Lesson 1: Notable Dames
Dame : “the title given to a woman equivalent to the rank of knight” Oxford Language Dictionary
INTRODUCTION: Since the first proprietors arrived in Norwich, strong, adventurous women have built, nurtured, and supported and their families and community. This class will provide an overview of their many contributions.
GOAL: For students to learn of the courage, strength, and determination of several influential Norwich women who lived in Norwich during the period of 1659-1959
APPROACH:
1. Present overview of the contributions and lives of eight Norwich Notable Dames
2. Take a quiz to determine retention of learned material
Sarah Knight (1666-1727)
Sarah Kemble Knight was a teacher and businesswoman, who is best remembered for a brief diary of a journey from Boston to New York City in 1704–1705. Her diary provides us with one of the few first-hand-accounts of travel conditions in Connecticut during colonial times.
Knight was born in Boston to Captain Thomas Kemble, a merchant in Boston, and Elizabeth Trerice. In 1689, she married Richard Knight. They had one child, Elizabeth. Having been left a widow after her husband’s death in 1703. Shortly after her husband’s death, she agreed to travel to New Haven to act on behalf of a friend in the settlement of her friend’s deceased husband’s will. Knight kept a journal of her trip.
Sarah chose to travel with a post rider or other reliable guide, so she was never alone on the road. Still, the difficulties she encountered speak volumes about the physical dangers of long-distance travel by horseback in that era. In crossing the Thames River in a ferry boat that carried both passengers and their horses, she wrote in an entry dated “Thirsday, Octobr ye 5th”: “Here, by reason of a very high wind, we mett with great difficulty in getting over—the Boat tos’t exceedingly, and our horses capper’d at a very surprizing Rate, and set us all in a fright.”
Sarah Knight first appeared in Norwich in 1698 where her status is listed as Shopkeeper, Innkeeper and widow. She owned and operated the Knight Tavern on Norwichtown Green. After a few years she returned to Boston where she kept a shop and taught school . However, by 1717 she returned to Norwich where she became the owner of a tavern at 8 Elm Avenue. The photo of the site of her tavern, shown above, was published in 1865 about 150 years after she operated the tavern.
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Sarah Knight Communion Cup
According to Info Source 1 : “On Aug. 12, 1717, Sarah Knight joined the church, and town records show that she was granted her liberty “to sitt in the pue where she use to sitt in ye meetinghouse.” Sarah apparently valued her membership at the church, because in 1722 she donated a silver goblet to be used as the communion cup. …” “The Sarah Knight Communion Cup stayed in the possession of the church until the early 1900s when it was sold to George Palmer of New London for $1,000 to raise funds for the church. It is now at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.”In accordance with Connecticut Colony law in the late 1600s and early 1700s, no taverns in the colony were allowed to sell “wine, liquors, cider, or any other strong drink” to Indians. In 1718, she and others were brought before Richard Bushnell, Justice of the Peace, for selling strong drink to the Indians. She accused her maid of selling the liquor, but refused to acquit herself under oath. She was sentenced to pay a fine of 20 shillings, about $300 in today’s $.
Sarah Knight lived a colorful life full of success and adventure. She is buried in New London in the Ancient Cemetery.
The complete list of sources may be found by clicking the “Bibliography” button, and, then typing “Sarah Knight” in the SEARCH box.
Lydia Huntley Sigourney (1791-1865)
Indian Names
by Lydia Huntley Sigourney
Ye say they all have passed away,
That noble race and brave,
That their light canoes have vanished
From off the crested wave;
That ’mid the forests where they roamed
There rings no hunter shout,
But their name is on your waters,
Ye may not wash it out.
’Tis where Ontario’s billow
Like Ocean’s surge is curled,
Where strong Niagara’s thunders wake
The echo of the world.
Where red Missouri bringeth
Rich tribute from the west,
And Rappahannock sweetly sleeps
On green Virginia’s breast.
Ye say their cone-like cabins,
That clustered o’er the vale,
Have fled away like withered leaves
Before the autumn gale,
But their memory liveth on your hills,
Their baptism on your shore,
Your everlasting rivers speak
Their dialect of yore.
