For Women’s History Month – March, 2022

Marblehead Women in History

By Pam Peterson, Historian and MFHS Secretary

From the beginning, women in Marblehead were strong, self-reliant, and often enterprising.  Functioning in what was, in essence, an industrial community; a commercial fishing seaport that welcomed vessels from many ports of call, women needed to work hard. A large percentage of men were often away at sea for long periods of time, so they developed a resilience and even toughness that was necessary in early rural America.

In this environment, there was a variety and abundance of work needed to support fishing and then the shoe industry, and to keep households operating in the absence of the men.  Beginning at around the age of eight or so, boys, and their fathers and uncles and brothers, went to sea for months at a time, fishing offshore throughout the year, and on the frigid Grand Banks in spring and in fall. They also served on merchant vessels crossing the Atlantic and, later into the Pacific.  Some women ran taverns, and some worked at trades while their husbands were away at sea, or at war, or dead.  They were part of the shore-based support industries of fishing, or they labored at piecework, shoe-making in their homes for additional income or as their sole means of support. Marblehead women were hard workers as well as prolific and dedicated mothers.

Throughout their lives, Marblehead women endured unspeakable losses, as fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons were lost at sea or perished on distant shores from disease, accident, or maritime warfare, never to return again.  Many an entry in Marblehead death records reads “fell off a mast,” “drowned off (some faraway place),” “died of (some exotic and/or debilitating disease)” contracted in foreign lands or on unsanitary ships.  While many women married several times, others remained widows, often relying on their community for support.  In the 1800s, those who lived to old age often died “in the poorhouse.”  It was this significant social need that impelled women’s groups and churches to offer relief funds. Social welfare organizations such as the Marblehead Female Humane Society (1816) were established very early on in Marblehead.

Most women were part of the sisterhood of community support that has persisted throughout time, helping less fortunate neighbors and friends as much as possible. Some women made distinct contributions to social welfare, religious and academic developments, or the socio-cultural vitality of the town.  In one way or another, all contributed to the nurturing of the Marblehead community.  This spirit of involvement for the betterment of the community is alive today, in the many social, health-related, and cultural groups, including the still active MFHS, that thrive in Marblehead.

Lucretia Brown (“Aunt ‘Crese”) was the wife of black Revolutionary War veteran Joseph Brown, who won his freedom by fighting in the war. Together, they operated a tavern beside the pond on Gingerbread Hill, where Election Day celebrations were held, with spirits and ‘Lection buns consumed in great quantity.  Lucretia was famous for her “Joe Frogger” molasses cakes (or cookies), which continue to be popular today.

Black Joe’s Tavern

Agnes Surriage was an 18th c. fisherman’s daughter who worked in John Bartlett’s tavern, the Fountain Inn, high on a headland (Bailey’s Head) overlooking Little Harbor.  In 1742, she captured the attention of an English nobleman and customs official, and became his mistress. He finally married her after a 1755 earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal, when she rescued him and saved his life.  She died in England in 1783.

Mary Alley was a Marblehead school teacher in the late 1800s. She was highly aware of the problems and illnesses of

Mary Alley

townspeople.  She bought medicines and food to needy individuals, and co-founded the Marblehead Visiting Nurse Association in 1895. She served on the Board of the Marblehead Female Humane Society.  She donated her home on Franklin Street to be a hospital. In the 1920s, the Mary Alley Hospital opened, and continued in service until the mid-1960s.

Marcia Selman studied at the Marblehead Academy on Pleasant Street, She was an active participant in the North Shore temperance movement, the fight for women’s right to vote, and eventually pursued her early dream of becoming a minister, serving as minister of the Unitarian Church in Marblehead.  She wrote a temperance song, Marblehead Forever, which became the town anthem in the 1900s.

Louise DuPont Crowninshield

Louise DuPont Crowninshield (b.1877 – d. 1958) was a summer resident of Marblehead. Mrs. Crowninshield attended St. Michael’s Church, and supported many charities. With her innate sense of taste, and knowledge of antiques, she was a strong voice for the colonial Revival movement of the 20^th century. She established the National Trust for the Preservation of Historic Homes.  In Marblehead, she supported the Lee Mansion with many gifts of colonial American furnishings.

