Susan Anne Ridley Sedgwick
Susan Anne Livingston Ridley Sedgwick was a 19th-century American writer specializing in children's novels. She also painted a watercolor-on-ivory portrait of an ex-slave who came to work for her family.
Sedgwick was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, daughter of Matthew Ridley and Catherine Livingston, his second wife. Sedgwick's mother, Catherine Livingston, was the daughter of William Livingston, governor of New Jersey. She married Theodore Sedgwick, Jr.,. Her husband's father, Theodore Sedgwick, was a delegate to Continental Congress, a United States Representative, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, a United States Senator from Massachusetts, and a state supreme court judge. As a lawyer, Sedgwick, Sr. represented Elizabeth Freeman, who had been a slave for forty years, and won her freedom. Mumbet came to live as a servant in the Sedgwick household, and Susan Sedgwick painted her portrait.
Sedgwick's sister-in-law was Catharine Sedgwick, also a novelist. Before she married Catharine's brother, Susan was Catharine's schoolmate.
Sedgwick was one of the 139 people buried in the large circular family burial plot in Stockbridge, Massachusetts known as the Sedgwick Pie.Works
