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18C Jewish Holiday & Ritual Observances
Blessing the Sabbath CandlesIt is impossible to know which customs 18C Jewish immigrants brought with them & observed in the British American colonies. These woodcuts illustrate Jewish holiday...
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Even though Women would not be allowed to Vote in the USA until 1920...
President George Washington understood the possible excesses of political parties in the new USA. Although known as his "Farewell Address," Washington never spoke these words before an audience. The...
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The “Gerry” in Gerrymandering - Even tho Women could not Vote in the USA...
Many probably were well aware of the “Gerry” in Gerrymandering. It is a practice that dates to the early days of the country. Gerrymandering involved a practice in which governmental districts are...
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Sarah Updike Goddard (c. 1701-1770) Printer & Mother
Printer's workshop (18th century woodcut). British Library. Shelfmark Harl.5915.(215.)Sarah Updike Goddard (c. 1701-Jan. 5, 1770), printer, was born at Cocumscussuc, one mile north of the village of...
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Baltimore Postmistress & Publisher Mary Katherine Goddard (1738-1816) & Her...
Mary Katherine Goddard (1738-1816) was the only daughter of Sarah Updike (1700-1770) & Dr. Giles Goddard (1703-1757), postmaster & physician in Groton & New London, Connecticut. Sarah...
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Another look at Mary Katharine Goddard, the Woman who Signed the Declaration...
Mary Katharine Goddard (1738-1816), likely the United States’ first woman employee, this newspaper publisher was a key figure in promoting the ideas that fomented the RevolutionAn illustration of Mary...
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Virginia Christmas for New England Tutor
Charcoal drawing of Philip Vickers Fithian (1747-1776) by unknown artist., c October 1776New Jersey-born Fithian experienced a religious conversion in 1766 & began attending Enoch Green's...
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1774 Christmas in Alexandria, Virginia
Nicholas Cresswell (1750-1804) by an unidentified artist, c 1780. Cresswell was the son of a landowner & sheep farmer in Edale, Derbyshire. At the age of 24, he sailed to the American colonies to...
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An unexpected Christmas reflection from Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) by John Trumbull (1756-1843). Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc., Monticello, Virginia.Virginian Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Page on December 25, 1762,"This very day, to...
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George & Martha Washington enjoying Dancing
Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, The Victory Ball, 1781, ca. 1929. This 20th-century depiction of Washington takes place after the Battle of Yorktown.What others wrote about George Washington dancing:“His...
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George & Martha held a constant Open House at Mount Vernon
Palmy Days at Mount Vernon by Thomas Rossiter, 1866 (On the east lawn of Mount Vernon) Until the end he & Mrs. Washington kept open house, & what a galaxy of company they had! Scarcely a day...
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Thanksgiving & Holidays away from Home at Finishing School ----1771-1773...
DIARY OF ANNA GREEN WINSLOW (1759-1780).For the years 1771-1773. with notes by Alice Morse Earle 1895 Anna Green Winslow (1759-1779) was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the daughter of Joshua Winslow...
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The Lost & Found Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789
The original Thanksgiving Proclamation document was penned by William Jackson, secretary to the President, and only signed by George Washington. The declaration was announced in newspapers and then the...
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Spinning & Baking Thanksgiving Pies -1790 Diary of Weaver Elizabeth Fuller...
Elizabeth Fuller (1775-1856) was 14 years-old, when she started keeping a diary. She made regular entries from October 1790 through December 1792. She lived with her family on a farm in Princeton,...
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The Washington Family & the Anglican Priest who composed a Christmas Hymn &...
A Christmas hymn for metrical singing was composed in colonial Virginia by the Reverend James Marye in the early 1770s. Marye was rector of Saint George's Parish, located in Fredericksburg in...
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Christmas for Thomas Jefferson's Slaves
Portrait of President Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) by Revolutionary War hero Tadeusz Kosciuszko (1746-1817)During the Christmas season, slaves at Monticello sometimes were allowed to visit family...
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Ben Franklin celebrates Christmas with Friends, Nuts, Apples, & Mince Pies
Benjamin Franklin's correspondence gives only a glimpse into his celebration of Christmas. He wrote to Isaac Norris in 1763, that he had given,"for customary New Year’s Gifts, and Christmas Presents to...
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Betty Washington (Mrs Fielding Lewis) 1733-1797 George Washington's Sister &...
Rebecca A. Johnson, “Betty Washington Lewis,” The Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington, Betty Washington Fielding Lewis 1733-1797Betty Washington Lewis was more than just the only sister of George...
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Deborah Read (1708–1774) the resourceful but unhappy wife of Ben Franklin
Deborah Read Franklin (1708–1774)Deborah Read Franklin (c. 1708-1774) was born to John & Sarah Read, a well respected Quaker couple. John Read was a moderately prosperous building contractor &...
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Using Christmas as a Legal Deadline & Thomas Jefferson
Charles Peale Polk (American artist, 1765-1822) Portrait of Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)Christmas as a Time of Reckoning (Primary Source References)1768 May 15. "Agreed with Mr. Moore that he shall...
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