Lidian Jackson Emerson

Lidian Jackson Emerson (born Lydia Jackson; September 20, 1802 – November 13, 1892) was the second wife of American essayist, lecturer, poet and leader of the nineteenth century Transcendentalism movement, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and mother of his four children. An intellectual, she was involved in many social issues of her day, advocating for the abolition of slavery, the rights of women and of Native Americans and the welfare of animals, and campaigned for her famous husband to take a public stand on the causes in which she believed. Biography Early life She was born as Lydia Jackson, the fifth child of Charles Jackson and Lucy Jackson (née Cotton). She was raised in austerity; by the time she was orphaned at sixteen, two of her siblings had also died, and Lydia was sent to live with relatives. At age 19 she developed scarlet fever, which was judged the source of her lifelong poor health. Her head was said to be "hot ever after." Chronic digestive problems, coupled with gastric and epigastric pain, discouraged her from eating, to the point that she became quite thin. She dosed herself with calomel, a commonly used mercury-containing preparation now known to damage health. The terror of her childhood haunted her all her life. Marriage