Catherine Elizabeth Benson, née Brewer (24 January 1822 – 27 February 1908) was one of the earliest women to earn a college bachelor's degree in the US.
She was daughter of Thomas Aspinwall Brewer (born August 20, 1792, in Brookline, Massachusetts, died on September 26, 1874, in Macon, Georgia) and Mary Foster Brewer (born February 29, 1796, in Roxbury, Massachusetts, died on January 31, 1871, in Macon) who were married on October 3, 1820, in Roxbury.
She had younger sister Adeline (born October 5, 1825, in Lexington, Georgia, died on March 9, 1896, in Macon; she married firstly Napoleon Bonaparte Corbin on August 8, 1850, and secondly Robert B. Clayton on December 21, 1866, in Macon) and younger brother Edward Ebenezer (born June 4, 1828, in Lexington, died June 8, 1864, in Macon; he married Caroline Elizabeth Jones on July 17, 1858, in Fort Valley, Georgia).
In nearby Gray, Georgia, she enrolled in Clinton Female Seminary.
They had eight children: Catherine Benson died at her home in Macon on February 27, 1908, at the age of 86[6] after several weeks of illness.