Emily Otis
Emily Otis (née Marshall; 1807–1836), familiarly known as "The Beautiful Emily Marshall" and "The Belle of Boston", was an American woman celebrated for her beauty, grace, dignity, and feminine charm.[1]
Personal life
She married William Foster Otis in May 1831 and died in 1836, leaving two daughters and an infant son.[2]
Fame
"Emily Marshall as completely filled the ideal of the lovely and feminine, as did Webster the ideal of the intellectual and the masculine," Josiah Quincy, a native of the same State, wrote of her, adding that though superlatives were intended only for the use of the very young, not even the cooling influences of half a century enabled him to avoid them in speaking of her.[3]
Daniel Webster, upon one occasion during his residence in Boston, entered the old Federal Street Theatre and was hailed with cheers. A few minutes later. Emily Marshall appeared in her box, whereupon the entire audience rose as one man and offered her the same homage it had bestowed upon Webster.[4]
References
Sources
- Brooks, Geraldine (1901). Dames and Daughters of the Young Republic. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. pp. 269–287. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Peacock, Virginia Tatnall (1901). Famous American Belles of the Nineteenth Century. Philadelphia & London: J. B. Lippincott Co. pp. 90–101. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.