Greene, Catherine

Catharine Littlefield Greene (February 17, 1755 – September 2, 1814) was an American scientist who was the wife of the Continental Army general Nathanael Greene. She was a mother of five, and noted for being a supporter of the inventor Eli Whitney.

Her "extraordinary activity of mind, and tact in seizing on points, so as to apprehend almost intuitively, distinguished her through life. It enabled her, without apparent mental effort, to apply the instruction conveyed in the books she read, to the practical affairs of life".^[1]

Early life and the Revolutionary War

Catharine Littlefield was born on February 17, 1755, off the coast of Washington County, Rhode Island, on Block Island, where her family had settled in the 1660s. She was born into an upper-class family; her father, John Littlefield, was a member of the Rhode Island legislature.^[2] Following the death of her mother at age 10, Catherine was sent to live with her aunt and uncle, both of whom were active in local government and acquainted her with its inner workings.^[2] While living with her aunt and uncle she received a formal education and lessons of domesticity.^[2]

Beginning in 1772, she was courted by Nathanael Greene, a fellow Rhode Islander a dozen or so years her senior.^[3] The couple was married in July 1774, but less than a year later Greene was called to war. Catharine Greene had not yet settled into a comfortable life with her husband, as their home in Coventry, Rhode Island had not yet been completely furnished. Greene was energetic and independent, but she looked to her husband to take charge and make the decisions. With his involvement in the war, she assumed the role as head-of-household.

Catharine Greene was not content to remain at home without her husband, so she joined Gen. Greene at his military headquarters whenever possible. Over the course of the war and shortly after, Catharine had five children who lived past infancy. Her husband being called into war was a great disturbance for Catherine and so she visited him often and formed a camaraderie with others he was stationed with.^[2] Her living conditions were relatively decent.^[2]

She was often the one responsible for planning social events for the troops to have respite.^[2] She experienced the conflict of caring for her children while longing to be with her husband. She desperately wanted to have something like a normal family, and when conditions allowed, she brought her young children with her to camp. At other times she left them in the care of family or friends. It was during these separations that Catharine most felt the effects of the war upon her family.

When the war finally came to an end and the family was reunited, Greene looked forward to having Nathanael home to share in the responsibility of raising the children and handling business and household affairs. His presence at home "brought a peace of mind unknown to her since the conflict began." She was prepared to let her husband take charge and to settle herself into the life of a respected, well-to-do gentleman's wife.

During Nathanael's command in the South, he faced harsh conditions. In order to clothe his soldiers during the winter, he had to personally guarantee thousands of dollars to Charleston merchants. He later discovered that the speculator through whom he had dealt was fraudulent. At the end of the war, the merchants began pressing him for payment on the notes, and judgments came down from South Carolina courts. He was without sufficient funds and heavily in debt.

Catharine did not adjust well to the idea of being poor. Their side had won the war, but they had little to show for it. According to Stegeman, "her dream of wealth and leisure, once the war was over, had been shattered; she could no longer count on even the most basic security."

Furthermore, Nathanael decided to move the family, in 1785, to a slave plantation on the Savannah River called Mulberry Grove, in Chatham County, Georgia, granted to him by the Georgia General Assembly in gratitude for his services during the war. Here, he hoped to make a living by cultivating rice, paying off their debts by selling their other lands when the markets proved favorable. This was particularly hard on his wife, who had lived her whole life in the north; she had to leave many friends and what was left of her family on Block Island.

She soon began to realize how heavily these burdens weighed on Nathanael. Catharine now saw before her a "tired, haggard ex-soldier who had given himself to a belief, had signed away his future life, in fact, for that cause." Catharine resolved to do everything in her power to help him. She settled into the arduous domesticity that plantation life required, determined to make Mulberry Grove a success. However, her plan was interrupted when Nathanael died suddenly on June 19, 1786, of sunstroke.

Recovering after Nathanael

After his death, Greene met the pressures of rearing her children and handling Nathanael's devastated finances. With the help of the new plantation manager, Phineas Miller (who had been her children's tutor), Mulberry Grove was thriving by 1788. At the urging of a trusted adviser, she personally presented to the United States Congress a petition for indemnity to recover funds that Nathanael had paid to Charleston merchants. On April 27, 1792, President George Washington approved and signed an act that indemnified the Greene estate.

In a happy letter to a friend, she wrote:

I can tell you my Dear friend that I am in good health and spirits and feel as saucy as you please - not only because I am independent, but because I have gained a complete triumph over some of my friends who did not wish me success - and others who doubted my judgement in managing the business and constantly tormented me to death to give up my obstinancy as it was called - they are now as mute as mice - Not a word dare they utter... O how sweet is revenge!

Role in Invention of Cotton Gin

That same year, Catharine met a young man named Eli Whitney, who tutored her neighbor's children. With her encouragement he took up residence at Mulberry Grove to pursue his inventions.^[4] Within a year he had produced a model for the cotton gin.

