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CLARA BARTON Born in 1821 - Died in 1912

Clara Barton was born to a farm family in Oxford, Massachusetts. Even as a child, she wanted to help others. She treated injured pets and cared for her brother when he suffered from a fall from a barn.

She was homeschooled by her brothers and sisters. She was always trying to learn new things.

While she was still a teenager she became a teacher and taught school for about fourteen years. She was teaching at a private school where she was paid by the parents, but it made her sad to see other children whose parents could not afford to pay a teacher. So she offered to teach those children without pay if the town would provide a place for her to teach. She soon had 600 students!

Her next job was working as a clerk in the Patent Office * in Washington, D.C. They wanted to pay her less money because she was a woman, but she insisted they pay her a wage equal to what they were paying the men clerks.

When the Civil War started, she wanted to help the soldiers, so she resigned her job at the Patent Office. She asked people to donate money to help, and she began making bandages out of sheets and towels to be used for the wounded soldiers.

She got permission from the War Department to go to the front lines of the battlefield to care for the soldiers herself. She was called the Angel of the Battlefield. She almost lost her life, but she continued to serve. She comforted the soldiers, bought and prepared food for them, and searched for missing soldiers. In the years following the Civil War she was able to reunite thousands of soldiers and their families.

Clara Barton in 1902

Next she joined the relief * effort in the war between France and Prussia. In Europe they had an organization called the International Red Cross. She saw the good work they were doing, and when she returned to America three years later, she began working to get a Red Cross established in the United States. She gave speeches and talked to people in the government. After eight years of hard work she formed the American Red Cross and served as its president for 23 years.

At first the Red Cross only served soldiers, but Clara saw that others needed help when floods, earthquakes, and other disasters * occurred.

Today we see the Red Cross at work when we have disasters such as the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, and most recently the disaster in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast due to hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The dedication * and generosity of one woman, Clara Barton, has had far-reaching effects.

This biography by Patsy Stevens, a retired teacher, was written in 2006.

A frequent question: "Who wrote this biography and when was it written?" Look on this Reference Citations Chart.

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RESEARCH LINKS

Clara Barton Clara Barton, Angel of the Battlefield Clara Barton From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Clara Barton Birthplace Museum Clara Barton biography with audio version Clara Barton Resources from About.com Clara Barton Women in History Clara Barton from About Famous People.com The First Red Cross Ambulance (audio) Engines of Our Ingenuity. Song about Clara Barton (listen to the song sung by Jerry Garcia) At biography.com search for Clara Barton. Clara Barton Quotes Famous Quotes by QuoteDepot.Net From Word Central's Student Dictionary by Merriam - Webster (Pronunciation note: the schwa sound is shown by ə) patent Pronunciation: 'pat-ənt Function: noun 1 : an official document granting a right or privilege; especially : a writing granting to an inventor for a term of years the only right to make, use, or sell his or her invention 2 : the right granted by a patent relief Pronunciation: ri-'lEf Function: noun aid in the form of money or necessities for people in need : a program through which such aid is distributed disaster Pronunciation: diz-'as-tər Function: noun a sudden great misfortune; especially : something (as a flood or tornado) that happens suddenly and causes much suffering or loss dedication Pronunciation: "ded-i-'kA-shən Function: noun self-sacrificing devotion Heroes of History: Clara Barton, Angel of the Battlefield By Janet & Geoff Benge / Ywam Publishing Known during the Civil War as the "Angel of the Battlefield," remarkable Clara Barton risked everything to save countless lives on the frontlines of battle. Once a painfully timid child, Clara was bold as a lion when it came to helping others, whether wayward schoolboys, natural-disaster victims, or dying soliders. Clara fought for U.S. approval of the Geneva treaty for the care of war wounded, organized the American Red Cross, and tirelessly dedicated her life to its service. Her courage and compassion impacted thousands of people around the globe. Your Story Hour Volume 7 - Audiobook on CD By Your Story Hour Children will listen and learn as they experience the historic adventures of Joan of Arc, John Bunyan, Albert Schweitzer, George Mueller, Florence Nightingale, Clara Barton, Louis Pastuer, Sir Wilfred T. Grenfell, Dwight L. Moody, John Wanamaker, George W. Carver, and Keith Argraves. Exciting, educational, and entertaining, these dramatizations feature sound effects, music, and professional actors portraying the high moral values demonstrated by men and women throughout history, and necessary for successful living today. 12 one-hour CDs in a vinyl storage case. A LIBRARY OF ONLINE BOOKS and BOOK PREVIEWS Clara Barton: Spirit of the American Red Cross (Read to Read) by Patricia Lakin, Simon Sullivan (selected pages) Order here Clara Barton Childhood of Famous Americans by Augusta Stevenson (selected pages) Order here Fifty American heroes every kid should meet! by Dennis Denenberg, Lorraine Roscoe (selected pages) Order here Clara Barton (American Lives) by Elizabeth Raum (selected pages) Order here Clara Barton, Photo-illustrated Biographies by Kathleen W. Deady (selected pages) Order here Clara Barton, First Biographies by Lola M. Schaefer (selected pages) Order here Clara Barton, American Legends by Frances E. Ruffin (selected pages) Order here Clara Barton, Founder of the American Red Cross by Dorothy Brenner Francis (selected pages) Order here Great Women in the Civil War: Clara Barton by Lucia Raatma(selected pages) Order here Clara Barton: Civil War Hero by Susan E. Hamen (selected pages) Order here Clara Barton: Angel of the Battlefield (Reader's Theater) by Candice Kramer (selected pages) Order here Heroines of Service Clara Barton page 61 (public domain, full view) The Story of My Childhood by Clara Barton (public domain, 1907, full view) Preview these Amazon books using the links below. Clara Barton, Buddy Books by Christy Devillier (selected pages) Clara Barton, Bio Graphics by Joeming W. Dunn (selected pages) Clara Barton, History Maker Bios by Candice F. Ransom (selected pages) Clara Barton, Founder of the American Red Cross by Barbara A. Somervill (selected pages) Clara Barton, Angel of the Battlefield by Allison Lassieur (selected pages) Sisters in Strength: American Women Who Made a Difference by Yona Zeldis McDonough, Malcah Zeldis (selected pages) Clara Barton by Carole Marsh (selected pages)

