We have all run into those female ancestors or relatives who just don't want to give up their secrets. Females were often overlooked. Once they married they lost more identity and became only Mrs Someone. Even the documents about a woman where we might expect to find her maiden name or her parent's name are left blank sometimes because no one knew the names. Fortunately, this was not the case with every one of our female ancestors or our trees would be half empty. Thankfully, Quakers kept pretty good records and this week's subject comes to me through a line that includes two other females to take me back to her.
My 4th great grandmother was the Rev. Priscilla (Coffin) Hunt Cadwallader. Priscilla was born on July 10, 1786 in Springfield, North Carolina to Quakers Matthew Coffin & Hannah Mendenhall. She married Jabez Hunt in 1811 and they soon had a daughter, Semira. Unfortunately, Priscilla's husband died several months later in 1812. Two years later she moved to Indiana, where her father had bought a farm. Along with her father and his family, Priscilla became one of the first members of the new Blue River Monthly Meeting at Salem, Indiana. She was very talented as a preacher and traveled all over preaching and by 1823 at age 37, she had visited every Friends Meeting in America. In 1827 against her own better judgement, she married for a second time to Joseph Cadwallader, a fellow minister. She remained very active in the Quaker faith, traveling and preaching far and wide. Her second marriage was not a happy one and actually ended in a divorce in 1837, which was uncommon for her time and for a Quaker. There were rumors of abuse by her husband and she commented to her daughter that she had "reason to doubt his constancy and integrity". Her divorce was controversial also because it happened at a time when there was a split among the Quakers over some of their beliefs. The Orthodox and the Hicksite Quakers ended up as separate entities. Priscilla was a leader among the Hicksites, who were the breakaway group. Her home Meeting, Blue River, was split about which side to follow and the Orthodox members ended up dissolving the Meeting and joining a Meeting in another county. The Hicksites met and kept the name Blue River and also kept ownership of the meeting house because it was on land given to the meeting by Priscilla's father, who was also a Hicksite follower. Where Priscilla's divorce and the division among the Quakers crossed was when the Orthodox Quakers used Priscilla's failed marriage against her and the Hicksite cause. Some Hicksites, even tho they were her friends, were more concerned over their cause than helping her thru her personal trials partly because the Quakers just did not know how to deal with a failed marriage among their own. But because she was so well known, her story spread. Some feel that it may have helped the Quaker-led women's rights convention held at Seneca Falls, New York in 1848, show the injustices suffered by women at the time. Priscilla passed away on Nov 13, 1859 and is buried at the Blue River Hicksite Cemetery near Salem, Indiana. Nothing of her personal writings survive, as it is said that her second husband destroyed them. Everything that is known about her sermons and her life comes from writings of her contemporaries who heard her preach or knew her personally.
I mention the women's right convention at Seneca Falls, NY. Other well known female relatives of mine who had a major hand in that convention - Lucretia Coffin Mott and her sister Martha Coffin Wright, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony. All ranging from 3rd through 6th cousins to me. They all certainly would have known of Priscilla and vice versa.
Well known women aside, there are so many stories of just everyday women who faced adversity as it came into their lives. Several of my or my husband's ancestors faced losing a husband and being left with children to support. Some would remarry and others would not. Or maybe they were left to fend alone due to their husband's military service during a war. Some of our female ancestors died too early, such as my maternal grandmother that I was never able to meet. No matter their personal stories, I view them all as strong survivors and I believe that I am helped by having them all as ancestors.
This was a great read about Priscilla that I became aware of when the author's wife contacted me to see if I had anything of Priscilla's that might be of interest.
https://in.booksc.me/book/46726647/b1fe19
There is also a publication called "Memoir of Priscilla Cadwallader..." originally written in 1862 and published for the Association of Friends in Philadelphia. My copy was reprinted by the University of Michigan.
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