The Trail of Sally Edwards
There are two big problems in tracking that mother and child much further. One is that people probably took steps to keep them from being tracked. The other is that their name was not uncommon—and looking for “Sarah Edwards” as well brings up possibilities all over the place.
According to Dr. Sam Forman in his new biography Dr. Joseph Warren, which unearthed this event, the baby remained in Dedham for another three years, with Warren’s former medical students paying the bills for her support.
The mother—to innkeeper Dr. Nathaniel Ames’s relief—returned to Boston after the siege in mid-1776. Forman cites letters from Warren’s fiancée Mercy Scollay to say that a “Mrs. Charles Miller” took in both Sally Edwards and Dr. Warren’s oldest child Betsey in 1776.
The most prominent Charles Miller around at the time was a Boston merchant whom the Massachusetts Provincial Congress had appointed deputy commissary general in May 1775. After the Continental Congress took over the war, he worked under commissary general Joseph Trumbull for the rest of the siege. In 1776, Miller stayed in Massachusetts as Trumbull’s deputy in the work of collecting and shipping food to the Continental Army.
That Charles Miller was born in 1742 at Braintree, son of the region’s Anglican minister. In 1769 he married Elizabeth Cary, daughter of prominent Charlestown merchant Richard Cary, in King’s Chapel, Boston’s most prestigious Anglican church.
That religious affiliation may help to explain why Sally Edwards had her baby baptized by an Anglican minister in Dedham—and they were scarce on the ground in New England outside Boston during the siege. Did she come from an Anglican family? Was she feeling more support from the Millers than from anyone else in her life?
I have no further clues about either Sally Edwards, mother or daughter. As has been discussed previously on Boston 1775, some families have claimed descent from Dr. Joseph Warren through an undocumented daughter. In one case that daughter was said to be named “Sarah Warren.” However, I haven’t seen evidence to support those traditions, and Sarah was (as I said above) a very common name.
6 comments:
Is is possible that the name Sally was a nickname for Sarah?
I believe that it was common at the time for "Sally" to be used as a nickname for Sarah.
Yes, that’s why I mentioned how widening the search to “Sarah Edwards” brings up many more candidates.
For example, Paul Revere’s son Paul married a woman named Sally Edwards who was a teenager in 1775. Her church baptism records give the name Sarah Edwards. But there was another Sarah Edwards baptized three years before her, and thus also a teenager in 1775.
So intriguing!
I wonder what she was doing to be such a bother to Dr. Ames- I mean, other than being a young, unmarried woman in his care.
If she was actually the thirteen-year-old Sally Edwards (who would go on to marry Paul Revere's son 7 years later) then the sexual encounter that resulted in her pregnancy may very well have been by a man much older than she. This would have been rape (for in Colonial Boston she would be considered a minor until the age of 14.
In all the salacious insinuations of Sally Edwards being impregnated by Warren, no one comments that, if in fact it was true, the child was raped by him! (Which is contrary to all known about his moral character and professional standing in the community and well beyond, and not to mention his knowledge of obstetrics and the extreme danger for a pregnant 13 year-old! )
Let's take time to consider this 13-year-old Sally Edwards. Her mother died in 1771. Her father in 1773. She had an older brother and 3 younger siblings. Her father had remarried and now his 5 children were the responsibility of their stepmother. This is not a good situation for any 13 year-old! One can only imagine her vulnerability.
Boston was occupied by British soldiers. Sailors came in and out of the port town. Might Sally have been raped by one of them? Or, could she have sought comfort in the arms of another Boston teen?
Regardless -- she was only 13 years-old and a VERY high risk pregnancy even with today's medical care.
She delivers her baby. She's forced to stay with Ames until the British evacuate Boston. Could the account of her misbehavior by Ames have been brought on by PTSD (after a potential rape)? Or even post-partum depression? Or both? In 18th century Boston neither mental health issue would have been considered. In 18th century Boston most would have blamed this female's plight blamed on her -- little comfort would have been offered.
Isn't it time to stop the unfounded and fantasized speculation of Warren being a pedophile rapist and consider the plight of this child whom more likely Warren was trying to help.
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