Ellen Swallow Richards (1842-1911)

摘要

Ellen Henrietta Swallow was born on December 3, 1842 on a farm near the village of Dunstable, in rural northern Massachusetts. She was the only child of well-educated but relatively poor New England parents, Peter Swallow and Fanny Gould Taylor. Her father divided his time between teaching and farming having inherited half of his father's farm. Ellen received most of her early education from them at home. Her life was directed to being helpful and assisting others as expected in that puritanical region of the US. However, she focussed on new ways of doing it with a passion for usefulness and a longing for pioneering. When she was 16 years old her father sold his farm and moved to a general store in nearby Westford so as to raise the money for his daughter's education. Ellen worked in the store to make her contribution to this. Her work serving behind the counter grew to include the bookkeeping and purchase of supplies.