Eunice Powers Cutter facts for kids

Eunice Powers Cutter (born October 16, 1819 – died May 10, 1893) was an American teacher and writer. She was very active in the movement to end slavery, known as the Abolitionist movement. Eunice also wrote one of the most popular children's textbooks about the human body before the Civil War.

She was born and grew up in Massachusetts. After her education, she became a teacher in 1843. Later, she helped her husband write anatomy textbooks for universities. Eunice also gave talks about health to women's groups. In the mid-1850s, she published her own anatomy textbooks for younger students. Around 1856 or 1857, her family moved to Kansas. There, they worked with John Brown to make sure Kansas became a free state (meaning slavery would not be allowed).

When the Civil War began, Eunice returned to Massachusetts. She helped organize groups called Soldier's Aid Societies. These groups prepared supplies for soldiers and hospitals. Her husband and step-daughter even worked in army hospitals during the war. After the war, she helped update her husband's textbooks. She continued this work even after he passed away in 1872. In the 1870s and 1880s, she wrote histories of her hometown, Warren, Massachusetts, and Worcester County, Massachusetts. Eunice Powers Cutter died in 1893. For a long time, people mostly remembered her for her anti-slavery work. However, in 1992, a scientist named Elizabeth Wagner Reed helped bring attention to her important contributions to science.

Early Life and Education

Eunice Nye Powers was born on October 16, 1819. Her parents, Eunice (Haskell) and Chester Powers, lived in Warren, Massachusetts. Her father made woolen products. Eunice's mother died when she was young. Her older brother, Daniel, helped with her education.

She studied in different towns like Monson, Westfield, and New Haven, Connecticut. In 1843, she came back to Warren. She became the main teacher, or precept, at the Quaboag Seminary. On December 10, 1843, she married Dr. Calvin Cutter. Calvin was a widower; his first wife had passed away. He had a young daughter named Carrie. Eunice and Calvin later had two sons, John Clarence and Walter Powers Cutter. Sadly, Walter died at age fourteen.

Career and Activism

From 1848 to 1857, Eunice traveled with her husband. They gave talks to women's groups across New England about health. Her husband, Calvin, lectured to schools and colleges in many states. He taught about anatomy (the body's structure), physiology (how the body works), and hygiene (staying clean and healthy).

Calvin published a textbook called Anatomy and Physiology in 1846. It was very popular and reprinted many times. Eunice helped him update it in 1848 and 1852. Eunice published her first book, Human and Comparative Physiology, in the early 1850s. While her husband wrote for university students, Eunice's book was for children.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction in Wisconsin, Hiram A. Wright, praised her book. He said it was "of the highest importance" for schools. It helped 12-year-old students learn about their own bodies and how to stay healthy. Her book was updated in 1854 and reprinted in 1855. It had four parts:

• Part one: The systems for blood, digestion, breathing, and speaking.
• Part two: The nervous system.
• Part three: Bones, muscles, and skin.
• Part four: A review with questions and answers.

The New York Evangelist newspaper said her book was clear and useful for schools. It had simple pictures and explained basic health principles.

Fighting for Freedom in Kansas

In 1857, Eunice and her family moved to Kansas. They were very involved in the American abolitionist movement, which worked to end slavery. They were friends with John Brown, a famous anti-slavery leader. The Cutters wanted Kansas to join the United States as a free state, where slavery would be illegal.

Some reports from newspapers, even into the 1930s, said that Eunice made cartridges (ammunition) for the Battle of Osawatomie. This battle happened on August 30, 1856. While some sources say she didn't go to Kansas until 1857, others suggest she was there in 1856. During her time in Kansas, she wrote articles. One long article, "The Missouri River Pirates," was published in the Worcester Spy in 1856. It was also reprinted in another newspaper, the National Anti-Slavery Standard. After Kansas became a free state in January 1861, Eunice shared the good news with friends in Chicago. Then, she returned to Massachusetts.

Supporting Soldiers During the Civil War

When the Civil War started, Eunice organized branches of the Soldier's Aid Society across Massachusetts. With her step-daughter, Carrie, she helped prepare supplies for soldiers. They provided all the hospital supplies for an important army trip. This trip, led by General Thomas W. Sherman, aimed to capture Fort Walker on Hilton Head Island. They also fully equipped the 21st Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.

Calvin, Eunice's husband, joined the 21st Infantry as a surgeon in October 1861. He prepared to sail with the Burnside's North Carolina Expedition. This mission was to blockade (block off) ports along the Outer Banks coastline. Carrie, Eunice's step-daughter, asked to stay with her father. She was allowed to join him at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Then, she served on a ship called the SS Northern, which was going to Roanoke Island. When the Battle of Roanoke Island began, Carrie helped her father care for the wounded soldiers. The regiment fought again in March 1862 at the Battle of New Berne. Carrie again helped the wounded, but she caught typhoid fever and sadly died on April 24, 1862.

While her husband and step-daughter were serving, Eunice continued her work with the Soldier's Aid Society. However, after hearing about Carrie's death, she stopped her direct involvement. In June 1863, Calvin suffered from severe heat stroke. This caused him ongoing health problems. He left his army job after the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House in 1864 and returned home. After that, the couple worked together to update Calvin's popular textbook. It was published as New Analytic Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene in 1870.

After 1871, Eunice took full charge of updating Calvin's work. Her son, John, who was studying to become a doctor, helped her. Calvin died in 1872. However, the New Analytic Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene was revised and republished by J. B. Lippincott & Co. in 1871, 1873, and 1874. A professor named John A. Nietz said that the Cutters' textbooks were "the most widely used" school books before 1900. This was because they updated them often and made them easy for students and teachers to use. In 1879, Eunice published a history of her hometown, Warren. The next year, she started working on two histories of Worcester County, which were published after 1880.

Death and Legacy

Eunice Powers Cutter passed away on May 10, 1893, in Warren, Massachusetts. For many years after her death, people mainly remembered her for her involvement with John Brown's anti-slavery efforts in Kansas. When her son John died, he gave land in Warren to be a children's park. He wanted it to be a memorial for his entire family.

Eunice's important contributions to science were largely forgotten until the 1900s. In 1992, a geneticist named Elizabeth Wagner Reed wrote a book called American Women in Science before the Civil War. In it, she shared the stories of twenty-two women who published scientific works before the Civil War, including Eunice Powers Cutter. This helped bring Eunice's scientific work back into public knowledge.

Works

• Human and Comparative Physiology (early 1850s)
• Human and Comparative Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene (revised 1855)
• History of the Town of Warren (1879)
• Histories of Worcester County (after 1880)