University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Spring 1999 Ordinary women: Government and custom in the lives of New Hampshire women, 1690-1770 Marcia Schmidt Blaine University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation Blaine, Marcia Schmidt, "Ordinary women: Government and custom in the lives of New Hampshire women, 1690-1770" (1999). Doctoral Dissertations. 2062. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/2062 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. 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ORDINARY WOMEN: GOVERNMENT AND CUSTOM IN THE LIVES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE WOMEN, 1690 - 1770 BY MARCIA SCHMIDT BLAINE B.A. The College of William and Mary, 1977 M.A. The University of New Hampshire, 1982 DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of New Hampshire in Partial Fulfillment o f the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History May, 1999 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 9926011 Copyright 1999 by Blaine, Marcia Schmidt All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9926011 Copyright 1999, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 1999 Marcia Schmidt Blaine Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This dissertation has been examined and approved. Dissertation Djiector, Eliga H. Assistant Professor of History Lucy S:arl,y Aers,sociate Professor o f History Nicoletta Gullace, Assistant Professor of History oU*,. Lisa Wilson, Chair/Professor of History Connecticut College J^^Kamensky, Asso<^atj)pProfessor of History Brandeis University // J im . Dale/ Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION.............................................................................................................. v LIST OF TABLES AND MAPS.................................................................................. vi ABSTRACT..................................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION: THE PRESENCE OF ORDINARY WOMEN IN GOVERNMENT RECORDS......................................................... 1 I. THE HELPLESS CAPTIVE: FEMALE CAPTIVES AND THE GOVERNMENT................... 17 H. WAR WIDOWS: WOMEN AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF WAR.................... 56 IE. QUIETLY PUBLIC: WOMEN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS.. 94 IV. “A WOMAN THAT KEEPS GOOD ORDERS”: FEMALE TAVERN KEEPERS AND THE COMMUNITY............ 135 V. DINING-ROOM POLITICS: WOMEN, TAVERNS, AND POLITICS...................................... 171 CONCLUSION: INDIVIDUAL PATHS................................................................... 211 BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................... 221 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. In memory of my father, Frederick K. Schmidt, who encouraged and fed my love of history with his own. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF TABLES AND MAPS PAGE Table 1: Approximate New Hampshire Population Figures ................................. 9 Table 2: Colonial Wars in New Hampshire: 1690-1763 ............................................ 22 Map 1: New Hampshire and southern Quebec: 1759................................................. 55 Map 2: Detail from “An Accurate Map of His Majesty’s Province of New Hampshire in New England,” 1761................................................................ 134 vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT ORDINARY WOMEN: GOVERNMENT AND CUSTOM IN THE LIVES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE WOMEN, 1690 - 1770 By Marcia Schmidt Blaine University of New Hampshire, May 1999 The prominence of patriarchy and common law has caused many historians to concentrate on the limitations placed on eighteenth-century Anglo-American women. The results often present women as objects, rather than subjects, of study. Using four major primary sources: Governor, Council and Assembly records, petitions, licensing materials, and treasury records, this study examines the relationship between ordinary women and the provincial government of New Hampshire in order to explain the customary options available to women in proceedings with the government. Even with a spouse still living, Anglo-American women acted as family agents and representatives when captured by the Native Americans and the French. When faced with the loss of a spouse due to war, women willingly used the right of petition to obtain what was owed them from the provincial government Despite coverture, women were accepted as ‘credible’ witnesses on wills, bonds, and sureties as well as in court. The government routinely granted women licenses to run public houses of entertainment, trusting women with what was potentially the most disorderly place in colonial society, while also giving the women who chose to run taverns a source of income. Further, government officials had faith in the few women they chose to host the homeless provincial government to vii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. keep its secrets. During the eighteenth century, change for women was not dramatic or gender-exclusive. New Hampshire women maintained their traditional focus on domestic concerns. But, operating within the law, they also maintained customary, traditional access to the government and this allowed women to provide continuity and stability for their families. Female political activity was acceptable and relatively extensive as long as it was an extension of women’s traditional focus on domestic welfare. In provincial society, women’s abilities to exert themselves and gain results related to their family connections, personality, and social position as well as their sex. New Hampshire’ relatively informal government allowed the domestic voice to blend seamlessly into the political when needed, giving women independence and autonomy within paternalistic bounds. Individual women were able to choose individual paths. viii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INTRODUCTION ORDINARY WOMEN IN GOVERNMENT RECORDS In 1690 Elizabeth Home, Widow Morgan, and Joan Fickett joined men on the seacoast of New Hampshire to petition the government of Massachusetts for protection. In 1696 various governmental committees used the house of Sarah Baker as a meeting place as they tried to figure out how to organize the watches and garrisons of New Hampshire during King William’s War. In 1703 tavern keeper Patience Atkins presented a bill to New Hampshire’s provincial government, “amounting to two pounds, for half a year’s Rent,” and was paid. Madam Rogers was listed as a taxpayer in Newcastle in 1729. A Mrs. Batson was paid fifty shillings “for the Defence of the Government” in 1744. Mrs. Peaslee sent in an account for her work nursing and lodging French prisoners of war from the Louisbourg