Mute Swan: The Life of Sarah Eliza Agassiz 1806 - 1884 (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781502367860)

Born into the privileged world of the fox-hunting gentry, Eliza's life was comfortable and secure. It was too secure for a young woman with imagination and energy. Marriage was the only respectable way she could escape the confines of her sheltered life but that had several disadvantages. Legally, as a bride, she would become her husband's chattel, her happiness dependent upon his whim. Since her choice of potential husbands was limited to farmer cousins who lived in the same remote valley, matrimony did not seem a promising means of flight. That was until Lieutenant Lewis Agassiz kissed her under the mistletoe. For her father, Lewis's subsequent marriage proposal raised questions of the widower's financial affairs. Eliza's uncertainties were different. How could she ever take the place of Lewis's beautiful wife Did she want to live in a home already established by another woman More importantly to the Eliza though, was whether Lewis would fulfil her dreams of exciting exploits and adventures. Those considerations became insignificant when Eliza realised she had fallen in love. Eliza was the wife of Lewis Agassiz, Esquire, of Stour Lodge. She was born at the beginning of the nineteenth century -- her adult years lived under Queen Victoria's reign. She never made history or headlines -- she was too well-behaved for that. Yet despite the restrictions that were placed upon English women of those times, Eliza's life was creative, energetic and immensely productive. The impact that Sarah Eliza Agassiz had on the lives of her thirteen children and many grandchildren continues through her living descendants today, her third, fourth and fifth great grandchildren. This fact-rich account follows the experiences of an ordinary middle class woman's journey through life in the Victorian Era. The practicalities of Eliza's world, the blessings and the challenges she faced, although dissimilar to those faced by modern women, are nevertheless interesting and worthy of recording.

Author: Patricia M. Holliss
ISBN-10: 1502367866
ISBN-13: 9781502367860
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Language: English
Published: 09/30/2014
Pages: 198
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.63lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.42d