Editing Julia Ward Howe (section)

==Personal life==
[[File:HOWS V2 D0852 Julia Ward Howe (cropped).png|thumb|left|Julia Ward Howe]]

Though raised an Episcopalian, Julia became a Unitarian by 1841.<ref>[http://uudb.org/articles/juliawardhowe.html Biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417114242/http://uudb.org/articles/juliawardhowe.html |date=April 17, 2019 }} Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography</ref> In Boston, Ward met [[Samuel Gridley Howe]], a physician and reformer who had founded the [[Perkins School for the Blind]].<ref name=VanB /><ref>{{cite web|title=Julia Ward Howe|url=https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/julia-ward-howe|work=National Women's History Museum}}</ref> Howe had courted her, but he had shown an interest in her sister Louisa.<ref>Williams, Gary. ''Hungry Heart: The Literary Emergence of Julia Ward Howe''. Amherst: [[University of Massachusetts Press]], 1999: 33. {{ISBN|1-55849-157-0}}</ref> In 1843, they married despite their eighteen-year age difference.<ref name=VanB /> She gave birth to their first child while honeymooning in Europe. She bore their last child in December 1859 at the age of forty. They had six children: [[Julia R. Anagnos|Julia Romana Howe]] (1844–1886), [[Florence Howe Hall|Florence Marion Howe]] (1845–1922), [[Henry Marion Howe]] (1848–1922), [[Laura E. Richards|Laura Elizabeth Howe]] (1850–1943), [[Maud Howe Elliott|Maud Howe]] (1855–1948), and Samuel Gridley Howe Jr. (1859–1863). Howe was an aunt of novelist [[Francis Marion Crawford]]. Ward’s marriage to Howe was troublesome for her. He did not approve of her writing and did everything he could to disrupt her creative efforts.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Showalter, Elaine|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/952647568|title=The civil wars of Julia Ward Howe : a biography|date=February 28, 2017|publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-4516-4591-0|oclc=952647568}}</ref>

Howe raised her children in [[South Boston]], while her husband pursued his advocacy work. She hid her unhappiness with their marriage, earning the nickname "the family champagne" from her children.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/03/16/470444422/battle-hymn-at-the-dining-table-a-famous-feminist-subjugated-through-food|title=Battle Hymn at the Dining Table: A Famous Feminist Subjugated Through Food|last=Martyris|first=Nina|date=March 16, 2016|publisher=NPR|access-date=July 30, 2016}}</ref> She made frequent visits to [[Gardiner, Maine]], where she stayed at "The Yellow House," a home built originally in 1814 and later home to her daughter [[Laura E. Richards|Laura]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gpl.lib.me.us/richards_yellow_house.html|title=Gardiner Public Library, Gardiner, Maine|access-date=December 18, 2015|archive-date=August 16, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816223838/http://www.gpl.lib.me.us/richards_yellow_house.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Howe was a vegetarian in the late 1830s but was eating meat again by 1843.<ref>Showalter, Elaine (2017). ''The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe: A Biography''. Simon & Schuster. p. 17. {{ISBN|978-1451645910}}</ref><ref>[https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/richards/howe/howe-I.html "Julia Ward Howe: 1819-1910"]. digital.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved April 12, 2023.</ref> In 1852, the Howes bought a "country home" with 4.7 acres of land in [[Portsmouth, Rhode Island]], which they called "[[Oak Glen (Portsmouth, Rhode Island)|Oak Glen]]."<ref name="Zilian">{{cite web|title=Julia Ward Howe, Author of Battle Hymn, Spent Much of Her Life in Portsmouth|url=https://zilianblog.com/2014/03/24/julia-ward-howe-author-of-battle-hymn-spent-much-of-her-life-in-portsmouth/|website=Zilian Commentary|date=March 24, 2014|access-date=May 4, 2017}}</ref> They continued to maintain homes in Boston and Newport, but spent several months each year at Oak Glen.<ref name="Zilian" />