Harriet E. Culver was born on July 18, 1843, in Connecticut to Martin and Lucy Culver. Her father was a laborer who owned $1,000 of real estate by 1860. She grew up and attended school in Portland, Connecticut, and she never married. By 1870, she was working as a teacher in Portland. According to an early biographer, her “standards were high, both in character and in scholarship, and she was satisfied with nothing less than the best of which her pupils were capable. Stern, perhaps, she seemed, as a disciplinarian, but underneath she had a warm and sympathetic nature always ready to help others in time of need.”

 

By 1900, she was working as a nurse. She served as president of the Portland Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), and she was a leader of the local Loyal Temperance Legion. She edited The White Ribbon Banner, a WCTU publication, and she spoke at several state and county conventions. Her “speeches were always clear, concise and witty.” She died in Portland on December 24, 1913.

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