Women of the Revolution?

[MamaBear]

I've heard the stories of Mother Batherick, Hannah Davis, Molly Pitcher, Hannah Adams and Prue Wright, but does anyone know where I might be able to find more stories about other women of the Revolution?  I have actually been called to represent Appleseed at an All Women's Meeting this weekend along with Cookie Lady and ben1775.  We have to give a short presentation (about 30 min or so) and I would love to tell some brief history of the women of the Revolution.  Their strength, their sacrifice and their resolve.
I am also going to speak about what Appleseed means to me- being a wife and a mother and an instructor in the program- that will be the easy part for me! 

Any suggestions are appreciated and welcomed.   

MB

[Evenstar]

Are you looking for JUST older women/mothers? Cause I know there is a story about Elizabeth Zane, only she's 18...

[Western Rose]

Ishy has a good one on Nancy Hart.

I've heard that 22calgal has some.

PHenry has a couple.

I THINK Long Rifle has some as well.

[SamD]

BlueFeather has a couple too

[Trisha]

Old Glory just got a book called Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts. It looks good and it is a book I want to read. You might want to ask her about it.

I also have a book called Glory, Passion and Principle, the story of eight remarkable women at the core of the American Revolution, by Melissa Lukeman Bohrer. Truthfully I haven't been able to even crack it open with how swamped I have been with my classes ending. It looks like a great a book, and if you have time maybe pick it up and read it....

[artkat2]

How about a little more on Margaret Kemble Gage?

Sorry to offer a suggestion without any help, but I'm very impressed by her actions. To be completely surrounded by loyalists, and still hold true to her values...

I haven't read any more about her than what is in PRR, but it would seem she certainly traded her liberty for ours.

Just a thought
Good luck this weekend!

Andy

[NorCal22Gal]

Trisha,

Founding Mothers was very good.  

I was given some books called Women of the American Revolution by E F Ellett.  There are 3 in the series.  Not sure where they were purchased but I can find out.  There are some really nice stories.  The books were written in the early 1800's by a woman whose mother was the daughter of a Revolutionary War Captian.

I'll get the info from my friend and post it here.

NorCal22Gal

[Earl]

My library gave me these titles:
            Founding mothers : the women who raised our nation
   by Roberts, Cokie.

      Heroines of the American Revolution : America''s founding mothers
   by Silcox-Jarrett, Diane.

[SavageShootr]

Lots of great information on this page.

Here is a link that has others and is easy to access.

http://colonialancestors.com/revolutionary/women.htm

MamaBear... You will do well.

[SavageShootr]

Here is another link, provided to me by V.

http://www.concordma.com/magazine/sept98/liberty.html

[MamaBear]

Wow!  Thanks much, everyone- those are great suggestions!  artkat- I like your idea about more on Margaret Kemble Gage- You know, she's usually not the first one to come to mind when I think about "Women of the Revolution", but she was an integral part of our start as a nation!  Thanks again to everyone- I will get to researching now as I only have about 48 hrs to prepare, eek!    


MB

[MamaBear]

Are you looking for JUST older women/mothers? Cause I know there is a story about Elizabeth Zane, only she's 18...

Evenstar-

Nope- doesn't have to be older women and mothers- in fact, I would LOVE to have information on someone so young!  Could you send me a link or info about her- (just PM me, or something)  Thank you!!

MB

[Ishy]

Here's a website with some fun information on Nancy Hart.   

http://smithdray.tripod.com/history/nancyhart.htm

Some other fascinating women to research are Anne Bailey, Margaret Catherine Moore, Betty Zane, Sybil Ludington, Angelica Vrooman, and Lydia Darragh.

Have a great time at the all-ladies shoot!

Ishy

[NorCal22Gal]

E.F (Elizabeth Fries) Ellet. The Women of the American Revolution. 3 volumes of letters and stories.  Try amazon.

There is one letter in vol 1 that I read at our events from Hannah Winthorp to her friend Mercy Warren...it's a real tear jerker.

I can post it if anyone is interested.

NorCal22Gal

[kentuckyjam]

Please post!

[henschman]

My great great great great great great great great grandmother was a Revolutionary War veteran.  Her name was Elizabeth Cummins Jackson (she was Stonewall Jackson's great grandmother).  When her husband and two oldest sons were off fighting at the Battle of King's Mountain, she stayed behind and helped secure their home town.  When Indians allied with the British attacked the town, she fortified the family house (calling it "Fort Jackson") and helped fight them off and protect the townspeople.

