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Rebecca Kilgore Stuart Red

Austin, Travis County, Texas

Marker Inscription

(1827-1886) Rebecca Jane Kilgore Stuart became principal of Live Oak Female Seminary in Washington County, Texas, in 1853. In 1854 she married Dr. George Clark Red and continued teaching. The Reds moved to Austin in 1876, and opened Stuart Female Seminary at 1212 East 9th Street. Rebecca continued teaching until nine days before her death in 1886. She was buried in Oakwood Cemetery. Her heirs donated her property to the Presbyterian Synod of Texas in 1899. The Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary was operated at that site from 1902 until 1907. (1988)

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Rebecca Jane Kilgore Stuart Red became principal of the Live Oak Female Seminary in Washington County in 1853 and kept teaching after her 1854 marriage to Dr. George Clark Red. Moving to Austin in 1876, the couple opened the Stuart Female Seminary, and she taught until nine days before her death in 1886. Her heirs later gave the property to the Presbyterian Synod, and the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary operated on the site in the early 1900s.

Why it matters

Her lifelong career educating young women marks the important role of female educators in the nineteenth-century South and the roots of Texas Presbyterian higher education.

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Related people

  • · Rebecca Kilgore Stuart Red
  • · George Clark Red

Themes & tags

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