Biography of lucretia coffin mott

Lucretia Mott’s Quaker Upbringing

Born on January 3, 1793, in Nantucket, Massachusetts, Mott was raised in a family of Quakers, the second of five children.

Abiding by the Quaker tenet that men and women were equal in the eyes of God, Mott grew up with parents who lived out their faith: Her father Thomas Coffin worked in the whaling industry and raised his children to live with a strong sense of purpose, and her mother, Anna Folger, ran a small store, setting the tone for Mott’s industry.

While at Quaker boarding school in New York, Mott excelled both in her education and personal life.

As a teenager, she became an assistant teacher and met her future husband, James Mott. However, she was shocked when she soon realized the wage disparity between male and female teachers.

Lucretia’s family eventually moved to Philadelphia in 1809, with James accompanying them.

The young couple married two years later and had six children.

Despite being barely five feet tall and 100 pounds, Mott