Mary Johnson Bailey Lincoln

Who was Mary Johnson Bailey Lincoln?

Mary Johnson Bailey Lincoln was an influential Boston cooking teacher and cookbook author. She used Mrs. D.A. Lincoln as her professional name during her husband's lifetime and in her published works; after his death, she used Mary J. Lincoln. Considered one the pioneers of the Domestic Science movement in the United States, she was among the very first to address the scientific and nutritional basis of food preparation.

Born in South Attleboro, Massachusetts, she contributed to the family income due to the death of her father when she was aged seven. In 1864 she graduated from the Wheaton Female Seminary, Norton, MA, now known as Wheaton College.

In 1865 she married David A. Lincoln of Norton, MA and "happily settled down to life as a housewife" in Boston. During the late 1870s, David Lincoln's health began to fail and Mary entered domestic service to provide an income.

When the Boston Cooking School was founded in the spring of 1879, Mary Lincoln was invited to become its first teacher. As she later recalled, "I refused to consider the proposition, for while I knew that I could cook, I knew nothing about cooking schools. ...