A picture of Charlotte Perkins

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born on July 3, 1860 as Charlotte Anna Perkins in Hartford to Fredrick Beecher Perkins and Mary Fitch Westcott. Her family tree included Lyman Beecher, Henry Ward Beecher, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. She was one of two living children, and had little contact with her father as the family moved from relative to relative while he remained distanced from them. Most of these relatives didn’t care much for Charlotte and her family, so she didn’t get the education she wanted as a child. Her mother also wasn’t very loving towards her two children. She ordered Charlotte to shut out her fantasy world as a child, which she did out of obedience.

As an adult, she attended art school for a while, and struggled with the choice between marriage or career. She eventually vowed not to marry, but this was broken when she married Charles Walter Stetson in May 2, 1884. Their marriage was rocky, and on March 23, 1885, Charlotte gave to birth to Katharine Beecher. She eventually went to see Dr. Mitchell, a neurologist who had treated two Beecher women already. Charles and Charlotte separated in the fall of 1887, and a year later she left with Katherine for California.

 There she was able to focus on her work more, due to help from others in raising Katherine. She wrote articles and gave lectures while Katherine lived with Walter and his new wife, and close friend of Charlotte’s, Grace. She spent much of this time on her own, and she later remarried George Houghton Gilman. They were married for 34 years before his death. Charlotte died in 1932 after committing suicide. She had incurable breast cancer, and she chose “chloroform over cancer.”

Throughout her life, Charlotte took strength from the trials she struggled with. Many of them stemmed from the role of woman in marriage and her relationships with various people in her life, including Walter and her daughter Katherine.


Sources:

"Charlotte Perkins Gilman." Domestic Goddess. 4/20/11. http://www.womenwriters.net/domesticgoddess/gilman1.html 

Lane, Ann J. To Herland and Beyond: The Life and Works of Charlotte Perkins Gilman. New York: Pantheon Books, 1990.