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Idea Strong
Gender:
Female
Born:
1775
Died:
1804
Home Town:
Litchfield, CT
Later Residences:
Middlebury, VT
Biographical Notes:
After attending the Female Academy, Idea became an assistant and full teacher at the school.
In 1800, the leading men of Middlebury, VT, who were acquainted with the Litchfield Female Academy, asked Sarah Pierce to advise them in the creation of a similar school. Pierce recommended Idea form the school and traveled to Middlebury with her to advise on the institution's creation. Idea based the curiculum of the Middlebury Female Academy entirely on the Litchfield Female Academy.
Just two years after it's creation, the Middlebury Female Academy held a subscription to erect an academy building. The school enrolled pupils from across Vermont and upstate New York. Idea Strong died however soon afterwards in 1804. The school was taken over by Emma Hart, who later married Dr. John ...
[more]
In 1800, the leading men of Middlebury, VT, who were acquainted with the Litchfield Female Academy, asked Sarah Pierce to advise them in the creation of a similar school. Pierce recommended Idea form the school and traveled to Middlebury with her to advise on the institution's creation. Idea based the curiculum of the Middlebury Female Academy entirely on the Litchfield Female Academy.
Just two years after it's creation, the Middlebury Female Academy held a subscription to erect an academy building. The school enrolled pupils from across Vermont and upstate New York. Idea Strong died however soon afterwards in 1804. The school was taken over by Emma Hart, who later married Dr. John ...
[more]
Quotes:
"The early inhabitants, in their zeal to render this an eligible place for acquiring an education, were careful to make provision for a Female Seminary of high rank. Accordingly in 1800 they established a Seminary, under the superintendence of Miss Idea Strong. Her school acquired such celebrity, and was so numerously attended from distant places, that it was deemed necessary to erect a building for her accommodation. A subscription was opened for the purpose, in Jan, 1803. Before the expiration of the year, the building was completed, and the Female School removed to it."
Merrill, Thomas Abbot, Semicentennial Sermon, Containing a History of Middlebury, Vt., Delivered, Dec. 3, 1840: Being the First Thanksgiving Day, After the Expiration of Half a Century from the Organization of the Congregational Church, Sept. 5, 1790 ...
[more]
Merrill, Thomas Abbot, Semicentennial Sermon, Containing a History of Middlebury, Vt., Delivered, Dec. 3, 1840: Being the First Thanksgiving Day, After the Expiration of Half a Century from the Organization of the Congregational Church, Sept. 5, 1790 ...
[more]
Education
Years at LFA:
1800
Profession / Service
Profession:
Educator
Immediate Family (Why only immediate family?)
- Ruth Paterson Strong
Mother - Jedediah Strong
Father
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:
Vanderpoel, Emily Noyes. Chronicles of A Pioneer School From 1792 To 1833. Cambridge, MA: The University Press, 1903, 294.
Secondary Sources:
Merrill, Thomas Abbot, Semicentennial Sermon, Containing a History of Middlebury, Vt., Delivered, Dec. 3, 1840: Being the First Thanksgiving Day, After the Expiration of Half a Century from the Organization of the Congregational Church, Sept. 5, 1790 (Google eBook) E. Maxham, 1841, 92 pages.
Swfit, Samuel. The History of the Town of Middlebury in the County of Addison, Vermont. Middlebury, VT: A.H. Copeland, 1859.
Swfit, Samuel. The History of the Town of Middlebury in the County of Addison, Vermont. Middlebury, VT: A.H. Copeland, 1859.
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