Caroline Gould (Negus) Hildreth (1814 - 1867)

Born 3 Jan 1814 in Petersham, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States

Ancestors

Wife of Richard Hildreth — married 7 Jun 1845 (to 11 Jul 1865) in Deerfield, Franklin, Massachusetts, United States

Died 18 Aug 1867 at age 53 in Naples, Campania, Italy

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Biography

Birth and Parents

Caroline (Negus) Hildreth was born in Massachusetts.

Caroline, the tenth daughter and youngest of thirteen children of Joel Negus and Bashebah Gould was born on 3 January 1814 at Petersham, Massachusetts.

Professional Artist

Caroline (Negus) Hildreth was a professional artist who had a studio in Boston from the 1840s until 1861. She taught art and was known for her crayon portraits. Her portraits include those of Elizabeth Sewall Alcott; Bronson Alcott; Asiel Abercrombie; Ralph Waldo Emerson; her husband Richard Hildreth, john Greenleaf Whittier, and possibly Elizabeth and Abigail Alcott.^[1]

Ralph Waldo Emerson ca 1844 miniature by Caroline (Negus) Hildreth

Marriage and Children

Caroline married lawyer, author, journalist, abolitionist Richard Hildreth, the son of Rev. Hosea and Sarah (McLeod) Hildreth on 7 June 1845 at Deerfield, Franklin, Massachusetts.^[2] They had two children born at Boston:

1. Arthur Shelly McLeod Hildreth (b. 1848; d. 25 Nov 1904, Boston, MA)^[3][4]
2. Ernest Angelo Hildreth (b. 1851)

In 1850, Caroline (38 years) and husband Richard (43 years), their son Arthur M. (2 years), Richard's widowed mother Sarah (69 years, incorrectly identified as "Susan") and two servants, Cutte Dolan (19 years, b. Ireland) and Mary Murphy (25 years, b. Ireland) were living at Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts.^[5]

Death and Burial

Caroline Gould (Negus) Hildreth died on 18 August 1867 in her 53rd year at Naples, Città Metropolitana di Napoli, Campania, Italy, and is buried in the Laurel Hill Cemetery at Deerfield, Franklin, Massachusetts.^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2021/01/alcott-portraits-and-almost-forgotten.html
2. ↑ "Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N4CC-KGN : 10 March 2021), Richard Hildreth and Caroline Negus, 7 Jun 1845; citing Deerfield, Franklin, Massachusetts, United States, State Archives, Boston; FHL microfilm 1,428,255.
3. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FH4H-2LY : 10 November 2020), Richard Hildreth in entry for Arthur Hildreth, 25 Nov 1904; citing Death, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 004276199.
4. ↑ "Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915, 1921-1924," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NWJT-BQL : 2 March 2021), Richard Hildreth in entry for Arthur Hildreth, 25 Nov 1904; citing Boston, Massachusetts, 9698, State Archives, Boston; FHL microfilm 2,069,340.
5. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDS6-ZMF : 22 December 2020), Richard Hildreth, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States; citing family , NARA microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
6. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/200990607/caroline-hildreth : accessed 28 February 2022), memorial page for Caroline Negus Hildreth (3 Jan 1814–18 Aug 1867), Find a Grave Memorial ID 200990607, citing Laurel Hill Cemetery, Deerfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts, USA ; Maintained by Barbara Hanno (contributor 47011953).

See Also

• http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2021/01/alcott-portraits-and-almost-forgotten.html
• Mary Fuller, "Caroline Negus-A Woman Deerfield Should Remember," History and Proceedings of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association 1921. https://www.google.com/books/edition/History_and_Proceedings_of_the_Pocumtuck/pIlQAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Mary+Fuller,+Caroline+Negus+pocumtuck&pg=PA541&printsec=frontcover
• Joel Myerson & Leslie Perrin Wilson. "Picturing Emerson: An Iconography." Harvard Library Bulletin 27 (1-2), Spring-Summer 2016. https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/37363343/Picturing%20Emerson.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Acknowledgements

• Biography rewritten with inline sourcing following additional research and photos added by Carol Baldwin on 28 February 2022.