Generic_female
No image available

Frances Brace Bunce


Other Name:
Frances Ann Brace
Gender:
Female
Born:
April 8, 1808
Died:
1838
Home Town:
Hartford, CT
Marriage(s):
James Marvin Bunce (March 15, 1830)
Biographical Notes:
Frances Brace Bunce was the daughter of Thomas Kimberly Brace and Lucy Lee Brace of Hartford, Connecticut. Prior to attending the Litchfield Female Academy from 1822 to 1824, Frances attended Lydia Huntley Sigourney's school in Hartford, Connecticut. She boarded for one year at Sarah Pierce's house after arriving in Litchfield, but found the house too overcrowded and began boarding at Dr. Sheldon's house instead. In 1830 she married James Marvin Bunce, and the couple had three children. Frances later served as the Directress of the Hartford Female Bible Society, taught Sunday school, was secretary of the local Tract Society and secretary of the Hartford Maternal Association. She passed away in 1838.

Education
Years at LFA:
1822-1824
Room and Board:
Boarded with Sarah Pierce and also at Dr. Sheldon's house

Profession / Service
Profession:
Educator; Social Activist
Benevolent and Charitable Organizations:
Tract Society; Hartford Maternal Association

Related Objects and Documents
In the Ledger:
Other:
help The Citation of Attendance provides primary source documentation of the student’s attendance at the Litchfield Female Academy and/or the Litchfield Law School. If a citation is absent, the student is thought to have attended but currently lacks primary source confirmation.

Records for the schools were sporadic, especially in the formative years of both institutions. If instructors kept comprehensive records for the Litchfield Female Academy or the Litchfield Law School, they do not survive. Researchers and staff have identified students through letters, diaries, family histories and genealogies, and town histories as well as catalogues of students printed in various years. Art and needlework have provided further identification of Female Academy Students, and Litchfield County Bar records document a number of Law School students. The history of both schools and the identification of the students who attended them owe credit to the early 20th century research and documentation efforts of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel and Samuel Fisher, and the late 20th century research and documentation efforts of Lynne Templeton Brickley and the Litchfield Historical Society staff.
CITATION OF ATTENDANCE:
"Frances Ann Brace" was found written in lead pencil on the side of a dormer window in the Dr. Sheldon house along with a list of other students who presumably boarded at the house.

Mary L. Wilbor's 1822 Diary. (Vanderpoel, Emily Noyes. Chroicles of A Pioneer School From 1792 To 1833. Cambridge, MA: The University Press, 1903).

1822 Litchfield Female Academy Catalogue published in The Litchfield Eagle on November 25, 1822 (Vanderpoel, Emily Noyes. Chronicles of A Pioneer School From 1792 To 1833. Cambridge, MA: The University Press, 1903).

1823 Litchfield Female Academy Summer Session Catalogue (Vanderpoel, Emily Noyes. More Chronicles of A Pioneer School From 1792 To 1833. Cambridge, MA: The University Press, 1927).

1824 Litchfield ...
[more]
Secondary Sources:
Sigourney, Lydia Huntley. Letters to My Pupils. New York: 1851.

Contact Us

Do you have more information for the Ledger?

If you have family papers, objects, or any other details you would like to share, or if you would like to obtain a copy of an image for publication, please contact us at curator@litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org.