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Dames and Daughters of Colonial Days
Dames and Daughters of Colonial Days is a historical non-fiction book written by Geraldine Brooks. The book explores the lives of women in colonial America, focusing on the 17th and 18th centuries. Brooks delves into the experiences of women from various backgrounds, including Native Americans, African slaves, and European settlers. Through their stories, she examines the roles and expectations placed upon women during this time period, as well as the challenges they faced in a society dominated by men. The book covers a wide range of topics, including marriage, childbirth, education, religion, and politics. Brooks uses primary sources, such as diaries, letters, and court records, to provide a detailed and engaging account of women's lives in colonial America. Dames and Daughters of Colonial Days is a fascinating read for anyone interested in women's history, colonial America, or social history in general.1900. Illustrated. These narrative sketches of certain dames and daughters of our colonial days are designed to illustrate the different types, epochs and sections that made up our early American history. Anne Hutchinson, of Boston, Founder of the First Woman�������s Club in America; Frances Mary Jacqueline La Tour, the Defender of Fort La Tour; Margaret Brent, the Woman Ruler of Maryland; Madam Sarah Knight, a Colonial Traveller; Eliza Lucas, of Charleston, afterwards Wife of Chief-Justice Charles Pinckney; Martha Washington, of Mount Vernon, Wife of General George Washington; Abigail Adams, Wife of John Adams and Mother of John Quincy Adams; Elizabeth Schuyler, of Albany, afterwards Wife of Alexander Hamilton; and Sarah Wister and Deborah Norris, Two Quaker Friends of Philadelphia.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
- GenresNonfiction
312 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1900
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Geraldine Brooks
10 books5 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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April 23, 2021
How to Make It in a Man's World
Geraldine Brooks’ Dames and Daughters of Colonial Days, first published in 1900 and brought out again in the 1970s by Arno Press as a part of Women in America From Colonial Times to the Twentieth Century, is nineteenth-century prose and is mostly unread today. Too bad, because this is good storytelling. Brooks' style is inimical to its times, which is to say, there’s no hurrying to get to the end. It’s the journey, not the destination.
The book is divided into longish chapters, each chapter telling the story of a remarkable woman of yore. These are women who went up against the glass ceiling, or pewter ceiling, and went through or around it and whose lives are pleasurable and pleasant to read about. It’s a mix of feisty women and coquettes, those who relied on determination and grit in a man’s world and those who used good looks and feminine wiles to get what they wanted, which was most often, in a man’s world, a man. All had at least a taste of excitement, an escape from the drudgery of child-bearing and running a household without conveniences.
The first chapter, Ann Hutchinson, is perhaps the least engaging for the reason it gets deep into the weeds with regard to Anne’s involvement in the religious quarrels which so often roiled Puritan New England. These quarrels are explored here in more detail than one might wish but stay with it, there’s better chapters to come and besides, what’s important is not Ann’s quarrels with the establishment. It’s her fierceness and tenacity in speaking out for her beliefs and her courageousness that is at the heart of the chapter. Courageous, or foolhardy in a world where an assertive woman still ran the risk of getting getting burned as a witch. (Who but the devil could put such wicked independence into the heart of the fairer sex?) Her struggles were heroic and inspiring, her ending, tragic. She, along with her entire family got massacred by marauding Indians, which fate must have secretly pleased at least some of her enemies, further proof she was in league with the devil.
There’s also the feisty Frances Mary Jacqueline La Tour. Nothing coquettish here, or maybe there was, but in this exciting retelling of her most adventurous life in early Maine, she was more of a swashbuckler than many of the men around her. Some more well know ladies, including Martha Washington and Abigail Adams, are here. There’s a poignancy to Martha and her husband. All they ever wanted was life at their beloved Mount Vernon but neither shirked when duty called, and it called often. Mrs. Adams’ life story is a little more frustrating. So much to offer and so few avenues of opportunity. There’s a wonderfully told vignette of Mrs. Adams, a simple country girl, getting presented to English royalty shortly after the Revolution, before the wounds have healed. Abigail’s aplomb in handling the resentment of the royal family, particularly the queen, will put a smile on your face.
The final chapter is the tale of a friendship between two young Quaker girls, Sarah Wister and Deborah Norris, neither of whose commitment to their pacifist faith prevents them from falling for some dashing young officers on General Washington’s staff. Turns out Quaker girls can be flirtatious, which is as much a revelation to them as it is to us. In a most inspiring piece of Americana, we go along with the girls to hear for the first time a reading of the audacious, just released Declaration of Independence.
