Charlotte Henrietta Winslow (maiden name: Pettibone) was born on July 23, 1824, in Simsbury, Connecticut, to Jonathan Pettibone and Fanny Phelps. Her father was a merchant and militia captain who died around 1829. She graduated first in her class from the Hartford Female Seminary around 1840 and then studied under Delia Bacon in New Haven, Connecticut. According to one early biographer, she gave “special attention to the Bible, to Shakespeare, and to philosophy.” She moved to New York City in the late 1840s to continue her education.

 

At least six men attempted to court her in the 1840s, and she carried on an extensive correspondence with at least one of them. Ultimately, however, she married Presbyterian minister Horace Winslow in New York City, on May 8, 1850. They had at least three children: Fanny, born around 1852; Lillian, born around 1856; and Daisy, born around 1861. The family moved to New Britain, Connecticut, in 1852, and then to Great Barrington, Massachusetts, in January 1858. By 1860, they owned $5,000 of personal property. Her husband served as a chaplain in the 5^th Connecticut Infantry in 1862, but poor health forced him to resign from the army. She supported the Union war effort and offered to sew clothing for Union soldiers.

 

The family moved to Binghamton, New York, in 1863, but they returned to Connecticut three years later. By 1870, they were living in Windham, Connecticut, and they owned $5,500 of real estate and $1,000 of personal property. They remained in Windham until around 1881, and they spent the next twenty years moving throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. By 1900, they were living in Simsbury, Connecticut. Her husband died there on March 6, 1905. She applied for a widow’s pension that July, but she died on August 6, 1905, before she could receive it.

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