Old Massachusetts wears it,
Within her lordly crown,
And broad Ohio bears it,
Amid his young renown;
Connecticut hath wreathed it
Where her quiet foliage waves,
And bold Kentucky breathed it hoarse
Through all her ancient caves.
Wachuset hides its lingering voice
Within his rocky heart,
And Alleghany graves its tone
Throughout his lofty chart;
Monadnock on his forehead hoar
Doth seal the sacred trust,
Your mountains build their monument,
Though ye destroy their dust.
Ye call these red-browned brethren
The insects of an hour,
Crushed like the noteless worm amid
The regions of their power;
Ye drive them from their father’s lands,
Ye break of faith the seal,
But can ye from the court of Heaven
Exclude their last appeal?
Ye see their unresisting tribes,
With toilsome step and slow,
On through the trackless desert pass
A caravan of woe;
Think ye the Eternal’s ear is deaf?
His sleepless vision dim?
Think ye the soul’s blood may not cry
From that far land to him?
Lydia Huntley Sigourney, a Norwich native, was an American poet during the early and mid 19th century. She was commonly known as the ‘Sweet Singer of Hartford’.
She was educated in Norwich and Hartford. With her friend Nancy Maria Hyde, Sigourney opened a school for young ladies in Norwich in 1811. Frances Manwaring Caulkins entered the Norwich school in September 1811, and remained a very warm friend and frequent correspondent with Sigourney thereafter.
On June 16, 1819, she married Charles Sigourney, and after her marriage chose to write anonymously in her “leisure” time. It was not until her parents were in dire need and her husband had lost some of his former affluence that she began to write as an occupation. When she was referred to as the probable author of the anonymous “Letters to Young Ladies By a Lady” she admitted authorship and began to write openly as Mrs. Sigourney.
She was one of the most popular writers of her day, both in the United States and in England. Her writings were characterized by fluency, grace and quiet reflection on nature, responsibility, domestic and religious life, and philanthropic questions.
She described the view of Norwich from the east as: “like a citadel, guarded by parapets of rock, and embosomed in an amphitheater of hills whose summits mark the horizon with a waving line of forest green.”
Among her most successful poems are “Niagara” and “Indian Names”. The latter was set to music by Natalie Merchant for the 2010 album, “Leave Your Sleep”. She contributed more than two thousand articles to many periodicals and some 67 books. Her poem “Sailor’s Hymn At Parting”, from her book “Poems for the Sea” (1850) is repeatedly quoted in the 2019 film “The Lighthouse”.
You can hear Natalie Merchant sing ‘Indian Names’ by clicking on the link below.
The complete list of sources may be found by clicking the “Bibliography” button, and, then typing “Lydia” in the SEARCH box.
Frances Manwaring Caulkins (1795-1869)
Frances Manwaring Caulkins was a well-known genealogist and author of the history of the towns of both Norwich and New London. Her book ”History of Norwich, Connecticut: From Its Possession From the Indians, to the Year 1866” still serves today as fundamental documentation for most of Norwich’s history prior to 1866. She was a direct descendant of one of the first proprietors of Norwich, Deacon Hugh Calkins.
During 1806, she became the pupil of Rev. Joshua Williams, who taught a select school for young ladies in Norwichtown. While attending this school, before she turned twelve years old, she patiently wrote out from memory a volume of educational lectures as they were delivered, from week to week.
Later, on January 4, 1820 she opened a select school for young ladies in Norwichtown. As her talent for teaching was developed, her scholars increased, and the school acquired an excellent reputation and was well sustained for 9 years.
The desk where Caulkins wrote most of her books is on display at the Leffingwell House Museum in Norwich.
In a time when history was a field dominated by men, Caulkins broke social barriers and served as an inspiration for other female authors. In 1849, she was the first woman elected to become a member of the oldest historical society in the United States, the Massachusetts Historical Society.
The complete list of sources may be found by clicking the “Bibliography” button, and, then typing “Frances Manwaring” in the SEARCH box.
