Silvia S. Howland

Silvia S. Howland (née Smith) was born in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, in 1791, the daughter of Collins Smith and Hannah Tucker, and in 1809 she married Paul Howland of New Bedford. Quaker records show her as an active member of the Society of Friends for decades, frequently appearing as a witness at marriages well into the 1830s. In 1812, at age 21 and already married, she drew the “School map of the world,” likely as a teaching exercise, reflecting the Quaker emphasis on education for both sexes and the common role of women as schoolmistresses or tutors.