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2013-05-06 Thank you for allowing me to have access to this web page which has brought much welcomed knowledge to my classroom. My kids truly appreciate it! Flowerstar

2011-04-18 This is so amazing! I wish I were her. Christhe Vreugdenhil

2010-11-18 amazing you are a true hero jack

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Biographies in this Series

Reference citations information for these biographies

Presidents of the United States	George Washington	John Adams	Thomas Jefferson	James Madison	James Monroe	Andrew Jackson
	Martin Van Buren	Abraham Lincoln	Theodore Roosevelt	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Harry S. Truman	Dwight D. Eisenhower
	John F. Kennedy	Lyndon B. Johnson	Jimmy Carter	Ronald Reagan	Barack Obama	Calvin Coolidge
American Patriots	Benjamin Franklin	Francis Scott Key	Deborah Sampson	Molly Pitcher
World Leaders	Constantine	Alexander the Great	Winston Churchill
Inventors	Alexander Graham Bell	Johann Gutenberg	Cyrus McCormick	The Wright Brothers	Henry Ford	Thomas A. Edison
	Sequoyah	Nikola Tesla	Michael Faraday	Dean Kamen	Jack Kilby	Leonardo Da Vinci
	Donald O'Neal
Explorers	Christopher Columbus	Meriwether Lewis	Robert Peary	John Muir	Matthew Henson	Sir Edmund Hillary
	Kit Carson	Johnny Appleseed	Daniel Boone
Women who made a difference	Clara Barton	Helen Keller	Florence Nightingale	Joan of Arc	Amelia Earhart	Annie Oakley
	Susan B. Anthony	Elizabeth Keckly	Harriet Tubman	Anne Frank	Eleanor Roosevelt	Madam C.J. Walker
	Sadako Sasaki	Henrietta Lacks
Scientists	George Washington Carver	Sir Isaac Newton	Marie Curie	Louis Pasteur	Albert Einstein	Galileo
	Lise Meitner	Norman Borlaug	Benjamin Banneker
Educators	Noah Webster	Booker T. Washington	Aristotle	Mary McLeod Bethune
Physicians	Hippocrates	Walter Reed	Albert Schweitzer
Religious Leaders	George Muller	Increase Mather
Athletes	Lou Gehrig	Wilma Rudolph	Tiger Woods	Michael Phelps
Civil Rights Leaders	Martin Luther King	Rosa Parks	Sojourner Truth	Frederick Douglass	Mary Ann Shadd Cary	James Forten
	Gandhi	César Chávez	William Wilberforce	Nelson Mandela
Composers	Beethoven	Mozart
Authors	Laura Ingalls Wilder	Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)	Ernest Hemingway	Greg Mortenson	Phillis Wheatley
Artists	John James Audubon	Gutzon Borglum	Ansel Adams	Dale Chihuly	Van Gogh	Michelangelo
	Rembrandt	Grandma Moses	Cassatt	Renoir	Cezanne	Rockwell

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