Susannah Heath - landscape of Boston from Brookline

Susannah or Susan Heath ( – ) was an American diarist. Susannah Heath was born on , one of ten children of Ebenezer Heath and Hannah Williams Heath. The family lived in what is today called the

Ebenezer Heath House The Ebenezer Heath House is a historic house at 30 Heath Street in Brookline, Massachusetts. The two-story wood-frame house was built in 1794 by John Heath for his son Ebenezer and daughter-in-law Hannah (Williams) Heath. The Heaths were rela ...

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline () is an affluent town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. An exclave of Norfolk County, Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton ...

. Heath kept a 61-volume diary between 1812 and 1874. The diary is now owned by the

Massachusetts Historical Society The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) is a major historical archive specializing in early American, Massachusetts, and New England history. The Massachusetts Historical Society was established in 1791 and is located at 1154 Boylston Street ...

. The diary has been frequently cited in historical studies of diverse topics including Heath's contempt for her father, meeting the

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette (; 6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (), was a French military officer and politician who volunteered to join the Conti ...

Dorothea Dix Dorothea Lynde Dix (April 4, 1802July 17, 1887) was an American advocate on behalf of the poor insane, mentally ill. By her vigorous and sustained program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, she helped create the fir ...

, the medicinal use of

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...

, and indoor plumbing. In 1813, Heath painted a watercolor landscape of the view of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

from her home. Identifiable landmarks in the painting include the

Massachusetts State House The Massachusetts State House, also known as the Massachusetts Statehouse or the New State House, is the List of state capitols in the United States, state capitol and seat of government for the Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, lo ...

, the

Worcester Turnpike Route 9 is a major east–west state highway in Massachusetts, United States. Along with U.S. Route 20 (US 20), Route 2, and Interstate 90, Route 9 is one of the major east–west routes of Massachusetts. The western terminus is near th ...

, the

Boston Neck The Boston Neck or Roxbury Neck was a narrow strip of land connecting the then-peninsular city of Boston to the mainland city of Roxbury (now a neighborhood of Boston). The surrounding area was gradually filled in as the city of Boston expan ...

, the

Zabdiel Boylston Zabdiel Boylston, FRS (March 9, 1679 – March 1, 1766) was a physician in the Boston area. As the first medical school in North America was not founded until 1765, Boylston apprenticed with his father, an English-born surgeon named Thomas Boyl ...

House (demolished in 1863), the second building of the

First Parish in Brookline First Parish in Brookline is a Unitarian Universalist church in Brookline, Massachusetts. It is a Welcoming Congregation and a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association. The church has existed for over 300 years, in several different meeting ...

, and the

Great Elm Great Elm is a village and civil parish between Mells and Frome in Somerset, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Hapsford. In 2011 the parish had a population of 171. History The name Great Elm was recorded as ''Telma'' in the Domesda ...

Boston Common The Boston Common is a public park in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest city park in the United States. Boston Common consists of of land bounded by five major Boston streets: Tremont Street, Park Street, Beacon Street, Charl ...

. Susannah Heath never married and died on 24 March 1878 in Brookline.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heath, Susannah Created via preloaddraft 1795 births 1878 deaths Writers from Brookline, Massachusetts American women artists American diarists