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ation and encouragement, and shed new lighton how the dynamics and tensions of Caroline’sprivate life spurred on the woman who deservesmore prominent recognition than as the “motherof clubs.”A Buoyant PersonalityTheodoric Cordenio Severance was the “mostjolly and genial person imaginable.” Neither thegravitas of his given name nor the tragedy thatmarred his adolescence had affected his “merrydisposition.” The second child of Robert Bruceand Diana Long Severance, he was born inShelburne township in western Massachusettson March 1, 1814. His father, a physician whosePuritan ancestors had come to MassachusettsBay Colony around 1634, named his son inhonor of an accomplished medieval surgeon. Tomake ends meet, Robert Severance operated ageneral store adjoining his home in the hamletof Shelburne Center. The nearest competitor wassix miles away, but Severance’s store never trulythrived. According to his family and friends,Robert’s “whole thought and study was given tohis profession.” 2Theodoric Cordenio and his older brother, SolomonLewis, assisted their father in running thestore. The younger boy soon gained a nickname,T.C., which better suited his buoyant personalityand quick wit.Caroline Seymour Severance (1820–1914) was at theforefront of almost every major progressive reform effortundertaken during the nineteenth century. Yet her name isnot as well known today as those of Lucy Stone, Julia WardHowe, and Susan B. Anthony, her sister abolitionists andwomen’s rights leaders. Though Caroline herself modestlydiscounted her contributions and accomplishments, writingat midlife, “I have done so little to justify my years,” herrole as a trailblazer—particularly for women’s suffrage—distinguishes her as a pioneering California social reformer.Library of Congress1