Watteville, Benigna von (1725–1789)

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Watteville, Benigna von (1725–1789)

German-born countess and educator. Name variations: Benigna de Watteville; Benigna, Baroness von Watteville; Henrietta Benigna Justine Zinzendorf von Watteville; Countess Benigna von Zinzendorf; Benigna Zinzendorf; Countess of Zinzendorf and Pottendorf. Born Henrietta Benigna Justine Zinzendorf, Dec 28, 1725, in Berthelsdorf, Saxony; died May 11, 1789, in Berthelsdorf; dau. of Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf and Countess Erdmuthe Dorothea von Reuss; m. Baron Johann von Watteville (de Watteville) (Moravian cleric), 1746; children: 2 sons, 2 daughters; grandmother of noted American botanist Lewis David von Schweinitz (1780–1834).

Organized what was probably 1st girls' boarding school in American colonies in Moravian community of Germantown, PA (1742); helped reorganize school to expand curriculum (1748) and open it to students outside Moravian church (1784).