Harriet Low
Harriet Low Hillard (May 18, 1809 – 1877) was an American writer and diarist. She spent four years in Macau, a Portuguese city on the coast of China, from 1829 to 1833. Harriet and her sick aunt became the first American women to live in China. She kept a long journal written as letters to her sister Mary Ann, describing daily life, social events, and the people she met.
Harriet arrived in Macau in September 1829 and quickly became part of the colony’s social scene. She met artists and merchants, and she was invited to many balls, teas, and dinners. She even tried to visit Canton, the main Chinese trading area, by disguising herself and her aunt as men, but the plan was stopped when it was discovered. During this time she also became secretly engaged to a young American, William Wood, but her uncle forced her to end the engagement.
In 1833 Harriet returned to the United States with her aunt and uncle; her uncle died on the journey home. She later married John Hillard in 1836. They lived in London and then moved to New York, where they had eight children—five daughters and three sons. Only the daughters survived into adulthood; one, Mary Hillard Loines, was active in the women’s suffrage movement. After her husband’s bank failed in 1848, the family moved to Brooklyn to live with Harriet’s father. John Hillard died in 1859, and Harriet was supported by family members for the rest of her life.
Harriet’s Macau journal is an important historical source. It fills nine volumes and more than 900 pages, written as letters to her sister. It has been published in several editions and is now kept in the Library of Congress. The journals provide a first-hand look at life in Macau and the broader China trade in the early 1800s.
A bronze drinking fountain in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden was created in Harriet Low Hillard’s memory by her granddaughter.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 04:58 (CET).