She was born as Eunice Newton in 1819 in Goshen, Connecticut, but grew up In Bloomfield, New York and was educated at the Troy Female Seminary in 1836-37 where she was taught scientific theory by Amos Eaton. Her mother was Thirza Newton,[4] and her father was Isaac Newton Jr., originally of Goshen, Connecticut and later a farmer and entrepreneur in East Bloomfield, New York[2][5] She had six sisters and five brothers.[6]