The story of how she got to the colonies from England is pretty remarkable, as well... there are 2 different versions out there.  One holds that she used a 1000 Pound Sterling inheritance to buy passage to America and made the crossing by herself (which was a very uncommon thing for a single woman to do).  Another version I've heard is that she was convicted of theft, and was sentenced to indentured servanthood in America and was sent over on a prison ship.  Either way, she ended up buying land in her own name (also rare for that time) and married John Jackson in Maryland.  They later settled in modern West Virginia.  They say she was of a large build -- she was over 6 feet tall, but very beautiful.  Her Husband George Jackson was short and with a slight build... they must have made quite the odd couple, but they were very much in love.

[The Machine]

Either way, she ended up buying land in her own name (also rare for that time) and married John Jackson in Maryland.  They later settled in modern West Virginia.

Here's a short bio I found about her: http://www.wvdar.org/ElizabethZane/jackson-bio.htm

[Strawberry Roan]

There's another lady veteran, Deborah Sampson, who joined later in the war, but was successful for about 18 months in concealing her real identity.  She actually saw combat and was wounded.  The source I've been reading is "Masquerade, The life and times of Deborah Sampson, Continental Soldier" by Alfred F. Young.  Bit of a dry read, but does an excellent job of sorting through the myths surrounding her escapades and provides excellent original sources.  She actually was able to win a pension!
Another of my personal favorites was Lydia Parker, Captain John Parker's wife.  The links in the first thread in the history section here provides access to her depositions after the battle of Lexington and Concord.  Good luck!
Strawberry Roan

[nyrasgt]

Ladies - and Gentlemen,
   Another name I've not seen referenced as yet:  Millie Barrett...as in Millie Barrett's Scissors (Google-able), which artifact that can be found, I believe, in the Concord Museum...an apocryphal story says she used them to cut paper for pattern musket cartidges...scissors presented to museum in something like 24 March, 1875...worth a look or two, as not one of the "regulars," about which we repeatedly hear...Batherick, Wright, etc.
  Second recommendation - pm Imker (Alan Tremblay, of Tremblay Apiaries of Van Etten, NY)-he reworked Second Strike from the pov of Hannah Davis...excellent, moving, and not the usual "take" on the event.
Excelsior,
madMark

[nyrasgt]

Ladies and Gentlemen,
  The following, while not specific to 19 April, 1775, are nevertheless highly motivational regarding marksmanship,
and are all by relatively well-known people of the female persuasion:

   1.First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt on teaching the young to be competent markspersons:
        "  When they were old enough to be taught the use of guns as firearms and to use them properly, then
           shooting becomes a skill - a training of hand and eye."

   2.  Annie Oakley Butler (8/13/1860 - 11/3/1926)
        a.  "Aim for a high mark and you will hit it.
              No, not the first time, nor the second,
              and maybe not the third.                    (Boy, did she ever know about the QDAQT!)
              But keep on aiming and keep on shooting,
             for only practice will make you perfect.
             Finally, you will hit the bulls-eye of success."

       b.  "It is largely a matter of determination and practice
             that makes good marksmen and women."

       c.  " If women and girls would learn the skill (target shooting),
             they would add to their happiness by falling in love with
             one of the finest of sports."

       d.  "Women should be prepared, not necessarily for war,
            although it would not be undesireable to have them ready
            for extreme emergencies in war time, but to defend themselves.
            I have an ideal for my sex; I have wanted them
            to be capable of defending their homes."

     I think Pru Wright, Mother Batherick, Margaret Gage, and Hannah Davis would approve.

Excelsior,
madMark
           
       

[Miki]

I found a copy of this,
http://www.amazon.com/Patriots-Petticoats-Landmark-Shirley-Redmond/dp/0375823581/ref=sr_1_1/189-1910171-1242842?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273457249&sr=1-1
at my local library. Good starting place to find women to do more research on.

[NorCal22Gal]

Letter from a book called "The Women of the American Revolution" by Elizabeth Fries Ellet. Written in 1848.  Dedicated to her mother Sarah Maxwell Lummis, the daughter of a revolutionary officer, this work is respectfully and affectionately inscribed.


