Grace Fletcher

Grace (Fletcher) Webster (1781–1828) was the first wife of Daniel Webster. She was with him as he started his law career in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and then sought to improve their lives by settling in Boston on Beacon Hill. Daniel, a successful attorney and statesman, was often away from his family for months at a time. Webster raised her five children, two of whom died in their childhood. She was particularly skilled at hosting both small, intimate dinner parties as well as large dinner receptions, like the one for Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.

Early life Born on January 16, 1781, at Hopkinton, New Hampshire, Grace was the daughter of Rev. Elijah Fletcher and Rebecca Chamberlain. She had two sisters—Bridget and Rebecca—and a brother Timothy. After Elijah's death, Rebecca married Rev. Christopher Paige.

She was educated in Atkinson, New Hampshire at the Atkinson Academy. She was a schoolteacher in towns near her birthplace, Boscawen and Salisbury. or tubercular lesion. She was buried in an underground crypt in Boston and the remains of her daughter Grace and son Charles were reinterred beside her. In 1852, the remains of Webster, her daughter Grace, and Charles, and daughters of Fletcher Webster were moved from St. Paul's Cemetery in Boston and were reinterred in Marshfield.

Her portrait was painted by Chester Harding around 1828. It is among the collection of the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College. It was one of Stuart's most successful portraits. It reflects the day that Daniel spoke at the Bunker Hill Monument in 1825. In the portrait, she wears the dress that she wore on that day. Daniel then commissioned a portrait of himself that was completed by Harding. It is also among Dartmoth's collection.