Mott, Lucretia Coffin (3 Jan. 1793-11 Nov. 1880), abolitionist and feminist, was born on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, the daughter of Thomas Coffin, Jr., a ship captain, and Anna Folger, a shopkeeper. The second of five children, Lucretia was raised in a family strongly shaped by their membership in the Society of Friends (Quakers), which includes among its tenets the equality of women and men. This abstract notion of equal abilities and worth was made concrete by her mother's success as a small shopkeeper during her father's frequent and prolonged absences.

As a child Lucretia was shocked by the horrors of slavery recounted in English Quaker and prolific author Priscilla Wakefield's Mental Improvement (1819). Other shaping forces included