Hannah Hayden’s Work and Family Economy in Frontier New York

2019-11-22T11:03:09-05:00November 22nd, 2019|Tags: , , |

Hannah Hayden and her family moved from Windsor to Hartwick, New York in 1806. Her letters back home reveal a willful woman grappling with her new identity in the frontier. Her textile work and the burdens of caring for her brood of children and employees usually took center stage in her letters, while her focus on and longing for material goods and economic success remained subtle yet sharply detailed motifs.

Sarah Rowland Dudley’s Red Cloak

2019-11-07T14:24:24-05:00November 7th, 2019|Tags: , , , , , , |

Do you ever wonder how objects end up in museum exhibitions? The cloak on view in our museum gallery arrived at the Society in a box. It had ripped seams, frayed trim, insect damage, and layers of dirt. But in its prime in the early 1800s, the bright red color was a fashion statement and a sign of the owner’s wealth.

Founders’ Series: Frances Clark Dewey Phelps

2021-03-31T12:21:53-04:00October 16th, 2019|Tags: , , , , |

Frances (unknown) (Clark) (Dewey) Phelps is one of the few women included on the Descendants of the Founders of Ancient Windsor’s founders list, which only includes heads of household. Women in Frances’s era rarely show up in official records, but their circumstances can be partially deduced from their husband’s and other contemporaneous records.

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