tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post459231395183225866..comments2024-03-28T04:26:30.557-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: The Growing Legend of Lydia TaftUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-72892164327412897392023-02-20T21:32:41.063-05:002023-02-20T21:32:41.063-05:00To "unknown" above. My name is Rich Sch...To "unknown" above. My name is Rich Schofield. I wanted to tell you that I find your input here very very interesting made more so because I'm doing some genealogy research for someone that is connected to Lydia. Neither one of us has an emotional stake in the legend being true, but find the controversy around it fascinating. If you are keen, I would love to chat about this over email some in order to determine who did the research you referenced and whether or not there is any additional research that I could do to further determine what is accurate one way or the other. My e-mail address is rwsj24601@yahoo.com. I hope I hear from you. Thanks!rwsj24601https://www.blogger.com/profile/11194496736330227771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-39215872110886550232020-08-19T09:21:30.044-05:002020-08-19T09:21:30.044-05:00Uxbridge records for the period are extant both as...Uxbridge records for the period are extant both as physical documents in the possession of the Town Clerk and as part of the Holbrook group's microfiche collection. There is no mention of Lydia having voted. The book that carries the myth was a published version of an address that Judge Henry Chapin gave in Uxbridge in 1864. Chapin died in 1878 and his address was published in 1881. The story of Lydia having voted is contained in an appendix that was included as part of the book but were not part of Chapin's actual address. Lydia's son Caleb was at Harvard when he died on 19 September 1756 and he was buried in the "old burying ground" in Cambridge. Lydia's husband Josiah is said to have travelled to Cambridge to attend to his son and he died on 30 September after returning to Uxbridge. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05521640434108374888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-43257432501084577842012-11-25T01:57:03.869-05:002012-11-25T01:57:03.869-05:00Again, I’d like to see the actual documentation of...Again, I’d like to see the actual documentation of the vote. Some webpages point to a specific date: 30 Oct 1756, which should be checkable. But none quote sources earlier than 1864.<br /><br />Uxbridge and Mendon, being close to the Rhode Island border, may have had a Quaker presence in 1756. But was it strong enough to allow a woman to vote in a town meeting? Were Lydia and Josiah Taft themselves Quaker? As I recall, in Quaker meetings at the time women voted as well as men but in a separate, parallel body, and the meetings preferred to reach consensus rather than count noses.<br /><br />The progressive views of descendants a century or more later is admirable, but it's not evidence of what happened in 1756. In fact, sometimes later attitudes are most significant as an influence on how we remember the past.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-75667884094668090002012-11-24T22:42:53.010-05:002012-11-24T22:42:53.010-05:00It is more than highly possible. The Tafts at that...It is more than highly possible. The Tafts at that time had some Quakers in their family, e.g., Benjamin Taft, although the others' religions I am unfamiliar with. If you read the documents by descendants of hers, e.g., President William Howard Taft and Alphonso Taft, father of the former President, they were strongly for women's suffrage and education for their women in the 19th century. The Quakers were egalitarian in the 1700's and later took large interest in women's suffrage. Although many (most) of the Taft family attended other churches, e.g., the Unitarian church which was also considered progressive, due to the documents and first hand accounts of the Taft family, this looks legitimate. They always were, intelligently, ahead of their times according to what I have learned about them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com