tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post7493301761416179960..comments2024-03-28T04:26:30.557-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: Portrait of a Wealthy LadyUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-28338618659942983822021-09-15T14:14:03.359-05:002021-09-15T14:14:03.359-05:00I thought the story about Mary Edwards was interes...I thought the story about Mary Edwards was interesting, especially since the legal status of married women seems to have depended on how wealthy they were whether in Britain or Boston. In researching the two sets of Josiah/Hannah Willard's who both bought land in Lunenburg in the 1720s, I discovered a story in Volume 12 of the Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts that shows Josiah Willard, Secretary of the Province (1717-56), setting aside the coverture of his second wife Hannah Clark Willard. Her first husband had been a very wealthy merchant, and even though Josiah had rather shallow pockets, he magnanimously set aside Hannah's coverture, (to the future detriment of his children from a first marriage). He was known as "the Good Secretary"--so maybe better than most contemporary patriarchs. lifford46https://www.blogger.com/profile/09034763990077625918noreply@blogger.com