Louisa S. McCord
Louisa S. McCord was a notable figure born in 1810 to an affluent South Carolina family. As the daughter of prominent politician Langdon Cheves, she grew up in a household that emphasized education; however, many of her intellectual interests, including mathematics and politics, were generally deemed inappropriate for women of her era. After her mother’s passing, McCord took on significant household responsibilities, remaining unmarried until the age of thirty when she wed David McCord, a widower with thirteen children. Unconventionally for her time, she retained her personal property rights after marriage and focused on her writing career, producing essays and poetry, including her collection *My Dreams*. Despite being a proponent of traditional gender roles, her own life choices often contradicted these beliefs. During the Civil War, she actively contributed to the Southern cause by leading the Civil War Soldier's Relief Association and managing a hospital. Following the war, she moved to Ontario, Canada, to avoid allegiance to the new U.S. government but later returned to the United States, where she lived until her death in 1879. McCord's life reflects the complexities of women's roles in the 19th century, particularly regarding education, property rights, and social expectations.
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Louisa S. McCord
Author
- Born: December 3, 1810
- Birthplace: Charleston, South Carolina
- Died: November 23, 1879
- Place of death: Charleston, South Carolina
Biography
Louisa S. McCord was born into an aristocratic South Carolina family in 1810. She was one of fourteen children, six of whom survived to adulthood. Her father, Langdon Cheves, was a prominent politician who served as president of the Bank of the United States. He was also a wealthy planter and owned four plantations and more than three hundred slaves.
McCord learned mathematics and Latin at home from private tutors and then attended a private girl’s school in Philadelphia. She had great enthusiasm for all things intellectual. However, most of her intellectual pursuits, such as math, economics, and politics, were not considered proper pastimes for women of her time. After her mother died, McCord was responsible for the household and the care of her younger siblings. McCord remained in her father’s home attending to these responsibilities until the age of thirty, when she met and married David McCord.
David McCord, a widower, was thirteen years her senior and had thirteen children from his first marriage. David and Louisa McCord had three additional children. As a married woman, McCord became the mistress of her husband’s plantation. However, she refused to turn over her own properties and slaveholdings to her husband and instead kept her personal property rights. This was atypical for the time, since most women were required to turn over their landholdings to their husband at the time of marriage.
As a mother, McCord remained emotionally detached from her own children and refused to nurture her stepchildren. Instead, she left the children in the care of nannies while she pursued her passion for writing. In 1848, McCord translated an essay for her husband about plantation crop tariffs. Her skillful translation attracted the attention of publishers, who solicited her essays on social and political issues. This initial success sparked McCord’s literary career and in addition to publishing numerous essays, she began writing poetry. She eventually published a collection of poetry titled My Dreams (1848).
Although McCord was an emancipated woman, her writings primarily supported the subordinate roles of slaves and women. She was often quoted as saying, “Woman was made for duty, not for fame.” These types of sentiments were contradictory to many aspects of her own life, such as maintaining her own landholdings and choosing her writing career over the care of her home and children.
In 1855, after the death of her husband, McCord assumed the presidency of the Civil War Soldier’s Relief Association. She also became the matron of a Civil War hospital and worked tirelessly to support the Southern cause. After the Union victory, McCord fled to Ontario, Canada. She remained in Canada for several years refusing to pledge allegiance to the new United States government. In her later years, McCord eventually returned to the United States, where she lived with her daughter in Charleston, South Carolina. She died in 1879 at the age of sixty- eight.