Melusina Fay Peirce

On February 24, 1836, Peirce was born in Burlington, Vermont, in her grandfather, Right Reverend John Henry Hopkins's house. She was of English, French, German, and Irish background Peirce began learning to sew at age four, but openly expressed her distaste for it. However, Peirce was an obedient, "dutiful and conscientious," Christian child by age eight. His parents were Judge Samuel Phillips Prescott and Harriet (Howard) Fay. Peirce's mother was Emily Hopkins Fay (May 4, 1817 – September 23, 1856), whose maiden name was Charlotte C. Hopkins. Emily was born in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, but also had significant ties to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of thirteen children, she was forced by her clergyman father to quit school at fourteen. Emily would go on to become a severely overworked housewife. She died at age 39 in St. Albans, Vermont. The toil that plagued her life instilled in Peirce an ardent desire to improve the lives of housewives. Emily's parents were the Right Reverend John Henry Hopkins and Melusina (Muller) Hopkins. Right Reverend John Henry Hopkins was the first bishop of Vermont. One of nine children, Peirce had six sisters, including Amelia Muller "Amy" Fay (a pianist), Rose Emily Fay, Laura Matilda Fay, Katherine Maria Fay, and Lily Valeria Fay. Her brothers were Alfred St. John Fay, Herman Theophilus Fay, and Charles Norman Fay. Peirce's predecessors included John Fay, Anne Hutchinson and Caroline Howard Gilman. == Education ==

As a child, Peirce studied in schools run by her parents in the various towns she lived in, including Montpelier, Georgia; Bayou Goula and New Orleans, Louisiana; and St. Albans, Vermont. and was an exemplary student. Peirce graduated in the summer of 1861, when she gave the graduation speech. Peirce would go on to consider herself a sociologist. == Later years ==

Melusina Fay married Charles Sanders Peirce in the early 1860s, but separated from him in 1876 and divorced him in the early 1880s. Following the failure of her cooperative housing experiment, Peirce continued to advocate the "cooperative housekeeping" cause, traveling to London and Berlin to meet with European champions of cooperation. Peirce was also involved in several talks, in which she spoke about new insights gathered during her trip abroad and views on "womanhood" suffrage. On October 4, 1876, Peirce spoke at the Fourth Woman's Congress in Philadelphia about what she had learned about cooperation in Europe. In 1880, Peirce spoke at the Illinois Social Science Association, where she advocated the creation of a "Woman's House" as an alternative to the United States Senate. == Death ==

On April 28, 1923, Peirce died of chronic arthritis and valvular heart disease in her home in Watertown, Massachusetts. She was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Watertown two days later. ==Notes==