Why do young women fall for older men?
You don’t hear much about May-December romances these days. But history is full couples made of young women with older men, especially in centuries when so many women died in childbirth. That was the case in the family of Anna Osborn. Her father was twice a widower, and his third wife (Annie’s stepmother) was 13 […]
Saratoga’s Finest
Courting at the resort at Saratoga, NY in the 19th century carried some risk for wealthy women, for it was described as a “heterogeneous society” where anyone who could afford the price of admission (and the clothing) would be admitted.
Penning a (Love) Letter
Valentine’s Day’s coming up, and I will be on Rochester’s WHAMTV31 at 8:50 AM to discuss The Truth About Daniel, which is among other things, a love story. (Plese note: earlier, the channel was listed as 13. The correct channel is actually 31) Let’s consider this romantic painting, which I love for for many reasons. First […]
Three-Way Courting Chair–Really?
Courtship in the nineteenth century was a carefully-controlled affair, especially among the upper classes like the sphere where Annie Osborn lived. Unmarried women were carefully chaperoned, as this three-way chair in St. Augustine’s Lightner Museum demonstrates. Here is a wonderful excerpt from a book I bought in that museum gift store; this is from a chapter […]
Recycling Family Names
Nowadays expectant parents may give their babies names based on seasons, astrological signs, place names, or popular celebrities. Or they may create new names
Tracking Women’s Rights
Recently I had the pleasure of presenting Susan B. Anthony in costume at the World of Inquiry School in the Rochester City School District. Approximately 100 seventh-graders, in groups of 20, cycled through several costumed speakers who introduced students to a variety of 19th century issues, including temperance, antislavery, physical abuse, unequal access to education, […]
Dressing for the Weather
As Martha’s Vineyard, along with the rest of the northeast, braces itself for another mass of cold and ice this week, I can’t help but think how much easier we have it now than in the 1860s when Anna Osborn lived on that island. We who dash to our cars and crank up the heater can hardly imagine […]
A Christmas Tale
The Rochester Anthonys were not in the habit of celebrating Christmas until the end of the 19th century. “We Quakers don’t make much of Christmas,” Susan said as late as 1899. It should come as no surprise, then, that on Christmas Day in 1860 Susan became embroiled in one of the most unpopular causes of her life. To […]