Lidian Jackson Emerson
Lidian Jackson Emerson with her son Edward.
Emerson’s second wife, Lydia “Lidian” Jackson, was born on September 20, 1802 in Plymouth, Massachusetts to Charles Jackson and Lucy Cotton. Lydia was one of seven children, only three surviving to adulthood: Lucy, Lydia, and Charles. Lydia’s parents died within two months of each other when she was just sixteen. When not at school, she and her orphaned siblings boarded with aunts and uncles.
Lydia was very fond of poetry, an avid reader, and was very concerned about the welfare of others. She also cared deeply about animals and was an early vice president of the Dumb Animals Society, later renamed the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA).
She married Ralph Waldo Emerson on September 14, 1835 and was the mother of his four children: Waldo, Ellen, Edith, and Edward. At Emerson’s suggestion she became known as Lidian, rather than Lydia. Over their 47 years of marriage, she supported her husband’s work and helped to entertain the constant stream of guests who came to see Emerson for discussions, advice, and plans. Guests included the literary and artistic elite of the day, such as William Ellery Channing, Daniel Chester French, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, James Russell Lowell, Walt Whitman, and Emerson’s dear friend Henry David Thoreau.
Lidian was not afraid to be involved with causes she felt to be important. In 1837, outraged by the injustice shown to slaves, Lidian, Abigail Alcott, Mary Merrick Brooks, Mrs. John Thoreau—Henry’s mother—and others formed Concord’s Female Anti-Slavery Society. This very active group influenced those with strong voices—including Emerson, Thoreau, and Bronson Alcott—to support their efforts and become more vocal. Lidian also championed women’s rights and the rights of Indigenous people.
Lidian outlived her husband by ten years, continuing to share the home on Concord’s Cambridge Turnpike with her daughter Ellen until she passed away in 1892.
— B. Ewen, Emerson House guide
