Jane Addams1 essays

Jane Addams1 essays Jane Addams was born in Cedarville, Illinois on September 6, 1860,and the eighth of nine children. Her father, John Addams, was a prosperous miller and local political leader who served for sixteen years as a state senator and fought as an officer in the Civil War, he was a friend of Abraham Jane's mother dies when she was only two. Her father remarried and her new stepmother brought along two new stepbrothers to add to the already large family. With the fact of Jane's mother passing away she was especially devoted to her father, her father became her idol (Jane 1). He taught her tolerance, philanthropy, and strong work ethic (Biography 2). He encouraged her to pursue higher education but not at the cost of losing her femininity and the prospect of marriage and motherhood (Biography 2). She was born Laura Jane Addams and was named after Mrs. Laura Jane Forbes, an intelligent young woman who had taught private school in the village before she married Colonel H.C. Forbes. Soon her siblings were calling her Jenny: for most "Jane's" were "Jenny's" then, so soon after the gala concert tour of Jenny Lind, "the Swedish Nightingale." When Jenny was 2 years old she was still sleeping with her mother, who died while giving birth to her ninth child. This brought great sorrow to the town of Cedarville because Jane's mother was very well liked in the town, usually being the first to the bedside of the sick or invalid and a great comfort to all of the townspeople (Wise, 16). Although Jane's mother lost 4 children at a very young age she had five healthy ones survive. The oldest was Mary, who cared for all the children, then Martha, Webber, Alice, and Jenny the baby of the family (Jane). When their father went to Springfield for the state legislature Mary wrote to him often telling him about the children and the quickly spreading scarlet fever. In one such letter...