In honor of Women’s History month, March is devoted to highlighting a selection of cases involving women that we have found interesting or relevant to areas of major research interest.
Please note that this compilation is not comprehensive. There are countless cases involving or mentioning women in the New Haven County and Superior Court records. This retrospective—along with the others to come—is meant to serve as a starting point for future researchers and investigators, giving a glimpse into the information these records contain.
Cropped image from the first page of New Proverbs, On the Pride of Women, or The vanity of this world displayed, by unknown engraver, 1799. Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Women’s legal status in colonial Connecticut was perplexing. On the one hand, their legal and economic autonomy was nearly nonexistent: they could not vote, hold office, or even own separate property in marriage. However, they were still expected to be competent enough to carry out their husband’s wishes in business and in court, and could obtain absolute divorce for adultery, desertion, or fraudulent contract.
Excerpt from writ for Elizabeth Gould vs. Benjamin Chittenden, March 1742. Image courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.
Although the last known witchcraft trial in Connecticut occurred in 1697, colonial women weren’t immune from such life-destroying allegations until decades later. In 1742, a Guilford widow named Elizabeth Gould was accused of being a witch by a man in her community. However, instead of being put on trial herself, she took her accuser to court for slander.
A Curious Case of Witchcraft Slander
Writ for John Prinn vs. Mary Allyn, January 1740. Image courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.
In colonial Connecticut, trespass didn’t just mean invasion of property—it also applied to bodily assault and slander. When Mary Prinn of New Haven was violently beaten by another woman in 1740, her husband invoked this plea in court.
Trespass Against Women, Part I
Court proceedings for Silence Tuttle vs. Moses Tuttle, September 1726. Image courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.
When colonists deemed “not of sound mind” committed trespass and other crimes, the Courts were often unable to handle the situation effectively. In this post, we examine the cases of three women—Mary Tuttle, Silence Tuttle, and Lydia Clinton—who pled with the magistrates to protect them from the escalating violence of a man with behavioral “difficulty.”
Trespass Against Women, Part II
Digitized case documents (Mary Tuttle)
Digitized case documents (Silence Tuttle)
Digitized case documents (Lydia Clinton)
Written confession signed by Samuel Barker Jr., November 1757. Image courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.
Slander was an especially vicious kind of trespass in colonial Connecticut. A woman’s reputation could be completely destroyed by salacious gossip, requiring her to go to court to set the record straight. Mary Hoadly of Branford was only a teenager when her aunt, uncle, and cousins spread rumors that ruined her prospects for marriage. Even after one of her cousins signed a written confession confirming that he lied, she and her father spent years fighting their words in court.
Trespass Against Women, Part III
Digitized case documents (Mary Hoadly vs. Lucy Barker)
Digitized case documents (Mary Hoadly vs. Samuel Barker Jr.)
Digitized case documents (Mary Hoadly vs. Jonathan and Hannah Barker)
Mehittabel Whitehead’s rebuttal to the slander lawsuit brought by Micah Palmer, circa November 1716. Image courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.
It wasn’t often that a woman in colonial Connecticut could boldly speak in her own defense without being scolded for “uncomely speech.” But Mehittabel Whitehead of Branford not only stood up for herself in Court when a man in her community sued her for slander, she succeeded in her endeavor.
The Bold Defense of Mehittabel Whitehead
Writ and verdict for Robert and Ruth Fairchild vs. John Wise, November 1774. Image courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.
In this post, we profile two New Haven County Court cases involving female plaintiffs. Elizabeth Jones, who suffered from menstrual hemorrhage, sued a man for bad doctoring that worsened her condition. Ruth Fairchild, the wife of a tavern owner, sued a New Haven constable for slandering her as a liar and a whore, which negatively impacted her husband’s business and harmed them economically.
Trespass Against Women, Revisited
Digitized case documents (Elizabeth Jones)
Digitized case documents (Ruth Fairchild)
“Back,” woodcut by Byron Randall, 1968. Courtesy of Rootbeerlc, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License, via Wikimedia Commons.
Losing a child to stillbirth was devastating enough for Martha Grannis and her husband John. When the doctor who attended her labor in March 1810 claimed this loss was due to her being afflicted with venereal disease, the Grannises took him to court for both malpractice and slander.
“The Disorder was the Cause”: A Case of Stillbirth and Slander
Digitized case documents (lawsuit no. 1)
Digitized case documents (lawsuit no. 2)
There is a flock of yellow birds around her head by Howard Pyle, 1892. Public domain image courtesy of Brandywine River Museum of Art, via Wikimedia Commons.
One of our long-anticipated discoveries in the New Haven Superior Court records! Here is the final verdict in the curious case of Elizabeth Gould, who sued a man for slandering her as a witch in 1742.
A Curious Case of Witchcraft Slander, Continued
Digitized case documents in progress.
In addition to the blog, we profiled several cases involving women on Instagram:
In eighteenth-century New England, women were expected to serve as competent and capable “helpmeets” carrying out the wishes of their husbands in business and in court, if need be. Anna Guy and Abigaill Atwater are two such women who acted as attorneys for their husbands in the early 1700s.
In 1733, Hannah Hall sued Stephen Barnes for 11 pounds debt owed. Her status as a divorcee was not only stated in the writ, but also in the promissory note.
Historians estimate that female literacy rates in New England were a dismal 40 to 45 percent during the eighteenth century, as compared to 80+ percent for men. A promissory note signed by both husband and wife demonstrates this gulf—James Cook’s signature appears far more fluid than his wife Sarah’s, which may indicate that she was not as practiced at writing.
Here is a list of court costs from the witchcraft slander case of Elizabeth Gould vs. Benjamin Chittenden.
In August 1780, Gideon Hide of Derby made an agreement to marry Annah Wooster of Derby. However, after he went and married “one Sarah Babbit” instead, she took him to court.
Linda M. Atwater of Cheshire sued Wyllys Avery of Wallingford for breach of promise in 1810.
In our February blog post, we discussed the following cases involving African and Indigenous women:
“Still Doth Most Unjustly Imprison”: Phillis’s Fight for Freedom
On the back of an evidence summons for a trespass case, we discovered an advertisement from 1750 requesting the return of Sabina, a 20-year-old woman of Indigenous heritage who escaped her captor, George Gorham of Stratford.
In August 1785, Sophia “Sophy” Saunderson (née Jackson) of New Haven sought a divorce from James “Quarm” Saunderson for bigamy.
As noted in a previous post, the records for these cases, as well as several of the cases previously profiled in this blog, are currently in the process of being digitized. They will eventually be available for public viewing at the Connecticut Digital Archive (CTDA).
This project is made possible through funding from the Historic Documents Preservation fund of the Office of the Public Records Administrator. We also recognize the past support of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).
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