The Women Of Marblehead by Robert Booth and published by the Marblehead Female Humane Society is available for sale at the following locations in Marblehead….

Anchor To Windward  74 Atlantic Avenue

Abbot Hall Gift Shop  188 Washington Street

Arnould Gallery & Framery  111 Washington Street

Marblehead Museum  170 Washington Street

Spirit of ’76 Bookstore  107 Pleasant Street

Shubie’s Marketplace 16 Atlantic Avenue

We are proud to present….

“The Women of Marblehead”

A new book by Marblehead historian Robert Booth, published by theMarblehead Female Humane Society.
The Marblehead Female Humane Society has published a new book, The Women of Marblehead, in connection with its 200th Anniversary celebration this year.

The book is 200-plus pages in length, with more than 60 illustrations, and tells the story of Marblehead in the 1800s with special focus on the role of women an
d their evolution from dependency to self-sufficiency. Subtitled A Women’s History of Marblehead, Mass., in the 19th Century and of The Marblehead Female Humane Society and Its Activities from 1816 Forward, the book was commissioned by the Society and written by historian Robert Booth.
The Women of Marblehead traces the history of the town through the perspective of girls and women in each generation, starting with the very hard times of the early years and the War of 1812 and its aftermath, which led to the formation in 1816 of the Marblehead Female Humane Society as a means for women to help other women and their children.

Booth tells the story of Marblehead’s transformation from a seafaring town to a shoe manufacturing center, and of how women were able to earn their own livings and to pay for construction and ongoing expenses of four new churches starting in the 1830s. Women led in running the Underground Railroad before the Civil War, in operating the new machinery introduced in the shoe factories, in striking against the owners, and in taking to the streets in temperance marches. In 1889, 31 years before women got the vote in America, a woman was elected to the town’s School Board. The main story closes as Marblehead became a summer resort.

Readers will recognize familiar names and will enjoy the many illustrations depicting Marblehead and Marbleheaders in the 1800s. Also included is material written by Martha Bessom Gorman that discusses the role of the Society in the 20th century.

“I found the rise of Marblehead women from the poverty and oppression of the early 1800s to the self-empowerment of the 1830s and onward to be an inspiring story,” said Booth. “The Female Humane Society, then as now, provided help to those who needed it and inspired women to improve their own lot. Many of the stories and events were a revelation to me, since so little had been written about women in this town, which, in the days of seafaring, had both a large majority of females in it, and very few men around for the nine months per year that they were at sea. As such, it was like no other place, and Marblehead women were not like others—they had to deal with terrible losses of their men at sea and in war, to be resourceful in raising fatherless children, and to earn their own way in life starting with shoe-making in the 1820s.”

“In ‘The Women of Marblehead,’ Bob has given us new reasons to appreciate Marblehead’s history and those who have come before us. Their strength, their resolve, and their compassion continue to inspire us,” said Lee Weed, the Society’s directress. “We thank Bob for his fine work and for his meaningful insights on our shared history…must-reading for everyone interested in Marblehead.”

The book was designed by Peter Schalck of Flat Rock Creative and published by Maple Press.

About The Author

Robert Booth works as Executive Director of the Center for Clinical Social Work, a national credentialing and advocacy organization in the field of behavioral healthcare. He is a native of Marblehead, where he resides with his family. He was educated at public schools, Harvard College, and Boston University.

He is the author of the guidebook Boston’s Freedom Trail and contributed a chapter to Salem: Place, Myth, and Memory, recently re-released in paperback by the University Press of New England.

In 2011 St. Martin’s Press (Thomas Dunne Books imprint) published his nonfiction story about Salem in the period 1815-1830, Death of an Empire. A repeat visitor to the Boston Globe bestseller list, this work was named Best Book of New England History in 2012 by the New England Society of the City of New York.

His nonfiction Mad For Glory, a book about American intervention in the Pacific in 1813, was brought out by Tilbury House Publishers in November, 2015.