[2] She was the youngest daughter of Josiah Quincy III, who served as president of Harvard University, U.S. Representative, and Mayor of Boston.

[5] After passing two years in Europe, and, just as they were all about to return home, their daughter, Helen Ruthven Waterston (1841 - July 25, 1858), died at Naples, Italy.

When her father entertained Lafayette, she was a school girl, but the occasions made such an impression upon her mind that she retained a vivid remembrance of it in later years.

Her carved marble bust was sculpted by Edmonia Lewis and is held by the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

[11] In 2003, her diary, written at the age of seventeen, was posthumously published under the title A Woman's Wit and Whimsy.