 Francisca Anna Pascalis was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in August, 1803.She was the daughter of Felix Pascalis, M.D distinguished in the medical and philosophical world, for his numerous dissertations on abstruse subjects, for his practice in the yellow fever, and other extraordinary disorders, and as a political economist, who has made great exertions in introducing into the United States the Chinese mulberry tree, in order to encourage the making of silk in this country.Her mother was a native of Philadelphia.