Early Life and Artistic Beginnings Susan Catherine Moore Waters, born May 18, 1823, in the quiet town of Binghamton, New York, emerged as a remarkable figure in 19th-century American art—a self-taught painter who navigated a world largely dominated by male artists. Her early life was marked by resourcefulness and an innate artistic inclination. Growing up in a Quaker household with her cooper father, Lark Moore, and mother Sally, Waters received little formal training but demonstrated talent from a young age. She attended Friendsville Boarding School in Pennsylvania, where she cleverly barte…