Zilpah Polly Grant Banister was born on May 30, 1794 in Norfolk, Connecticut. In 1820 she enrolled in the Byfield Female Seminary in Masachusetts under Reverend Joseph Emerson. She then taught at various schools around Norfolk until she began organizing the Adams Female Academy in Londonderry, New Hampshire, which opened in 1824. Here she worked as principal with Mary Lyon as her assistant. In 1828 she received an invitation to organize a school in Ipswich, Massachusetts. She remained at Ipswich Female Seminary until her retirement in 1839. On September 7, 1841, Grant married William B. Banister and moved with him to Newburyport, Massachusetts. She continued to actively promote women's education, and published a pamphlet entitled "Hints on Education" in 1856. Zilpah P. Grant Banister died on December 3, 1874 in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Mount Holyoke College has a collection of her papers in their Archives and Special Collections Department.