A Colonial Mother's Day

On this day after Mother's Day, I thought it would be fun to highlight some of the resources I've used over the years to recreate the day of a colonial woman, specifically a wife and mother, in my stories.

First are three books covering the basics of cooking and herbs, both culinary and medicinal, with tidbits of other historical information sprinkled throughout: The Backcountry Housewife: A Study of Eighteenth-Century Foods (Moss and Hoffman), Revolutionary War Period Cookery (Pelton), and Colonial Spices & Herbs (Mitchell). The other three are much more involved. First pictured is The Way of Duty: A Woman and Her Family in Revolutionary America (Buel & Buel), an account of Connecticut resident Mary Fish Silliman (1736-1818) and her family. Next is Belonging to the Army: Camp Followers and Community during the American Revolution (Mayer), which I drew heavily on while writing my yet-unpublished RevWar story, Loyalty's Cadence, and for a previous article on camp-following wives (see also the excellent article on the same subject by Joan Hochstetler). Third is Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence (Berkin), a fascinating collection of accounts of women spanning patriots and loyalists, enslaved and free, European and native.

 "Mother's Day" as we know it, of course, would not become a thing until 1908 (thank you, Google), but what did a day in the life of a colonial mother look like?

As a wife and mother of a large family myself, I would say one word: BUSY. Running a household in any era is no walk in the park, but pre-technology, the workload was staggering, even if one had help in the way of family members, hired servants, or slaves. The assistance of grandparents and unmarried aunts (or uncles) was both expected and welcomed. Older children learned early to help as well, either in simple chores or with caring for both the very young and very old. The contribution of extended family was necessary to the overall workings of a family, which made westward expansion even more perilous in terms of emotional and physical well-being. Aging adults longed to be useful as long as possible and not mere drains on their family's precious resources.

The question remains whether women were seen as mere drudges to serve their families, or whether there was indeed a mostly unspoken honor to the role of wife and mother. I would say, both were true, depending upon the region and individuals involved. Women's rights were definitely on the radar, even for a "proper" Christian wife like Abigail Adams, as we see in a letter to her husband John:

"I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation. That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of Friend."

Still, there was recognition in a woman's value in the family, as mother or otherwise, as implied in this quote by Abigail Adams:

If we mean to have Heroes, Statesmen and Philosophers, we should have learned women. The world perhaps would laugh at me, and accuse me of vanity, but you I know have a mind too enlarged and liberal to disregard the Sentiment. If much depends as is allowed upon the early Education of youth and the first principals which are instill'd take the deepest root, great benefit must arise from literary accomplishments in women.

Also there was recognition in the value just of rearing children, as stated in these words attributed to Benjamin Franklin--admittedly one of my favorites, and every bit as applicable to a woman as to a man:

He that raises a large family does, indeed, while he lives to observe them, stand a broader mark for sorrow; but then he stands a broader mark for pleasure too.

Busy a woman might be, subjected to uncertainty and hardship and other trials of this life, but many is the wife, mother, grandmother, sister, or aunt who has enjoyed a deep and lasting relationship with those entrusted to her care. One might argue that a woman's life was no less fulfilling or significant then than it is today.

(A nod to Carla Gade's excellent article from two years ago, Motherhood in Colonial Times.)

Battle of Bunker Hill and John Quincy Adams

by Elaine Marie Cooper

During the nighttime hours of June 17, 1775, cannon explosions in the distance awoke John Quincy Adams and his mother Abigail. John Quincy was only eight years of age, the eldest son of John Adams, who was then a delegate in Philadelphia at the Second Continental Congress. The night of terror with the British troops attacking the Patriots on Bunker Hill in Boston seared memories of terror in the young Adams child. Over 70 years later, he wrote about the incident and that frightening time in their lives.

Abigail Adams

He penned the recollections of his family’s expulsion from Boston the year before, taking refuge in their Braintree farm. He described Boston as a “walled and beleaguered town,” under the control of the British under General Thomas Gage. For twelve months John Quincy, his mother and siblings lived on their farm in the fear that Gage’s troops would invade the homes in the countryside and butcher them “in cold blood.” With his father gone, the burden on John Quincy must have seemed overwhelming.

And then on June 17, their fears were flamed anew with the roar of guns and cannons in the distance:

“…on the 17th. Of June lighted the fires of Charlestown -- I saw with my own eyes those fires, and heard Britannia's thunders in the Battle of Bunker's hill and witnessed the tears of my mother and mingled with them my own, at the fall of Warren a dear friend of my father, and a beloved Physician to me. He had been our family physician and surgeon, and had saved my fore finger from amputation under a very bad fracture.” (Massachusetts Historical Society)

Dr. Joseph Warren was known to John Quincy as his family physician. But to the Revolutionaries in Massachusetts, Warren had become a major leader in the Patriot cause. According to Nathaniel Philbrick in Bunker Hill:

“Over the course of the two critical months between the outbreak of hostilities at Lexington Green and the Battle of Bunker Hill, he (Warren) became the most influential patriot leader in the province of Massachusetts…While his more famous compatriots John Adams, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams were in Philadelphia at the Second Continental Congress, Warren was orchestrating the on-the-ground reality of a revolution.”

John Quincy Adams

For John Quincy Adams, the Battle of Bunker Hill became a personal loss, one from which he never seemed to completely recover. According to Philbrick, “Even after John Quincy Adams had grown into adulthood and become a public figure, he refused to attend all anniversary celebrations of the Battle Of Bunker Hill.”

The memory must have been far too painful, even for a future President of the United States.

Video from John Adams 

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When I was a girl I walked up the 294 steps to the top of the Bunker Hill Monument, the granite edifice that memorializes this famous battle of the American Revolution. You can still visit the monument, but the stairs are currently closed for repairs. For more information on the Bunker Hill Museum, click here. 

Admission is free.

Elaine Marie Cooper grew up in Massachusetts, visiting the sites where the American Revolution began. You can read her historical fiction about the opening days of that war in Fields of the Fatherless.

Abigail Adams

Abigail Adams, the devoted and stalwart wife of John Adams, was born in November 1744, and left this world October 28, 1818 from typhoid fever. She was self-educated and an avid letter-writer validated by the multitudes of letters she wrote to her beloved John.

Abigail was a force in her time. She advocated for married women's property rights, and better opportunities for women especially in education. Abigail believed slavery was an evil institution and spoke openly against it.

When John was elected President of the United States, Abigail was the first lady to live in the White House, or the President's House. She and John were Unitarian Christian and are buried side by side in a crypt in the United First Parish Church in Quincy, Massachusetts, also known as The Church of the Presidents. 

Here are some of her most famous quotes.

"When will Mankind be convinced that true Religion is from the Heart, between Man and his creator, and not the imposition of Man or creeds and tests?"

“I hate to complain...No one is without difficulties, whether in high or low life, and every person knows best where their own shoe pinches.” 

“I've always felt that a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic.” 

“Remember the Ladies.” 

“Great necessities call out great virtues.” 

“A people fired ... with love of their country and of liberty, a zeal for the public good, and a noble emulation of glory, will not be disheartened or dispirited by a succession of unfortunate events. But like them, may we learn by defeat the power of becoming invincible.”

“I need a sitting room where I can entertain my friends, but I must have a library where my books entertain me.” 

Rita Gerlach writes historical romances and historical dramas set in both Colonial America and Georgian England. You can visit her site at http://ritagerlach.blogspot.com