Editing Elizabeth Van Lew (section)

==Early life==
Elizabeth Van Lew was born on October 12, 1818, in [[Richmond, Virginia]]. Her father was John Van Lew and Eliza Baker was her mother.<ref name=":1" /> Her maternal grandfather was [[Hilary Baker]], [[mayor of Philadelphia]] from 1796 to 1798. John Van Lew came to Richmond in 1806, at the age of 16; within 20 years, he had built up a prosperous hardware business and owned several slaves.<ref>{{cite book|last=Tsui|first=Bonnie|title=She Went to the Field: Women Soldiers of the Civil War|location=Guilford|publisher=Two Dot|date=2006|isbn=9780762743841|pages=100, 102}}</ref>

Van Lew was educated in Philadelphia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/media/article-search.htm|title=Elizabeth Van Lew|website=National Park Services|access-date=2016-07-06}}</ref> The [[Quaker]] school she attended is thought to have been influential in forming her anti-slavery views.<ref name=":24"/> Following her father's death in 1843, Van Lew and her mother continued to live in the family's home in Richmond. John Van Lew's will stipulated that none of the family's enslaved human property could be freed.<ref name=":24"/> However, Elizabeth and her mother helped the slaves in their household to earn wages and a measure of freedom. While the Van Lew family benefited from slavery, she believed it would eventually fade away. Her hope was that Southerners would free their slaves and that emancipation by [[manumission]] would gradually end the practice that she viewed as abhorrent and destructive to [[Southern United States|the South]].<ref name=":24"/>