Sarah Ellen Blackwell

Born in Bristol, England, in 1828, she came to the United States as a child and grew up in a family known for reform, education, and public service. Her siblings included Elizabeth Blackwell and Emily Blackwell, and she was educated in part within that unusually accomplished household.

She was drawn early to the arts, studying at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women and later continuing her training in Europe. In Paris she studied design, and in London she studied painting with John Ruskin. She helped support that period abroad by writing letters for Philadelphia newspapers, then returned to New York to open a studio and teach painting and drawing while continuing to write for magazines and newspapers.

Her best-known book is A Military Genius: Life of Anna Ella Carroll (1891), one of the earliest full-length biographies of Carroll. She was also active in the anti-vivisection movement and raised three adopted children on her own, adding a deeply personal note to a life already marked by creative work, public argument, and independence.