Harriet Peck Williams (1795-1880)
Harriet Peck Williams was one of Norwich’s most generous philanthropists in the late 1870s. She donated numerous gifts in support of cultural, religious and educational institutions.
In 1859, her gift Norwich Free Academy (NFA), of $5,000 ($166,000 in today’s dollars) established the Peck Library at the NFA, which was named in honor of her father, Captain Bela Peck, a wealthy Norwichtown businessman.
Park Congregational Church was built in 1874 on land donated by Mrs. Williams.
For many years she and her husband, William Williams, lived in the Teel House, a mansion located very near NFA and present-day Park Congregational Church. After the death of her husband, she became the last surviving member of this well-known Norwich family; all three of her children having predeceased her husband.
During her widowhood Mrs. Williams offered large contributions for the construction of Park Church. She donated the building lot for the church, the tower clock, a carillon of ten bells, and the west stained glass window in the sanctuary. These gifts were given by Harriet Williams in the declining years of her life.
Harriet Peck William excelled in private offerings as well. In her last will she bequeathed a major portion of her fortune toward the foundation of a high school for girls in New London to be dedicated in memory of her oldest son, Thomas W. Williams, who at the time of his death lived there. Founded in 1891, this progressive high school was dedicated to the promotion and advancement of female education at a time when few saw such a goal to be a priority. Today the Williams Memorial Institution (The Williams School) is a private prep school for grades 6 – 12 located on Mohegan Ave in New London.
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She died October 1880 at the age of 85. The Williams family memorial is located in the Yantic Cemetery in Norwich. She is buried alongside her husband William Williams.
A photo of the monument is shown on the left. When you place your cursor over the photo, you’ll be able to read the inscription, just below the date of her death. It reads :
“HER WORKS Do FOLLOW HER”
The complete list of sources may be found by clicking the “Bibliography” button, and, then typing “Harriet Peck” in the SEARCH box.
Sarah Harris Fayerweather (1812-1878)
Twenty nine years before the Civil War began, Sarah Harris Fayerweather, stood up for her rights and provided a fine example for how to begin to swing the pendulum of needed change. Simply put, she deeply desired to learn and to be able to teach others, and she was willing to stand up to the establishment to help make it happen. However, her journey, which began in Norwich, was anything but simple or easy.
Perhaps her bravery and actions displayed in 1832 sowed seeds of fairness in the hearts Norwich citizens who congregated at Breed Hall to discuss issues of slavery and pending war in 1861.
Sarah Harris was born on April 16, 1812 in Norwich. She was the daughter of William Monteflora Harris and Sally Prentice Harris, both of whom were free farmers and resided in the Jail Hill section of Norwich.
At the age of 20 Sarah Harris requested admission to the Canterbury Female Boarding School operated by Prudence Crandall. In a letter to William Lloyd Garrison’s newspaper, The Liberator, Crandall recalls Sarah’s visit: “A colored girl of respectability – a professor of religion – and daughter of honorable parents, called on me sometime during the month of September last, and said in a very earnest manner, ‘Miss Crandall, I want to get a little more learning, enough if possible to teach colored children, and if you will admit me into your school I shall forever be under the greatest obligation to you. If you think it will be the means of injuring you, I will not insist on the favor.'”
After brief deliberation, Crandall admitted her to the school in September 1832 as the first black student. Shortly thereafter many parents of the other students demanded that Miss Crandall expel Sarah. When she refused, most of the other students withdrew. Faced with severe opposition from the Canterbury community, Crandall closed the existing school – only to reopen in 1833 in order to teach a group of solely African-American students.
in South Kingston Rhode Island
Sarah continued to attend the school in the face of harassment and adversity until Crandall, afraid for her pupils’ safety, after a mob converged on the school on the evening of Sarah’s marriage, closed the school permanently.
On September 9, 1834 Sarah married George Fayerweather Jr. in a double wedding ceremony with her brother and his bride in Canterbury. George was an accomplished blacksmith. The couple moved to New London in 1841 and then later to South Kingston Rhode Island in 1855. They lived in George’s blacksmith shop shown in the photo above. The house/shop was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Sarah Fayerweather joined the Kingston Anti-Slavery Society, attended antislavery meetings held by the American Anti-Slavery Society in various cities across the North, maintained a correspondence with her former teacher Prudence Crandall and former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and subscribed to The Liberator until Garrison ceased publishing it in 1865. She also maintained an active church life, joining the Sunday school class at Kingston’s Congregational church.
