Wanted, a decent middle aged Woman who has been used to the care of Children, she must be able to teach Young Ladies to read, and the use of the Needle. Indentured servants of the better class sometimes acted as governess. No instances of this kind have been noted in New England, where indentured servants were never so numerous as farther south. The following is from Philadelphia, in 1729: A likely Young Woman's Time to be disposed of, that can write, Flourish, do Plain-Work, and Mark very well, fit to teach School; by George Brownell, SchoolMaster in Philadelphia.1 A pleasant glimpse of an indentured governess is afforded in the "Life of Jane Hoskens, Minister of the Gospel, among the People called Quakers." She came to Philadelphia in 1719, with a family named Davis, who had lent her the money for her passage. To quote her own words: 2 The principals of four families living in Plymouth, who had several children, agreed to procure a sober young woman, as a school-mistress to instruct them in reading, &c. And on their applying to their friends in town, I was recommended for that service. When we saw each other I perceived it my place to go with them; wherefore, on their paying Davis twelve pounds currency, being the whole of his demand 1 American Mercury, October 9, 1729. against me, I bound myself to them by indenture for three years, and went cheerfully with them to the aforesaid place. . . . The children learned very fast, which afforded comfort to me and satisfaction to their parents. It is apparent that pre-Revolutionary women played an important part as elementary teacher, as school-dame in the town school, as mistress of the boarding-school, and as governess. It would be interesting to find a woman teaching in one of the colonial colleges; but no such instance has come to light as yet. This does not mean, however, that women did not render valuable service, even in colleges. The Reverend Edward Holyoke, President of Harvard College, entered in his diary under date of April 22, 1762, "Mrs. Landman began her business as college sexton." 1 1 Holyoke Diaries, p. 26. CHAPTER VI THE LANDED PROPRIETOR WEALTH and position in the New World, as in most other places, were based on the ownership of land, and from a very early date women shared in this, not only by favor of their men-folk, but in their own right. There are several instances where women served as leaders of groups of settlers. Probably the earliest case is that of Margaret and Mary Brent, who came to Maryland in 1638, bringing nine colonists with them. The sisters took up manors—that is, plantations of a thousand acres or more—and sent back to England for more settlers. The lord of a manor had the right of holding so-called "courts-baron," but only two instances have been found where this right was exercised. One of these was in 1659 at St. Gabriel's manor, the property of Mistress Mary Brent. A tenant appeared, did fealty to the lady, and took seisin of a messuage of thirty-seven acres by delivery of a rod, "according to the custom of the manor, engaging to pay yearly "fifteen pecks of good Indian corn and one fat capon or a hen and a half; and for a heriot half a barrel of like corn or the value thereof."1, 1 Browne, p. 148. The record does not state what was to become of the other half hen. Margaret Brent exercised still greater influence. Before his death in 1647, Governor Leonard Calvert appointed Thomas Greene as his successor in office, but made Mistress Brent his sole executor, with the laconic instruction: "Take all and pay all." The estate amounted to only one hundred and ten pounds, and the historian of Maryland remarks: In view of subsequent occurrences one is tempted to think that if he had reversed his testamentary dispositions and made Greene his executor and Mistress Brent governor, it would have been, on the whole, a better arrangement.1 Leonard Calvert had been attorney for his brother, Lord Baltimore, and with the approval of the court she succeeded to this responsibility. A crisis soon arose, which she met vigorously. The times were troublous, and in order to drive out marauders, Governor Calvert had been obliged to hire quite a body of soldiers for whose payment he had pledged his own and his brother's estates. He died before he could fulfill his contract, and the soldiers threatened mutiny. Mistress Brent succeeded in calming them, and took enough of Lord Baltimore's cattle to make up the necessary 1 Browne, p. 64. sum. His lordship, who had had nothing to say about her appointment as his attorney, was not well pleased by her action; but the Assembly wrote him that she had obtained from the soldiers a respect they would have shown to none other, and that without her prompt interference, the colony would have been ruined. One tribute alone the Assembly withheld. The Archives of Maryland state that on January 21, 1647/48 came Mrs. Margarett Brent and requested to have vote in the howse for herselfe and voyce allso, for that att the last Court 3d Jan. it was ordered that the said Mrs. Brent was to be looked upon and received as his Lps. Attorney. The Govr, denyed that the sd. Mrs. Brent should have any vote in the Howse. And the sd. Mrs. Brent protested against all proceedings in this present Assembly unless shee may be present and have vote as aforesd. A surprisingly modern sentiment! "Mrs." in those days was used as a title of respect, without regard to marital status. Apparently Margaret Brent never married. Her last recorded appearance was about some property, left her by the will of a disappointed suitor.1 Another woman colonizer was Elizabeth Haddon. Her father, John Haddon, a Quaker of Surrey, 1 Op. cit., and Earle, Colonial Dames, pp. 45-48. |