She was born in
Saline County, Missouri and christened Cynthia Smith Tucker, but her middle name was later changed to Beverley. Her father was writer and judge
Nathaniel Beverley Tucker, a prominent advocate for
States Rights, southern unity, and the
continuation of slavery. In 1834, the Tucker family moved to Williamsburg, Virginia, where Nathaniel Tucker had accepted a professorship at the nearby
College of William and Mary. As such, Cynthia grew up in the Williamsburg area, and was educated both at home and at a
Loudoun County boarding school. In 1852, Cynthia married Henry Augustine Washington, a legal scholar and professor of history at William and Mary. The couple often travelled between Williamsburg and Washington D.C., where Henry often sat in on congressional debates. However, their family life did not last long: their two daughters both died in infancy, and in 1858 Henry was killed in an accident with an
air rifle. In 1861, she married Charles Washington Coleman, a Williamsburg native and surgeon. The couple's marriage took place early in the
American Civil War, and soon Charles joined the Confederate army to work as a surgeon while she remained in Williamsburg. During the 1862 Peninsula campaign, Williamsburg was occupied by the Union army, and, by 1863, Cynthia had moved to North Carolina, only returning after the war ended. Cynthia Coleman died on 24 October 1908 and is buried at Bruton Parish Church. She is considered by some sources to be a forebear of the movement to establish Colonial Williamsburg, and her portrait is preserved in the
Swem Library at William and Mary. == References ==