Sarah gave birth to five children. She named her first child Prudence Crandall. Sarah Harris Fayerweather is buried in South Kingston, Rhode Island in the Old Fernwood cemetery.
In 1970 Fayerweather Hall, a dormitory on the campus of University of Rhode Island, was named in honor of Sarah Harris Fayerweather. The Fayerweather Craft Guild, located in Kingston at the site of the Fayerweather family’s former home and blacksmith shop, is also named in her honor.
The complete list of sources may be found by clicking the “Bibliography” button, and, then typing “Sarah Harris” in the SEARCH box.
Edith Carow Roosevelt (1861-1948)
Edith Kermit Carow was born in Norwich on August 6, 1861. She was born in her maternal parent’s mansion, 130 Washington Street. Her middle name was the surname of a paternal great-uncle Robert Kermit.
She married Theodore Roosevelt on December 2, 1886 who became the 26th President of the United States
in 1901. She served as First Lady from 1901-1909.
Edith led a very interesting life. In 1869-1871 she was schooled in the Dodsworth School for Dancing and Deportment, in New York City. In 1871-1879 she attended the Louise Comstock Private School, also in New York City. As a child, she attended private kindergarten and primary school at the Theodore Roosevelt Sr. home on Park Avenue in New York City.
She joined Theodore in many outdoor sporting activities, such as tennis, swimming long-distance, bicycling, and rowing. She also became an expert horsewoman.
She and her husband had four sons and one daughter.
The complete list of sources may be found by clicking the “Bibliography” button, and, then typing “Edith” in the SEARCH box.
Dr. Ier J. Manwaring (1872-1958)
Dr. Ier J. Manwaring was one of Norwich’s first women medical doctors and one of the first female medical doctors to go overseas during an international conflict.
She was born in Montville but she and her parents moved to a 100-acre farm located on East Great Plain (present-day site of Three Rivers Community College) in Norwich when she was five years old. She was educated at the Broadway School, the East Greenwich Academy in Rhode Island, the Mary Baldwin College in Virginia, and the Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia. Upon completion of her education, she established her own medical practice in Norwich and was the physician at Connecticut College from 1916 until she left for France.
Dr. Manwaring, along with a contingent of other women doctors, was determined to serve her country after the United States entered World War I. The women doctors formed the American Women’s Hospitals Service (AWHS). It’s mission was to raise money to operate a hospital, staff it with doctors and nurses, and acquire and equip ambulances. Manwaring raised $5,000 in Connecticut.
AWHS established the first hospital in Neufmoutiers-en-Brie France in July 1918. When members of the first women’s hospital unit arrived, they could hear the thunder of artillery as the Allies in the Marne region stopped the Germans’ final offensive of the war. The women wore custom-designed khaki uniforms modeled after those of British officers.
Manwaring and 25 other doctors, nurses and drivers formed the second unit. Their destination, assigned by the French, was Luzancy on the Marne River. Residents of the area were returning to their homes from the war when the doctors opened their hospital in an old chateau — a place that the Germans had also used as a hospital.
During their service in France, the group treated more than 20,000 people in 195 villages, at an average cost of less than $1 per patient. From November 1918 to August 1919, the dispensary doctors made 8,348 house calls. They treated skin diseases, hernias, heart and kidney troubles in the old, and malnutrition in babies. They dressed abscesses and treated ulcers.
As the doctors prepared to leave Luzancy in March 1919, a ceremony was held in their honor. They were named honorary citizens of Luzancy and four of the doctors, including Manwaring, received medals, equivalent to the French Legion of Honor.
After her 14 month tour of duty she returned to Norwich to resume her medical practice.
She is buried in Maplewood Cemetery.
The complete list of sources may be found by clicking the “Bibliography” button, and, then typing “Dr. Ier” in the SEARCH box.