Elisabeth Oesterlein
Elisabeth Oesterlein Christ was an American educator. She founded Salem College in today's Old Salem, North Carolina. She was also the school's first teacher.
Life and career
Oesterlein was born in Bethlehem in the Province of Pennsylvania in 1749. With her fellow Moravians, she relocated to the Wachovia Tract, in the Province of North Carolina, in 1766, settling initially in Bethabara. She and fifteen other girls walked the approximately from Bethlehem, on the Great Wagon Road, setting out on October 2 and arriving on October 31.She moved to Salem, Province in North Carolina, shortly thereafter, where she was elected the first teacher for a "Little Girls' School", which is today known as Salem Academy and College. In 1772, Oesterlein began teaching a class containing three students. The enrollment increased over time, and by the early 19th century over eighty students were being taught.
In 1780, Oesterlein married Rudolph Christ, a prominent potter in Bethabara and, later, Old Salem. They had five children together: Anna Elizabeth, Benigna Elizabeth, Friedrich Jacob, Johann Rudolph and Anna Sulamith. Each child died very young, with Friedrich living the longest.