The girls, BFF when the war separates them, never reconnect. Sarah begins writing letters to Debby, letters which can not be delivered. (Debby is still in Philadelphia, as are the British.) but which Sarah hopes will one day reach her friend. They do, but not until years later, some time after Sarah has died. The letters survived and we are left with what the letters tell us. Sarah grew to womanhood, became most serious and never married. We’re glad she didn’t die young, as so many did in those days, and there’s nothing unusual about a person becoming more serious as they get older, it’s what life does, but what kept the friends apart? And why didn’t Sarah marry her soldier beau and live happily ever after? The letters don’t say and the author would liked to have told us, but alas, she didn’t know either.
Geraldine Brooks’ Dames and Daughters of Colonial Days, first published in 1900 and brought out again in the 1970s by Arno Press as a part of Women in America From Colonial Times to the Twentieth Century, is nineteenth-century prose and is mostly unread today. Too bad, because this is good storytelling. Brooks' style is inimical to its times, which is to say, there’s no hurrying to get to the end. It’s the journey, not the destination.
The book is divided into longish chapters, each chapter telling the story of a remarkable woman of yore. These are women who went up against the glass ceiling, or pewter ceiling, and went through or around it and whose lives are pleasurable and pleasant to read about. It’s a mix of feisty women and coquettes, those who relied on determination and grit in a man’s world and those who used good looks and feminine wiles to get what they wanted, which was most often, in a man’s world, a man. All had at least a taste of excitement, an escape from the drudgery of child-bearing and running a household without conveniences.
The first chapter, Ann Hutchinson, is perhaps the least engaging for the reason it gets deep into the weeds with regard to Anne’s involvement in the religious quarrels which so often roiled Puritan New England. These quarrels are explored here in more detail than one might wish but stay with it, there’s better chapters to come and besides, what’s important is not Ann’s quarrels with the establishment. It’s her fierceness and tenacity in speaking out for her beliefs and her courageousness that is at the heart of the chapter. Courageous, or foolhardy in a world where an assertive woman still ran the risk of getting getting burned as a witch. (Who but the devil could put such wicked independence into the heart of the fairer sex?) Her struggles were heroic and inspiring, her ending, tragic. She, along with her entire family got massacred by marauding Indians, which fate must have secretly pleased at least some of her enemies, further proof she was in league with the devil.
There’s also the feisty Frances Mary Jacqueline La Tour. Nothing coquettish here, or maybe there was, but in this exciting retelling of her most adventurous life in early Maine, she was more of a swashbuckler than many of the men around her. Some more well know ladies, including Martha Washington and Abigail Adams, are here. There’s a poignancy to Martha and her husband. All they ever wanted was life at their beloved Mount Vernon but neither shirked when duty called, and it called often. Mrs. Adams’ life story is a little more frustrating. So much to offer and so few avenues of opportunity. There’s a wonderfully told vignette of Mrs. Adams, a simple country girl, getting presented to English royalty shortly after the Revolution, before the wounds have healed. Abigail’s aplomb in handling the resentment of the royal family, particularly the queen, will put a smile on your face.
The final chapter is the tale of a friendship between two young Quaker girls, Sarah Wister and Deborah Norris, neither of whose commitment to their pacifist faith prevents them from falling for some dashing young officers on General Washington’s staff. Turns out Quaker girls can be flirtatious, which is as much a revelation to them as it is to us. In a most inspiring piece of Americana, we go along with the girls to hear for the first time a reading of the audacious, just released Declaration of Independence.
The girls, BFF when the war separates them, never reconnect. Sarah begins writing letters to Debby, letters which can not be delivered. (Debby is still in Philadelphia, as are the British.) but which Sarah hopes will one day reach her friend. They do, but not until years later, some time after Sarah has died. The letters survived and we are left with what the letters tell us. Sarah grew to womanhood, became most serious and never married. We’re glad she didn’t die young, as so many did in those days, and there’s nothing unusual about a person becoming more serious as they get older, it’s what life does, but what kept the friends apart? And why didn’t Sarah marry her soldier beau and live happily ever after? The letters don’t say and the author would liked to have told us, but alas, she didn’t know either.
December 27, 2013
Some interesting info but I'm not sure what the point was if collecting these women's stories.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews