Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson

Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson, or Betsy Graeme; (February 3, 1737 – February 23, 1801) was an American poet and writer, known for ''The Dream'' (1768). She held literary salon gatherings called "attic evenings", based upon French salons. Her attendees included Jacob Duché, Francis Hopkinson, Benjamin Rush, and her niece, Anna Young Smith. She wrote poetry and a wide range of works, taught writing, and mentored women writers, like Annis Boudinot Stockton and Hannah Griffitts.

After her sister Jane's death, Elizabeth raised and educated her niece Anna Young Smith and her nephew. She also raised her sister, Ann Graeme Stedman's, children after her death.

In 1772, she married a Scotsman, Hugh Henry Fergusson, who spent much of their first five years of marriage abroad. When he returned to the Philadelphia area by September 1777, Elizabeth asked General George Washington to give him a pass so that he could return to her at her estate, Graeme Park. Denied, Fergusson accepted the offer of General William Howe, Commander of the British land forces, to be a commissary to patriot prisoners in Philadelphia. He was charged with treason and banned from America. Elizabeth decided to stay in Pennsylvania and her estate was confiscated for her husband's treasonous activities and her attempts to get Washington to give up the war and have the colonies enter into a peace settlement. Provided by Wikipedia