Category: Women’s History
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Deputy Husbands and Slave Mistresses: White Female Pew Proprietors at the Old North Church, 1735-1775
Meet Mehitable Nelson On August 11, 1721, 30-year-old Mehitable, who was often called “Hittie” in family letters, married 27-year-old Robert Temple.1 Their officiant was Rev. Samuel Myles, the rector of King’s Chapel in Boston.2 After their marriage, Mehitable and Robert purchased the deed to pew number 11 at the Old North Church. The young Church…
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Matilda Bibbey: A Model of Active Citizenship
Matilda Frances Bibbey was born in 1868 in the North End of Boston to immigrant parents with her mother originally coming from Ireland and her father originally from England. As a child, she lived on Vernon Place, which is near what is now the Charter St. Playground. As an adult in the 1890s, she…
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Centering Women’s Work in the History of Old North Church’s Parish House
If you have visited Old North, then you may have noticed the three-story brick townhouse that sits next to the church. Have you ever wondered what this building is used for? Delaney Sieber, our Research Intern and Educator, put together this short video exploring the interesting history of the Parish House. See the video and…
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Indigenous Women at Old North During the British Colonial Period
In this episode of Illuminating the Unseen, Jaimie shares primary sources that reveal the relationship that one adolescent Indigenous woman, a sixteen-year-old named Elizabeth, had with the Old North Church during the complicated days of the British colonial era. Jaimie examines Elizabeth’s story in the larger context of what it meant for Indigenous and Black…
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The Women of Old North, Part II: The House by the Side of the Road
The story of the Women’s Guild founding and function demonstrates the ways in which the organization benefited the institution of the church itself. However, in order to grasp the positive impact that the guild had on the Boston community, one must turn to the story of the House by the Side of the Road, a…
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The Women of Old North: The Women’s Guild
Despite their support of the church throughout the first half of the twentieth century, the Women’s Guild of Old North remains relatively unknown in the modern historical narrative. From behind-the-scenes, the guild maintained the church and accompanying Parish House as a welcoming and homey place, as well as fundraised through various events, having demanded no…
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The People in the Pews: Mary Gibbs
“With an extension of her allusion religious activities can be seen as a means used by New England women to define self and find community, two functions that worldly occupations more likely performed for men.” – Nancy F. Cott, The Bonds of Womanhood Forever stamped on the brass plate of Pew No.8, the name Mary…
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The People in the Pews: Matilda Bibbey, the First Woman of the Vestry
In the rear of the church, there is a modest plaque honoring Matilda F. Bibbey. It is the only plaque in Old North solely dedicated to a woman. Matilda Frances Bibbey was born in the North End in 1868. Her mother, like many other North End residents at the time, was an Irish migrant. Her…
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The People in the Pews: Gertrude Bibbey
Have you heard someone say, “Perhaps I’ll quit my desk job, buy a small farm in the country, and spend my days tending to chickens, gardening, and baking pies”? According to NPR and the Washington Post, this is a twenty-first-century phenomenon: twenty and thirty-something millennials seeking out organic, sustainable food and escaping exorbitant housing costs.…
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The Women of Old North Church
Happy International Women’s Day! Here at Old North, women from all different backgrounds play important roles on our campus, as educators on the church floor, gift shop employees, staff in the Old North Foundation offices, and leaders in the congregation. Although the women of Old North today are celebrated for their contributions to our site…