I was born in the Year of Our Lord 1730 in Prussian Germany, unto honest and industrious parents who instructed me from my earliest years in the fear of God, diligence in labour, and the virtues of learning. Though my homeland was dear unto me, opportunity and the promise of a better life led my family to undertake the long and perilous voyage across the Atlantic to the American colonies in 1747.

Upon my arrival, I settled for a time in Tryon County in the Province of North Carolina, where I was employed as a schoolmistress. It was my great privilege to instruct the children of the settlement in reading, writing, arithmetic, and the Holy Scriptures, believing that education and Christian virtue were among the greatest gifts that might be bestowed upon the rising generation.

Through the acquaintance of mutual friends, I entered into correspondence with Mr. Terence Patrick Kendrick of South Carolina, a gentleman skilled in surveying and the making of sea charts. Our letters continued for many months, and from them grew mutual affection and esteem. At length he journeyed by the Great Wagon Road to make my personal acquaintance, and, by God’s good providence, our friendship soon ripened into love. We were thereafter united in holy matrimony.

Following our marriage, I removed with my husband to South Carolina, where we established our home and devoted ourselves to the cultivation and improvement of our plantation. The management of a household upon the frontier required constant industry. I oversaw the preparation of meals, the spinning and mending of clothing, the making of candles and soap, the tending of our kitchen garden, and the care of our livestock, whilst also assisting in the keeping of household accounts whenever occasion required.

The Lord hath graciously blessed our marriage with three sons: James, Joseph, and Robert. It hath ever been my earnest desire to raise them in the Christian faith, to teach them habits of honesty, perseverance, and charity, and to prepare them to become worthy men and faithful citizens.