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Marcia Averell Starkweather


Other Name:
Marcia Averell
Gender:
Female
Born:
July 23, 1796
Died:
October 3, 1858
Home Town:
Cooperstown, NY
Later Residences:
New York, NY
Marriage(s):
Samuel S. Starkweather (May 1814)
Biographical Notes:
Marcia Averell Starkweather, the oldest child of James Averell and Marcy Holt Averell, attended the Litchfield Female Academy from 1811 until 1813. A year after completing her studies she married Samuel S. Starkweather, a lawyer in New York City. During their marriage Marcia and Samuel had two children. She died at her daugther's in Franklin, Indiana in 1858.
Quotes:
"This last week some of the Young Ladies transgressed the rules of the School so much and was seen walking with the Gentlemen several times during the week, and by that means we lost our Levee as well as our Saturday's and Monday's Hollerdays; all that we have to comfort ourselves with, is to try to behave well this week, so as not to lost it the next."
Written to William Averell, September 12, 1812
Additional Notes:
Marcia's father, James Averell, was an original settler of Cooperstown, New York, and in 1795 he was a founder of Otsego Academy.

Education
Years at LFA:
1811-1813

Related Objects and Documents
In the Ledger:
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:
1811 List of Subscribers, in Ist Vol. I "Universal History" (Vanderpoel, Emily Noyes. Chronicles of A Pioneer School From 1792 to 1833. Cambridge, MA: The University Press, 1903).

John Pierce Brace, "History of My Poetry" (Litchfield Historical Society - Litchfield Female Academy Collection).
Secondary Sources:
Avery, Clara A. The Averell-Averill-Avery Family of Ipswich, MA. In Two Volumes, Vol. 1. Press of Evangelical Publishing House, 1906. Accessed at https://ia600302.us.archive.org/26/items/averellaverillav01aver/averellaverillav01aver.pdf on November 21, 2023

Cooper, James Fenimore, et al. A History of Cooperstown. Freeman's Journal Co., 1929.

Starkweather, Robert, A brief genealogical history of Robert Starkweather of Roxbury and Ipswich, Massachusetts, Auburn, N.Y. : Press of Knapp, Peck & Thomson, 1904 accessed at https://archive.org/details/briefgenealogica00star/page/128/mode/2up?q=%22samuel+starkweather%22 November 21, 2023

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