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Concept
Madame Grelaud's French School
Summary
Madame Grelaud's French School, also called Madame Grelaud's Seminary, was a boarding school for girls in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which ran from approximately 1809–1849. Many prominent northerners and southerners sent their daughters to such institutions to participate in rigorous academic curricula and learn about elite aspects of culture. The school is an example of the fashionable French-centered education, popular throughout the nineteenth century.
Deborah Grelaud emigrated as an exile from Saint-Domingue in 1793 during the Haitian Revolution. She fled with her four young children: John, Arthur, Titon, and Aurora. After spending a few years in Annapolis, Maryland, she moved to Philadelphia and opened the academy. Deborah Grelaud's husband is believed to have had a position with the successful merchant Stephen Girard, who was known to help refugees of the Haitian and French Revolutions. Her sons subsequently served as supercargoes on Girard's ships. Many refugees of both the French Revolution and the Haitian Revolution lived in destitution in the United States, despite their previous status. Whether or not Grelaud risked destitution, she and other exiles from Haiti, including Anne Marie Sigoigne and Charles and Marie Picot, opened French schools in Philadelphia to support themselves.
Grelaud was a widow when she opened her school in Philadelphia. Nevertheless, she possessed the skills to operate a successful school. Grelaud had been a woman of high social standing in Saint-Domingue. She had notable intellect, proficient training in music, and excellent administration skills. There is not a known portrait of Madame Grelaud, however, the artist Henry Dmochowski Saunders produced her likeness on a bronze medallion. Her name has also been spelled “Greland.”
Women's education grew in importance following the American Revolutionary War. The social elites sought the finest education for their daughters as education reflected class and could result in agreeable marriages.
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