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.
She was likely educated at the Salisbury Academy, studying arithmetic and reading.[3]
Later life
She married the lawyer and politician John Motley Morehead on August 25, 1821.[4][2] They had eight children: Letitia Harper, Mary Corinna, Ann Eliza, Mary Louise, Emma Victoria, John Lindsay, James Turner, and Eugene Lindsay.[4] She valued women's education and ensured that her five daughters received proper schooling.[3]
In 1825, the Moreheads settled at Blandwood, the estate of her stepfather, Henry Humphreys, in Greensboro.[4][2] They purchased the estate in 1827.[2] The year prior, in 1826, her husband was elected to represent Guilford County in the North Carolina House of Commons.[2] Although she discouraged the enslavement and reportedly "always opposed her husband’s investing largely in slaves", Morehead managed the operations at Blandwood through slave labor.[2] They had no overseer at Blandwood in 1840, so Morehead coordinated directly with thirty enslaved people including nine children under the age of ten.[2] She and her husband enslaved sixteen people on the estate by 1860, including Hannah Jones, a house slave, and Tinnan Morehead, who tended the gardens and animals.[2]
In 1841, upon her husband's election as the governor of North Carolina, the family relocated to the North Carolina Executive Mansion in Raleigh.[2] Morehead accompanied her husband to political functions and social outings in New York City, Washington, D.C., and across North Carolina and Virginia.[2] She served as the state's first lady from 1841 to 1856.[5] Following his time as governor, her husband served in the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States during the American Civil War.[6]
Morehead lived at Blandwood until her death on July 19, 1868,[2] and was buried in the First Presbyterian Church of Greensboro's cemetery. She had been a parishioner at the church.[1] Morehead suffered from poor health for several months prior to her death.[7] In her will, Morehead bequeathed a walnut table and bedstead to her former slave, Hannah, and furniture and shoes to her former slave, Tinnan.[2]
^Ham, Marie Sharpe; Blake, Debra A.; Morris, C. Edwards (2000). North Carolina's First Ladies 1891-2001, Who Have Resided in the Executive Mansion At 200 North Blount Street. Raleigh, North Carolina: The North Carolina Executive Mansion Fine Arts Committee and the North Carolina Executive Mansion Fund, Inc. p. 100. ISBN0-86526-294-2.
