Lectures on Warren and Williams

The New England Historic Genealogical Society is hosting a couple of events this month about Massachusetts women who lived through the Revolution—but apparently had opposing feelings about it.

The Muse of the Revolution: Mercy Otis Warren
Monday, November 17, 2008, 6:00 PM

Join NEHGS and award-winning author Nancy Rubin Stuart for the “story of how Mercy Otis Warren’s dedication to original patriotic ideals of the Revolution contributed to its eventual success and then critically informed the creation of American state.” Drawn from the correspondence of Mercy Otis Warren and the letters of colonial patriots, including John and Abigail Adams, George and Martha Washington and Henry Knox, The Muse of the Revolution: The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation is a tale not to be missed.

Advanced registration is required. $10 admission. To RSVP please call 617-226-1226 or email.

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Living in the Past: Esther Williams and Her Relics
Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 6:00 PM

Donald Friary, president of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts and director emeritus of Historic Deerfield will present the interesting case of a woman who seemed to have added nothing to her household after the American Revolution. Based on the 1800 probate inventory of Esther Williams, widow of a Deerfield Tory, who was surrounded by old forms of furniture and French and Indian War heroes. There are no card tables or sideboards or maps of the new nation or images of Washington. She was living in the past.

No reservation or admission fee required for this educational program.

Esther (Williams) Williams moved to Deerfield from Weston in 1748 as the second wife of Dr. Thomas Williams. She’s not the more famous Esther Williams, captured in the 1704 raid on Deerfield, or the most famous Esther Williams, co-star of Take Me Out to the Ballgame.