Ida Saxton was born on June 8, 1847, in
Canton, Ohio, the eldest child of James Saxton, a prominent Canton banker, and Katherine "Kate" DeWalt. Saxton's family was one of Canton's first
pioneer families and was quite wealthy. Through his work in banking, James Saxton became the second richest man in Canton. He and Kate DeWalt raised Ida and her younger siblings, Mary and George, in the grand
Saxton House. Little is known about Saxton's early childhood. Saxton developed close lifelong relationships to her mother and her grandmother, Christiana DeWalt. This likely influenced Saxton's later belief that close intergenerational family connections were a key part of a woman's life. During the
American Civil War, Saxton's mother led a volunteer effort to gather supplies and sew uniforms for the
Union Army. When Saxton was on break from boarding school, she helped her mother with these tasks.
Education Saxton's parents strongly believed in
abolitionism and
equal education for women. James Saxton was on the board of trustees of Canton's local public schools and enlisted
Betsy Mix Cowles, a prominent abolitionist and
suffragette, as the principal of Canton Union School. Cowles became a close mentor to Saxton while she was a student there. From 1862 to 1863, Saxton studied at Delphi Academy in
Clinton County, New York, as Cowles had moved to teach there. Delphi Academy was Saxton's first boarding school experience and she learned accounting and finance there. However, both Cowles and Saxton left Delphi Academy due to its
Confederate sympathies. Saxton later studied at the Sanford School in
Cleveland, Ohio, from 1863 to 1865. At all the schools she attended, Saxton excelled in her studies, and was called "an apt learner" and "gifted as a scholar". Saxton attended
finishing school at Brooke Hall Female Seminary from 1865 to 1868. There, she was educated in singing, piano playing,
linguistics, and
needlepoint, skills that would prepare her to become the household hostess. When she had time off from school, Saxton often traveled to
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to attend opera performances, classical music concerts, or theatrical plays. She made many long-lasting friendships with fellow students and teachers at Brooke Hall Female Seminary, including teacher Harriet Gault. Gault believed that women should be physically active, a progressive idea for the time, inspiring Saxton to take long walks each day to improve her physical fitness.
Career and trip to Europe After Saxton graduated from finishing school in 1868, her father insisted that she become an actress to help raise funds for the construction of a new
Presbyterian church. That March, Saxton performed at Schaefer's Opera House, posing in
tableaus which depicted various scenes from American and European history. Her performance was well-attended, as about twelve hundred people flocked to the opera house and named Saxton "best actress". Saxton also worked as a clerk at Stark County Bank, which her father owned. Saxton later worked as a cashier and managed the bank in her father's absence. Her role in the bank was controversial and her male colleagues believed that she had received an "over-education". However, Saxton defended her position at the bank, believing her father wanted her to support herself without getting married. Excluding the time she spent on Grand Tour, Saxton worked at Stark County Bank until she got married in 1871. When she was not working or traveling, Saxton taught
Sunday school at the First Presbyterian Church, the same church her grandfather John Saxton helped establish. From June to December 1869, Saxton and her younger sister, Mary, took a
Grand Tour of Europe
chaperoned by Janette Alexander, using the trip as an opportunity to finish their education. The group travelled throughout Europe, visiting Ireland, Scotland, England, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, and Italy. Saxton visited many art museums and met sculptor
Vinnie Ream, who later became famous for her statue of
Abraham Lincoln in
Paris. Saxton also met a limbless painter named Charles Felir in Amsterdam who painted with his mouth. According to the
National First Ladies' Library, "[The artist's] example seems to have inspired her to later insist on living a full public life despite disabilities she developed [later in life]." When the group was in Italy, Alexander arranged for Ida and Mary to meet
Pope Pius IX. Although Saxton disliked
Roman Catholicism because she thought that "the form and ceremony was too much", she "bowed before [the Pope] and kissed his hand" because she thought he was "such a nice old man". Ida and Mary continued the habit of hiking daily to maintain physical health, hiking throughout the
Swiss Alps. Saxton's travels also influenced her social outlook and made her aware of her privileged position, as she witnessed
working-class women perform physical labor for little pay. One such example was when Saxton travelled to Belgium and saw lace workers create
lace in poor conditions. Saxton decided to purchase a lot of their work to support the lace workers and spent her entire life developing a collection of Belgian lace. ==Marriage and family==