Clara Barton- Biography

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Clarissa (Clara) Harlowe Barton born on December 25, 1821, in North Oxford, Massachusetts, was the youngest of Stephen and Sarah Stone Barton’s five children. Clara's father, Captain Stephen Barton (1774-1862), was a successful businessman, captain of the local army and a government official in Oxford, Massachusetts. Through his memorable stories of the Indian War in Ohio and Michigan, he taught her the importance of keeping an army equipped with arms, food, clothing and medical supplies. Clara's mother, Sarah Stone Barton (1783-1851), was a liberated woman who was known for her unstable temper. Growing up, Clara stayed close to her sister Sarah Barton Vassall (1811-1874) who was also a school teacher. One of Clara’s brothers, Captain David Barton (1808-1888) served as an Assistant Quartermaster for the Union army during the Civil War. He taught Clara to ride horses, and he became Clara's first patient after suffering a severe injury in a farm accident at a young age. Her oldest brother, Stephen Barton (1806-1865), was a businessman in Oxford and Bartonsville, North Carolina. Stephen taught Clara math while she was yet a little girl. Clara’s oldest sister Dorothea (Dolly) Barton (1804-1846) was remembered as a bright young woman who desired to continue her own education.
As a little girl, she first found her life’s calling when she took care of her brother David after an accident. He had been helping to build a barn when he flipped and fell to the ground. Doctors had come to help, but he did not get any better. Eleven year-old Clara became David's nurse, administering his medicine and even applying and removing leeches when the doctors suggested it might help. Clara stayed home from school for two years to take care of her brothe...

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...med after her include: schools, streets, community centers, associations and even homeless shelters. At age ninety, she contracted an airborne disease called tuberculosis. She was bedridden for a month until she died on April 12, 1912, at her home in Glen Echo, Maryland, and was buried in the Barton family cemetery plot in Oxford, Massachusetts.

Works Cited

Stevenson, Augusta, and Frank Giacoia. Clara Barton, Founder of the American Red Cross. New York: Aladdin, 1986. Print.

Prokos, Anna. Clara Barton: Angel of the Battlefield. New York: Collins, 2008. Print

Vermilya, Daniel. "Clara Barton in the Civil War: Facts, Timeline & History." Education-Portal.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

United States. National Park Service. "Clara Barton Chronology 1870-1912." National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, 03 Mar. 2014. Web. 18 Mar. 2014

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