Lucy Ludwell Paradise (1752–1814) was a Virginia-born American who lived much of her life in London. She was the wife of the Anglo-Greek linguist

John Paradise John Paradise (1743–1795) was an Anglo-Greek linguist, known as a friend of Samuel Johnson and Fellow of the Royal Society. Life He was born at Thessalonica in April 1743, the son of Peter Paradise (died 1 February 1779), who was the English con ...

(1743–1795) and the daughter of

Philip Ludwell III Philip Cottington Ludwell III (December 28, 1716 – February 28, 1767) was a Virginia planter, soldier and politician who twice represented Jamestown in the House of Burgesses, but in 1760 left his plantations in the care of overseers and perma ...

(1716–1767). Ludwell-Paradise House - Home of Lucy Ludwell Paradise, 1805-1812

Life

Lucy Ludwell was born in Virginia as the third surviving daughter of

and his wife Frances Grymes Ludwell. John Blair, mayor of Williamsburg and former member of the

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been established ...

, recorded in his diary that Lucy was baptized on November 8, 1752. She sailed to London in 1760 with her father and two older sisters, Hannah and Frances. In April 1762, the three daughters were received into the Orthodox Church. Their father Philip died in London in 1767, leaving his friend Peter Paradise as guardian of his daughters. One sister died, and in 1768 her eldest sister, 30-year old Hannah Ludwell married William Lee, a Virginian who with his sister Lucy had lived with the Ludwells until 1763, and became a tobacco merchant, then a diplomat for the American colonies. In 1769, 16 year old Lucy married Peter's son, John Paradise. In 1787, John and Lucy came to the United States of America, where they visited their brother-in-law William Lee (by then a widower with a son and two daughters) who was living at the Ludwell family's

Green Spring Plantation Green Spring Plantation in James City County about west of Williamsburg, was the 17th century plantation of one of the more popular governors of Colonial Virginia in North America, Sir William Berkeley, and his wife, Frances Culpeper Berkel ...

near Williamsburg. They also visited with

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

. Lucy corresponded with many eminent Americans of the time, including

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

, for whom she purchased books in Europe. By 1801, as noted in a letter to then President-elect Jefferson, Lucy's husband and two daughters had died. In 1805 she returned to the United States and lived in her father's townhouse on Duke of Gloucester Street in Williamsburg (now called the Ludwell-Paradise House). Plagued by increasing mental instability, she was placed in the Eastern Hospital in Williamsburg, America's first mental asylum. She died on April 24, 1814.

Notes

External links

Who Was the Real Lucy Ludwell Paradise? Ludwell.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paradise, Lucy 1752 births 1814 deaths People from Virginia American expatriates in the United Kingdom

Lucy Lucy is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings are Luci, Luce, Lu ...

18th-century American women 19th-century American women