Name Martha Ramsay | ||
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Died 1811, Charleston, South Carolina, United States | ||
Martha Laurens Ramsay, (November 3, 1759 – June 10, 1811) was an eighteenth-century woman from Charleston, South Carolina in the United States whose diary and private letters were published by her husband, David Ramsay, under the title "Memoirs of the Life of Martha Laurens Ramsay" six weeks after her death. The daughter of Henry Laurens, president of the United States Continental Congress and the third wife of politician, historian and physician David Ramsay, her papers chronicle the life of an educated privileged Southern woman during the American Revolution and the founding of the nation.
Contents
Life
Martha Laurens was able to read by age 3.
While her father was serving on a diplomatic mission in England during the American Revolution, he was captured and imprisoned. In 1770 her mother died, and Martha was sent to live with her uncle, James Laurens. She took it upon herself to take responsibility for the "kins-keeping" of the Laurens family; she adopted a niece. In 1775, Martha moved to England with her uncle and his family. However, when the politics became overwhelming, they moved to France. This European sojourn most likely is the reason why Martha’s letters reflect so little on the struggles of the Americans during the American Revolution.
In 1782, Martha's father joined her and the rest of the family in France after his release from prison. Martha spent 1783 and 1784 with her father, assisting him with a cure for his gout
In 1784, she sailed back to Charleston, where she met her father's physician, David Ramsay. Martha and David Ramsay, a prominent physician, married. He also was the author of the first history of South Carolina in the American Revolution. David Ramsay brought financial hardship to the family; Martha's faith was tested, leading her to a sense of religious resignation.
Martha Laurens Ramsay died in 1811 in her hometown of Charleston at the age of 51. She was buried in the congregational churchyard.
Children
Martha Laurens Ramsay and David Ramsay had 11 children within 16 years but only 8 survived childhood. Their children were Eleanor Henry Laurens (1782), Martha H.L. (1789), Frances H.L. (1790), Katharine H.L. (1792), Sabine Elliot (1794), David (1795), Jane Montgomery (1796), James (1797), and 2nd Jane Montgomery (1802).