Lexington Baptist Female College

Lexington Baptist Female College appears in the account as a formative school in Martha Ellen Truman’s youth: she was sent there after growing up on her family’s farm, and its two-year course left her with a lifelong love of books.

Place in Her Education

After learning practical skills at home on the farm, Martha Ellen Truman was sent to Lexington Baptist Female College in Lexington, Missouri. She studied there for two years, away from the rhythms of farm life described in the account.

Studies and Lasting Influence

At the college, she learned to sketch and play the piano. Her education also fostered a lasting attachment to books and to the poetry of Alexander Pope, making the school significant in the account chiefly through the interests she carried beyond her years there.