Excerpt from a letter from Hannah Winthrop to her very good friend Mercy Warren (wife of Colonel James Warren)

"Nor can I ever forget, nor will old time ever erase the horrors of that midnight cry, preceding the bloody massacre at Lexington, when we were roused from the benign slumbers of the season, by beat of drum and ringing of bells, with the dire alarm that a thousand of the troops of George the Third had gone forth to murder the peaceful inhabitants of the surrounding villages.  A few hrs, with the dawning day, convinced us the bloody purpose was executing; the platoon firing assuring us the rising sun must witness the bloody carnage.  Not knowing what the even would be at Cambridge, at the return of these bloody ruffians, and seeing another brigade dispatched to the assistance of the former, looking with the ferocity of barbarians, it seemed necessary to retire to some place of safety, till the calamity was passed.  After dinner we set out, not knowing whiter we went.  We were directed to a place called Fresh-pond, about a mile from the town; but what a distressed house did we find it, filled with women whose husbands had gone forth to meet the assailants, 70 or 80 of these (with numberless infant children) weeping and agonizing for the fate of their husbands.  In addition to this scene of distress, we were for sometime in sight of the battle; the glittering instrument of death proclaiming by an incessant fire that much blood must be shed; that many widowed and orphaned ones must be left as monuments of British barbarity.  Another uncomfortable night we passed; some nodding off in their chairs, some resting their weary limbs on the floor.  The welcome harbingers of day gave notice of its dawning light.  It brings no news.  It is unsafe to return to Cambridge, as the enemy were advancing up the river, and fixing on the town to stay in. 

"Thus with precipitancy we were driven to the town of Anderson, following some of our acquaintance-five of us to be conveyed with one poor tired horse and chaise; thus we began our pilgrimage, alternately walking and riding, the roads filled with frightened women and children; some in carts with their tattered furniture, others on foot fleeing into the woods.  But what added greatly to the horrors of the scene, was our passing through the bloody field at Monotong, which was strewed with the mangled bodies.  We met one affectionate father with a cart, looking for his murdered son, and picking up his neighbors who had fallen in battle, in order for their burial."

[MamaBear]

These are all VERY good!  The Town Hall Women's Meeting went very well, and we have an All Women's Appleseed on the 22, 23rd and we try to tailor some of the history from the POV of the women of that day, so these will be great!  You know what Fred always says when it comes to history..."More is better."!

I thank you all again for your suggestions and help!


MB

[TruTenacity]

I did a Google book search for Elizabeth Zane and came upon this chapter in the book entitled:

Short stories from American history By Albert Franklin Blaisdell, Francis Kingsley Ball
http://books.google.com/books?id=-2oAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA64&dq=elizabeth+Zane&lr=&ei=h7buS_2BKYvANuG59MEP&cd=13#v=onepage&q=elizabeth%20Zane&f=false

Here is another book I came across.  I haven't read it yet, but thought I'd post it anyway.

The Pioneer Mothers of America: a Record of the more Notable Women of the Early Days of the Country, and Particularly of the Colonial and Revolutionary Periods ... By Harry Clinton Green, Mary Wolcott Green
http://books.google.com/books?id=4TkEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR4&dq=Millie+Barrett&lr=&ei=qrruS6GLH4v0Nb_umbwP&cd=19#v=onepage&q&f=false

The Women of the American revolution, Volume 1 By Elizabeth Fries Ellet is available as a free download
http://books.google.com/books?id=S9qjiOGxJJEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Millie+Barrett&lr=&source=gbs_similarbooks_s&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false


The family's recent Amazon order:
A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier
Joseph Plumb Martin, Thomas Fleming

Lexington and Concord: The Beginning of the War of the American Revolution
Arthur Bernon Tourtellot

The Women of the American Revolution Volumes I and II and III
Elizabeth F. Ellet
(Didn't know Volume I was available on Google Books.  Oh well.  I prefer reading a book I'm holding in my hand anyway.)

[TruTenacity]

Lastnight I read Patriots in Petticoats.  It is geared toward 3rd - 5th grade readers.  This morning I spent time searching for further information on the patriots written about in this book and found quite a few links to bookmark for later reading.  I'm thinking I like the term "telling a Patriot in Petticoat story" a bit better than "telling a Dangerous Dame story."