Seminary (now known as Emma Willard School), which was a women's preparatory school located in Troy, New York (Perkowitz 2019). Troy Female Seminary was the first secondary school for females in the United States. Students were encouraged attend science classes at the neighbouring Rensselaer School, which Foote attended (Emma ... [date unknown]).

Philanthropy

Throughout her life she was a prominent activist in the US women's movement for universal voting rights, as well as being one of the original signatories of the declaration of sentiments. This signing represented the first woman-organized convention, signifying Foote’s prominent involvement in activating for women's rights. She also published her paper Circumstances affecting the heat of the Sun’s rays to the “American Journal of Science and Arts” in 1856 (Mike B. 2020).

The Declaration of Sentiments (Saravanan 2021)

Eunice Foote's Experiments (Saravanan 2021)

Fun Facts

She is a distant relative of the infamous Sir Isaac Newton (Leonard 1915)
She enjoyed landscape and portrait painting (Leonard 1915)

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