Eliza was born on 24 Mar 1817 in Auburn, Cayuga, New York. Her parents were Stedman Atherton (1791-1856) and Deborah Ward Atherton (1796-1866).
When she was nine years old, her family returned to Cavendish, Vermont and the Atherton family farmstead willed to her father at the death of his father Jonathan. Her grandfather's request was that Stedman would live there and care for his mother.
At the age of sixteen, Eliza's mother's health failed and she spend the next four years caring for her and the family. She later enrolled in The New England Academy in Cavendish, but could only attend for one term.
In 1837, at twenty years old, Eliza married Cyrus Aiken. They decided to move to Grand Detour, Illinois, where they began raising a family. Pioneer life was very difficult. An outbreak of cholera resulted in the death of all four of her young boys in 1852.
From 1850 through 1860 the Census shows Nancy and Cyrus living in Peoria, Peoria, Illinois, United States. (In 1850 Eliza is recorded as Nancy E. and their last name as Aikin.) [1][2]
Household | Role | Sex | Age | Birthplace | Occupation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1850 | |||||
Cyrus Aikin | head | M | 44 | New Hampshire | farmer |
Nancy E Aikin | wife | F | 31 | New York | |
Charles Luton | M | 31 | England | farmer | |
1860 | |||||
Cyrus Aiken | head | M | 54 | New Hampshire | laborer |
Eliza N Aiken | wife | F | 44 | New York |
In 1856 Cyrus had a severe illness which resulted in him becoming mentally ill. Eliza's father died on 16 Mar 1856, roughly two weeks after he moved Cyrus to Vermont to live with he and his wife on the farmstead. Eliza worked for four years, going from house to house as a domestic nurse to cover the medical bills and support her mother.
When the Civil War broke out, Eliza nursed soldiers in the tents set up near Peoria. A measles outbreak at the Camp near Springfield caused the head surgeon Major Niglas, of the 6th Regiment, Illinois Cavalry to go to Peoria to find nurses to help him care for the soldiers. Eliza was willing, however said she needed another woman to accompany her. Mary A. Sturges, applied for the job.
In November 1861, Eliza and Mary went with the Regiment to Shawnee Town. Here the two nurses became known as "Aunt Lizzie" and "Mother Sturges." The nurses worked shifts of six hours on and six hours off, caring for up to eighty patients each day throughout the winter.
The nurses moved with the Regiment to Paducah, Kentucky and worked at St. Mark's Hospital, where Eliza was the head nurse. In late July, the hospital of the 6th Illinois was ordered to Memphis, Tennessee. The nearly three hundred wounded still needing care were loaded on to a steamer and cared for by the head surgeon and nurses, until he was forced to return home and they were left in charge. Part of the way to Memphis they were escorted by a large gun-boat with twelve cannons. In Memphis, Eliza took on the role of doctor, prescribing medicine and treatment, until the doctor arrived ten days later.
When the regiment was ordered South and into Confederate territory, Surgeon Niglas found them roles at Ovington Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee where they nursed soldiers for all Regiments. Eliza remained at the hospital in charge of Ward A, housing 100 patients, until early January 1863. When there was no more room for patients at Ovington, Eliza and Mary were ordered to fit up Adams Block Hospital with twelve hundred cots. Eliza was installed as head nurse.
In Feb 1864 when the 6th Regiment was the lead Regiment of an invasion force leaving for Mississippi, hundreds of soldiers came to say good bye to Aunt Lizzie. When the war ended and the hospitals closed, Eliza, with the help of Mary Sturges, returned to her home in Peoria. She was ill, and took weeks to recover.
Eliza began her post war missionary work in Chicago at the Erring Woman's Refuge, remaining there for two years. There she visited unhappy, sinful women and encouraged them to return with her to the refuge, and a better life. At the same time, she established a "Mother's Meeting", where she taught poor women sewing, religion, and caring for their children.
In 1867, she joined the Second Baptist Church of Chicago and worked as a missionary until her death in 1906, beginning as Sunday-school missionary and expanding to the church's minister to the sick and poor.
In 1870, Eliza (census transcribed as Elizabeth) is living in the home of Welcome Gavin and his family in Chicago, Illinios. (Welcome is incorrectly transcribed as 13, should be 63) [3]
Household | Role | Sex | Age | Birthplace | Occupation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Welcome Garvin | head | M | 63 | New Hampshire | painter |
Caroline Garvin | wife | F | 61 | New Hampshire | at home |
James L Garvin | son | M | 31 | New Hampshire | machinist |
Mary E Garvin | daughter | F | 29 | New York | keeping house |
Abby Payne | F | 54 | New York | at home | |
Elizabeth Aiken | boarder | F | 54 | New York | missionary |
In 1900, Eliza is a boarder in a rooming house run by Kate Grady in Chicago, Illinois. She is one of 13 boarders (Only a few are listed here). [4]
Household | Role | Sex | Age | Birthplace | Occupation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kate Grady | head | F | 38 | Canada | runs rooming house |
Margaret Grady | mother | F | 67 | Ireland | |
Rose Grady | sister | F | 24 | Canada | clerk |
Rose Coyne | boarder | F | 23 | Canada | clerk |
Obit Swartz | boarder | M | 55 | Kentucky | carpenter |
Eliza Aiken | boarder | F | 83 | New York |
She passed away on 17 Jan 1906 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois and is buried in Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum in Chicago. [5]
The following tribute from 1906 is from the Christian Herald:
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A > Atherton | A > Aiken > Eliza Nancy (Atherton) Aiken
Categories: Nurses, United States Civil War | Auburn, New York | Chicago, Illinois | Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum, Chicago, Illinois