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Women in New England, 17 th Century

Women in New England, 17 th Century. Puritan Women. Anne Bradstreet, 1612-1672 Average Puritan life except: 1 st American poet ½ of Puritan women could not read, over ½ could not write Emigrated from England to Massachusetts on Arbella ship. Puritan Marriage.

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Women in New England, 17 th Century

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  1. Women in New England, 17th Century

  2. Puritan Women • Anne Bradstreet, 1612-1672 • Average Puritan life except: 1st American poet • ½ of Puritan women could not read, over ½ could not write • Emigrated from England to Massachusetts on Arbella ship

  3. Puritan Marriage • Husband and wife were “spiritual equals” • Average age of bride: 24 -25 • Large families encouraged • ¼ - ½ of children died before reaching adulthood • 1/5 of adult women died in childbirth The Savage Family, 1779, by John Savage

  4. Homes in New England

  5. Households Labors for Puritan Women • Housecleaning • Cooking meals • Childcare • Mend clothes • Spin Wool • Churn Butter • Bake Bread • Preserve Food • Plant Vegetable Gardens • Make Soap, Wax Candles, & Brooms • Milk Cows • Feed Hens & Cows • And….teach daughters how to do all of the above

  6. Femme Covert v. Femme Sole • Femme Sole: Single, divorced, or widowed woman. Could sue, own land, enter business contracts • Femme Covert: Married woman with virtually no legal rights, her identity “covered” under her husband’s • Pre-nuptial agreement rare but possible 18th Century Oak Baby Cradle

  7. Divorce in New England • Punishments for adultery included death in Virginia, 1612 & Massachusetts, 1631 • Women faced public humiliation & loss of child custody • Grounds for divorce: Adultery, desertion, long absence, failure to provide, bigamy, cruelty

  8. Rights of Widows in New England • Entitled to 1/3 of late husband’s estate • Could only control her inheritance as long as she did not remarry • Dependent upon adult male children for survival Inventory of Ellis (Alice) Daggett, 1705

  9. Puritan Women in Church • Seating based upon Gender & Status • Only men allowed to speak • Walked 3 to 5 miles to Church

  10. Female Indentured Servants • Women 18 -25 years old • Several years of labor in exchange for Atlantic Ocean transportation • 1/3 of colonial households had indentured servants • 1 year of extra time added for pregnancy

  11. Gender Imbalance • England: 10 women for every 9 men • Chesapeake, 1600s: 6 men for every 1 woman • Mayflower ship: 28 women & 74 men Percy Moran, c. 19th century, Signing of the Mayflower Compact

  12. Importing Women • 140 single women imported between 1620 – 1622 • 120 - 150 pounds of tobacco to “buy” a wife • Carolina’s advertisement: “If any Maid or single Woman have a desire to go over, they will think themselves in the Golden Age, when Men paid a Dowry for their Wives; for if they be but civil, and under 50 years of Age, some honest Man or other, will purchase them for their Wives.”

  13. Interracial Marriage in the Colonies • New France had higher rates of interracial marriage than New England • 1661: Maryland bans interracial marriage • 1691: Virginia • 1705-1750: Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Delaware, & all of the South The Baptism of Pocahontas by John Chapman, 1837

  14. Pocahontas & John Rolfe • Daughter of Powhatan • Assisted settlers at Jamestown • Died around 18 years old in 1616

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