Lydia Huntley Sigourney

SIGOURNEY, Lydia Huntley (née Huntley). b. Norwich, Connecticut, 1 September 1791; d. Hartford, Connecticut, 10 June 1865. The only child of the union of Ezekiel (b.1750) and Zerviah Wentworth Huntley (nda). Known by many as ‘the sweet singer of Hartford,’ Sigourney published anonymously until the mid-1830s when family finances dwindled and she took a more business-like approach to her writing. Her father, who served as the handyman on the estate of Jerusha Talcott Lathrop (1717-1805) in Norwich, Connecticut, encouraged Lydia in her reading and writing. Following Lathrop’s death her nephew, arts patron, Daniel Wadsworth (1771-1848), helped Lydia receive some more advanced schooling in...