A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Gaston, Margaret
GASTON, MARGARET.
Was born in the county of Cumberland, about the year 1775. Her maiden name was Sharpe. Her parents being Catholics, were desirous of giving their daughter better advantages of education, connected with their own faith, than could be found in this country; therefore Margaret was sent to France, and brought up in a convent. She was very happy in her secluded life; and her conduct in her subsequent history shews that she was well trained. Having two brothers residing in America, she went thither to visit them; and married, in North Carolina, Dr. Alexander Gaston, of Huguenot ancestry. This was about the commencement of the war of Independence; and Dr. Gaston espoused the cause of his country, in which he lost his life.
Her brothers and eldest son having died before this sad event, Mrs. Gaston had no relatives in America but her two surviving children, William, a boy of three years old, and an infant daughter, to the care and instruction of whom she entirely devoted herself.
Though still young when left a widow, she never laid aside the habiliments of sorrow; and the anniversary of her husband's death was kept as a day of fasting and prayer. The great object of her life was the instruction of her son, and imbuing his mind with the highest principles, the noble integrity, and Christian faith, which shone conspicuous in herself. Her income being small, she practised economy to enable her to gratify her dearest wish, and procure for him a complete education; while her maternal tenderness did not dispense with implicit obedience; and strict admonitions, or yet stricter discipline, were employed to correct the faults of childhood and youth.
This cherished son William, (afterwards the distinguished judge Gaston, of North Carolina,) graduated at Princeton, taking the highest honours of the institution. When he returned home, before his mother embraced or welcomed him, she laid her hands on his head, as he knelt before her, and breathed forth the feelings of her soul in the exclamation—"My God I thank thee!"