Ann Eliza Lindsay Morehead

Ann Eliza Lindsay Morehead (October 14, 1804 – July 29, 1868) was an American political hostess and slaveowner who, as the wife of Governor John Motley Morehead, served as First Lady of North Carolina from 1841 to 1845. She and her husband owned Blandwood, an estate in Greensboro. As her husband was often traveling for his political career, management of the estate was her responsibility. Although she was critical of the institution of slavery and opposed her husband's personal investment in slaves, the Morehead family depended on enslaved labor at Blandwood.

Early life and family Morehead was born Ann Eliza Lindsay on October 14, 1804, in Guilford County, North Carolina, to Colonel Robert Lindsay Jr. and Letitia Harper Lindsay. She grew up in Martinville in a community of abolitionist Quakers. Her father died in 1818 and her mother married a second time to Henry Humphreys, Esquire. She was a granddaughter of the American Revolutionary War veteran Captain Robert Lindsay, who sat in the North Carolina General Assembly of 1777 and owned a 2,000-acre plantation along the Deep River.

She was likely educated at the Salisbury Academy, studying arithmetic and reading. They had eight children: Letitia Harper, Mary Corinna, Ann Eliza, Mary Louise, Emma Victoria, John Lindsay, James Turner, and Eugene Lindsay. Following his time as governor, her husband served in the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States during the American Civil War.

Morehead lived at Blandwood until her death on July 19, 1868, In her will, Morehead bequeathed a walnut table and bedstead to her former slave, Hannah, and furniture and shoes to her former slave, Tinnan.