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Women in New England, 17 th Century
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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
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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
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Homes in New England
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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
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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 18 th Century Oak Baby Cradle
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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
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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 on adult male children for survival Inventory of Ellis (Alice) Daggett, 1705
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Puritan Women in Church Seating based upon Gender & Status Only men allowed to speak Walked 3 to 5 miles to Church
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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
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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. 19 th century, Signing of the Mayflower Compact
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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.”
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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
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Pocahontas & John Rolfe Daughter of Powhatan Assisted settlers at Jamestown Died around 18 years old in 1616
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