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Elizabeth Burr Mason


Other Name:
Elizabeth Burr; Betsey Burr; Betsey Mason
Gender:
Female
Born:
Unknown
Died:
March 20, 1822
Home Town:
New Haven, CT
Later Residences:
Medina, OH
Marriage(s):
Stephen Mason (February 1818)
Biographical Notes:
Elizabeth Burr Mason of New Haven, Connecticut was the daughter of Josiah and Mary Burr. In 1815 and 1816 Elizabeth travelled to Litchfield, Connecticut where she attended the Litchfield Female Academy. While studying at Ms. Pierce's school she boarded with the Beecher family, where she met her husband Stephen Mason. Stephen was boarding with the Beecher's at the same time while studying the ministry with Rev. Lyman Beecher. According to newspaper accounts, Elizabeth and Stephen were married in the Beecher home in 1818. Lyman's daughter Catharine later wrote a poem in celebration of the wedding, dating it 1816. After their marriage the couple later relocated to Medina, Ohio and had one child. Betsey died in 1822 in Washington, Connecticut.
Additional Notes:
Betsy Burr is mentioned as an orphan cousin who lived with the Beechers in Litchfield (Beecher, Lyman. Autobiography, correspondence, etc., of Lyman Beecher Volume 1.).

Education
Years at LFA:
1815-1816
Room and Board:
Boarded with the Lyman Beecher family

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:
A "Miss Burr" is mentioned in Caroline Chester's 1815 diary (Vanderpoel, Emily Noyes. Chronicles of A Pioneer School From 1792 to 1833. Cambridge, MA: The University Press, 1903).

A "Miss Burr" is mentioned in Charlotte Maria Smith's 1816 diary. This entry likely refers to Elizabeth Burr Mason (Connecticut Historical Society).
Secondary Sources:
Commercial Advertiser, Matrimonial Notices, New York, New York, February 26, 1818, Page 2.

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