Mary Wilder White Foote
Mary Wilder White Foote was a well-educated, socially engaged woman known for her intelligence, prolific letter writing, and close friendships with the Peabody sisters and Nathaniel Hawthorne before her untimely death at 47.
Mary Wilder White Foote
Burial Location: Chapel Ave. Lot #212, Grave 9
Mary Wilder White was born on December 12, 1810. Her parents were Judge Daniel Appleton White and Mary Wilder White. They lived in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Mary was only six months old when her mother died. In spite of this early tragedy, she learned the alphabet by the age of two and began writing early. She and her sister Elizabeth, known as Eliza, went to Miss Buckminster’s school in Brookline, Massachusetts. Mary was known not only for her intelligence, but also for her kind and friendly personality. She had a talent for acting and for public speaking.
When the White family moved to Salem, Massachusetts, Mary became a close friend of all the Peabody sisters, especially Sophia Peabody. She was a prolific letter writer, especially after her sister married and moved to Springfield, Massachusetts. Mary’s letters were mostly about events in the daily lives of herself and her friends, lectures and social activities attended, and her deep religious faith. Later, she would write about the births and deaths of her children, her interest in the Brook Farm experiment, abolitionist activities, and the books she read.
She married Caleb Horton Foote III on October 21, 1835. The couple had six children, only three lived to adulthood. As owner and publisher of The Salem Gazette, Caleb Foote was a prominent citizen of Salem. The couple had an active social life. Both were friendly with Nathaniel Hawthorne and their home was one of the few he visited. Mary Foote was very happy to learn of the engagement of her friend Sophia Peabody to Nathaniel Hawthorne. The friends went often to the home of their mutual friend Susan Burley to attend her salon.
Tragically, Mary Wilder White Foote died suddenly on December 24, 1857, at the age of 47. She was buried at Harmony Grove Cemetery on Chapel Avenue Lot 212 Grave 9.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Sources Consulted:
- Find a Grave.
- Moore, Margaret B. The Salem World of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Colombia and London: University of Missouri Press, 1998.
- Tileston, Mary Wilder (ed.). Caleb and Mary Wilder Foote, Reminiscences and Letters. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1918.
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