Mary C. Wheeler
| Mary Colman Wheeler | |
|---|---|
Mary Colman Wheeler as a young woman
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| Born |
May 15, 1846 Concord, Massachusetts |
| Died | March 10, 1920 (aged 73) Providence, Rhode Island |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Abbot Academy |
| Known for | Education, Painting |
Mary Colman Wheeler (May 15, 1846 – March 10, 1920) was the founder and first head of the Wheeler School in Providence, Rhode Island.
Born in Concord, Massachusetts, on May 15, 1846 to Abiel Heywood Wheeler and Harriet Lincoln, she was the youngest of five children. Concord was at the time of Wheeler's early life a progressive community engaged with Transcendentalism, abolitionism, education reform, and women's rights. Her father Abiel was involved in a local Underground Railroad effort and their family provided refuge to escaped slaves on their way to Canada throughout the 1950s.
Intellectual figures in the community at that time included Amos Bronson Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Horace Mann, Henry David Thoreau, and Ralph Waldo Emerson, among others. Local feminist Margaret Fuller tragically died before Wheeler's time, but the "audacious" woman "left [an] impress on the village" ; Wheeler's ethical and intellectual beliefs were influenced by contact with women such as Mary Moody Emerson and the sisters Elizabeth Peabody, Mary Peabody (Mrs. Horace Mann), and Sophia Peabody (Mrs. Nathaniel Hawthorne).
Wheeler was an enthusiastic artist and took drawing lessons with her friend May Alcott beginning in 1958. Notably, May was youngest sister of writer Louisa May Alcott and inspired the character of Amy March in her novel Little Women.
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