Mary Williams and 17th Century Colonial Women

“Cotton Mather called them ‘THE HIDDEN ONES.’ They preached or sat in a deacon's bench. Nor did they vote or attend Harvard. Neither, because they were virtuous women, did they question God or the magistrates. They prayed secretly, read the Bible through at least once a year, and went to hear the minister preach even when it snowed. Hoping for an eternal crown, they never asked to be remembered on earth. And they haven't been. Well-behaved women seldom make history;

—Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, 1976

 

An artist sketch of Mary Williams holding her daughter Freeborn nearby the Providence Spring. Her youngest daughter, Mary, is playing in the water.

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The Hidden Ones

Women in colonial America were expected to behave in very specific ways. Mary Williams certainly fell into that category. And therefore, the historical record of her life, her ideas, and her influence on the story of America is not found in the same kind of documents we use to study men from the same time. The quote above by noted historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich is an observation on the challenges historican face understanding the lives and influences of women from this time period. Their story is rarely found in letters, legal procedings, sermons, or other documents that are often used to understand the lives of men from the same time.

Many of the women from this time period that have had books written about them were women who found themselves in conflict with their communities. Anne Hutchinson, Mary Dyer, and the victims of witch trials are only a very small fraction of the women who lived in Colonial New England during the 1600s. Yet, because they were not "well-behaved," historians tended to study the many letters and written evidence of their lives. We must keep in mind that their experiences were certainly not representative of vast majority of women in that time.

But as soon as we begin to look more closely at the evidence we do have, we can create a vivid and remarkable portrait of Mary's life. Historians who study colonial American women have developed remarkable methods for revealing the lives of these "hidden ones."

 

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, “Vertuous Women Found: New England Ministerial Literature, 1668-1735,” American Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 1 (Spring, 1976), 20.