In an 1883 article in The North American Review titled "Woman as Inventor", the early feminist and abolitionist Matilda Joslyn Gage claimed that Mrs. Greene suggested to Whitney the use of a brush-like component, which was instrumental in separating the seeds from the cotton.^[5] Gage provided no source for this claim, and to date there has been no independent verification of Catharine Greene's role in the invention of the gin.

...”Matilda Joslyn Gage, writing in an 1883 pamphlet entitled “Woman as Inventor,” said the cotton gin “owes its origin to a woman,Catherine Littlefield Green.” Gage goes on to describe Whitney as familiar enough with “the use of tools” to be able to build the machine. Nonetheless, the young man’s first contraption featured inefficient wooden teeth and he nearly quit, but Greene’s suggestion to substitute wire for wood proved successful. ...” (see below)

Second marriage

Catharine Greene married Phineas Miller on June 13, 1796, in Philadelphia's First Presbyterian Church. The President and Martha Washington served as witnesses to the union.

Death

After selling Mulberry Grove in 1798, Catharine Miller lived at Dungeness plantation on the southern end of Cumberland Island until she died in 1814, where she was buried.^[6]

Wikipedia

Sandbox

Research Notes:

Catharine Littlefield Greene, Brain Behind the Cotton Gin

March 04, 2010

bySarah Amandolare

Catharine Littlefield Greene stood out among her Revolutionary War-era counterparts, engaging in political discourse, maintaining friendships with men and generally thinking outside the box. Although Eli Whitney is usually credited with inventing the cotton gin, Greene might actually have come up with the idea.

Catharine Littlefield Greene's Early Days

Nicknamed “Caty” and “Kitty,” Littlefield was born on Feb. 17, 1755, on Block Island, R.I., to Phebe Ray and John Littlefield. According to UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography, Littlefield’s mother passed away when she was 10 years old, and she was sent to live with her charismatic Aunt Catherine Ray Greene. Littlefield was given an upper class education, and attended her Aunt Catherine’s frequent “social gatherings.” In July 1774, at age 19, Littlefield married Nathanael Greene, who was 14 years her senior.

Notable Accomplishments

Sources in this Story

When her husband died of “severe sunstroke” in June 1786, Greene was left alone to raise their five children and oversee the family plantation. In 1892, she rented a room out to a Yale College graduate, Eli Whitney, who worked as a handyman around the house. Being from New England, Whitney was unfamiliar with cotton farming, but Greene quickly brought him up to speed. She explained the difficulties of raising green-seed cotton, and is said to have encouraged Whitney to create a machine that could clean the cotton.

The details of her suggestion are ambiguous, but ultimately led to the invention of the cotton gin. Some say Greene “financed the patent and fabrication” of the machine, but others suggest Whitney partnered with Yale graduate Phineas Miller, “who owned a cotton plantation on Cumberland Island, Georgia.” Women were not allowed to hold patents at the time.

Matilda Joslyn Gage, writing in an 1883 pamphlet entitled “Woman as Inventor,” said the cotton gin “owes its origin to a woman,Catherine Littlefield Green.” Gage goes on to describe Whitney as familiar enough with “the use of tools” to be able to build the machine. Nonetheless, the young man’s first contraption featured inefficient wooden teeth and he nearly quit, but Greene’s suggestion to substitute wire for wood proved successful.

According to The National Archives, Greene’s “support, both moral and financial were critical” to Whitney’s efforts. Whitney faced challenges of his own when he and Miller began charging farmers a fee to use cotton gins, and disgruntled farmers started building their own.

The Rest of the Story

As the New Georgia Encyclopedia explains, Greene eventually remarried, this time to Phineas Miller. They lived at Mulberry Grove, Ga., but their plantation failed and they were forced to sell it. Their next plantation, Dungeness, was successful, and Greene lived there until she died in 1814. She is buried at Dungeness.

As for why Greene did not attempt to patent the cotton gin herself, Gage suggests that doing so “would have exposed her to the ridicule” of friends and “a loss of position in society,” which disapproved of women’s involvement in any "outside industry."

In a biography of Littlefield Greene, titled “Caty,” authors John and Janet Stegeman and Harvey H. Jackson describe Greene’s close friendships with George and Martha Washington, and with several other men. Her preference for the company of men and her love of political discourse prompted “gossip and near scandal,” but Greene’s life “has importance even beyond the study of women in the years surrounding the Revolution," according to Books-A-Million.

from: http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/profiles/l/catharine-littlefield-greene.html

Wikipedia

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/catharine-greene-1755-1814

Greene often visited her husband in the field during the war (Washington issued her a pass; a cannonball passed through a house she was in), helping to boost morale (she danced with Washington for three hours at Valley Forge). When he was assigned the southern command, he found it in tatters and equipped it at his own expense. In partial compensation he was given land that he built a plantation on, but died, probably of sunstroke at a fairly young age. Washington supported her claim to be repaid, but could not champion her cause, so Hamilton did.

She used herhouse to quarter officers who had been innoculated against smallpox. Saved American Army in Revolutionary War