Florence Howe Hall

Florence Marion Howe Hall (August 25, 1845 – April 10, 1922) Along with her two sisters, Laura Elizabeth Richards and Maude Howe Elliott, Hall received the first Pulitzer Prize for a biography, Julia Ward Howe.

Early life Howe was born on August 25, 1845, in South Boston, Massachusetts. She was named Florence after Florence Nightingale, her godmother and friend of her parents, and Marion after her great—great-granduncle, General Francis Marion of the Revolutionary War fame. Her elder sister was Julia Romana Howe; and her younger siblings included Henry Marion Howe, a metallurgist; Laura (née Howe) Richards and Maud (née Howe) Elliott, both authors; Her younger sister Maud married John Elliott, an English muralist and illustrator.

She was educated at private schools in Boston and nearby, including the Agassiz School of Cambridge. She later studied music with Otto Dresel, the pianist, music teacher and composer.

She was the author of Social Customs: Boys, Girls and Manners, The Correct Thing in Good Society, Social Usages at Washington, which she wrote with her sister Maud Elliot.

Personal life On November 15, 1871, she was married to David Prescott Hall (1845–1907). David, a lawyer, was the youngest son of six children born to David Priestley Hall, a Harvard educated lawyer, and Caroline (née Minturn) Hall, who spent their summers in Newport, Rhode Island. The couple met while Hall was in Newport and had four children: He was a graduate of Harvard. Caroline studied painting for seven years in Paris. He was a graduate of Harvard. In 1893, the Halls moved to Plainfield, New Jersey, where he died at his home on June 5, 1907.