Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward was an early feminist American author and intellectual who challenged traditional Christian beliefs of the afterlife, challenged womens traditional roles in marriage and family, and advocated clothing reform for women.

Elizabeth was born in Andover, Massachusetts to American Congregational minister Austin Phelps and Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. Her baptismal name was Mary Gray Phelps, after a close friend of her mothers. Her mother, Elizabeth , wrote the Kitty Brown books under the pen name H. Trusta. Her brother, Moses Stuart Phelps, was born in 1849. Her mother was the eldest daughter of Moses Stuart, the eminent president of Andover Theological Seminary. Her mother was intermittentantly ill for most of her adult life and died of brain fever shortly after the birth of their third child, Amos, on November 20, 1852, Eight year old Mary Gray asked to be renamed in honor of her mother.

Source: Wikipedia