SUFFER AND GROW STRONG: THE LIFE OF ELLA GERTRUDE CLANTON THOMAS , 1934-1907 by CAROLYN CURRY
Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas was an intelligent, spirited woman born in 1834 to one of the wealthiest families in Georgia. She kept a diary for forty-one years of her life before, during, and after the Civil War filled thirteen hand-written volumes with 4 Read more
Ella Gertrude Thomas’ father recognized her love of learning and sent her to the first college for women in America, Wesleyan Female College in Macon, Georgia. After college graduation in 1851, she married her Princeton-educated husband in 1852. With the coming of the Civil War and its aftermath, her life changed forever. Thomas experienced loss of wealth, bankruptcy, the death of loved ones, serious illness, and devastating family strife. She gave birth to ten children and saw four of them die. In 1893, Thomas left Augusta and moved to Atlanta where she became active in the Womens Christian Temperance Union and the Suffrage Movement. In 1899 she was elected president of the Georgia Woman Suffrage Association.
Carolyn Curry holds a BA in English from Agnes Scott College and MA and PhD degrees in History from Georgia State University. She has taught at the Westminster Schools in Atlanta and the University of Kentucky. Curry is the founder and chair of Women Alone Together, a non-profit foundation created to meet the needs of women who are alone in our culture. Curry resides in Atlanta, Georgia (from jacket flap). Hardcover 249 pp