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Abigail Bradley Hyde


Other Name:
Abigail Bradley; Abbey Bradley
Gender:
Female
Born:
September 20, 1799
Died:
1848
Home Town:
Stockbridge, MA
Later Residences:
Salisbury, CT
Bolton, CT
Ellington, CT
Wayland, MA
Beckett, MA
Vernon, CT
Marriage(s):
Lavius Hyde (September 28, 1818)
Biographical Notes:
Abigail Bradley Hyde was the daughter of Asahel Ives Bradley and Abigail Rogers Bradley. Registered from Stockbridge, Massachusetts, she attended the Litchfield Female Academy in 1813 and 1814. While in Litchfield, Abigail boarded at Mrs Edward's house. In 1818 she married Lavius Hyde, a minister and educator from Franklin, Connecticut. During their marriage Abigail and Lavius had eight children. She also taught with her husband in Connecticut and Massachusetts and was an active abolitionist. She was considered a talented poet, several of which were used by Leonard Bacon for his compilations of hymns. Following her husband's death, she divided her time between four surviving children.
Additional Notes:
The name "A Bradley" is signed after an inscription in Elizabeth Caltin's 1813-1815 memory book (Litchfield Female Academy - Litchfield Female Academy collection). This inscription could have been written either by Abigial Bradley Hyde or Amanda Bradley Bancroft - sisters who attended the academy.

Education
Years at LFA:
1813-1814
Room and Board:
Boarded with Mrs. Edwards

Profession / Service
Profession:
Educator; Social Activist

Related Objects and Documents
In the Ledger:
help The Citation of Attendance provides primary source documentation of the student’s attendance at the Litchfield Female Academy and/or the Litchfield Law School. If a citation is absent, the student is thought to have attended but currently lacks primary source confirmation.

Records for the schools were sporadic, especially in the formative years of both institutions. If instructors kept comprehensive records for the Litchfield Female Academy or the Litchfield Law School, they do not survive. Researchers and staff have identified students through letters, diaries, family histories and genealogies, and town histories as well as catalogues of students printed in various years. Art and needlework have provided further identification of Female Academy Students, and Litchfield County Bar records document a number of Law School students. The history of both schools and the identification of the students who attended them owe credit to the early 20th century research and documentation efforts of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel and Samuel Fisher, and the late 20th century research and documentation efforts of Lynne Templeton Brickley and the Litchfield Historical Society staff.
CITATION OF ATTENDANCE:
"Rules for the School and Homes" and Names of the Young Ladies belonging to Miss Pierce's School in the Summer of 1814 (Litchfield Historical Society - Litchfield Female Academy collection).
Secondary Sources:
Hatfield, Edwin Francis, The Poets of the Church: A Series of Biographical Sketches of Hymn-writers with Notes on Their Hymns, A. D. F. Randolph, 1884.

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