With the British threatening Philadelphia in 1777, Sarah “Sally” Wister and her siblings had been taken by their parents for safety to a relative in North Wales, Pennsylvania. The well-educated sixteen-year-old was delighted when General William Smallwood of Maryland, asked to use the house as his headquarters. Unable to post letters because of the fighting, she chronicled her flirtations and other news in a journal for her best friend Deborah Norris in Philadelphia to read later.

To Deborah Norris.
Tho’ I have not the least shadow of an opportunity to send a letter, if I do write, I will keep a sort of journal of the time that may expire before I see thee, the perusal of it may some time hence give pleasure in a solitary hour. …
5th day septm 26th … our cousin Jesse heard that Gen Howe’s Army had move down towards Philadelphia, Then my dear our hopes & fears were engage’d for you however my advice is summon up all your resolution, call Fortitude to your aid, dont suffer your spirits to sink, my dear; theres nothing like courage, tis what I stand in need of myself but unfortunately have little of it in my composition. …

Oct the 19th 1777 [20th] seconday. … [in] the afternoon Cousin Prissa [Priscilla] and myself were sitting at thee door I in a green skirt dark short gown, &c. Two genteel men of the military order rode up to the door. Your servant ladies, &c ask’d if they cou’d have quarters for Genl Smallwood. Aunt [Hannah] Foulke thought she cou’d accommodate them … one of the officers dismounted and wrote Smallwoods quarters over the door which secur’d us from straggling soldiers. After this he mounted his steed and rode away. When we were alone [our] dress and lips were put in order for conquest and the hopes of adventures gave brightness to each before passive countenance. … I feel in good spirits tho surrounded by an Army, the house full of officers, yard alive with soldiers, very peaceable sort of men tho’, they eat like other folks, talk like them, and behave themselves with elegance, so I will not be afraid of them. That I wont. Adieu I am going to my chamber to dream, I suppose, of bayonets and swords, sashes, guns, and epaulets. …

Third day [Oct. 28] . … when will sallys admirers appear? ah that indeed. Why Sally has not charms sufficient to pierce the heart of a soldier, but I won’t dispair.
Who knows what mischief I yet may do. …

Surprisingly, Sally never married.

These excerpts are from In the Words of Women, Chapter 4, pages 116-17. Sarah Wister’s silhouette is in the Portrait Collection of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Jemima Condict, the daughter of a New Jersey farmer, like many other women, felt a need to put her thoughts on paper. She kept a journal and explained why: “Sometimes after our people is gone to Bed I get my Pen for I Dont know how to Content myself without writeing Something.” This is her journal entry for Saturday October 1, 1774.

It seams we have troublesome times a Coming for there is a great Disturbance a Broad in the earth & they say it is tea that caused it. So then if they will Quarel about such a trifling thing as that What must we expect But war & I think or at least fear it will be so.

She was, of course, right. War did come. Here is what Jemima wrote on April 23, 1775.

As every Day Brings New Troubels So this Day Brings News that yesterday very early in the morning They Began to fight at Boston. The regulors [British] We hear Shot first there; they killd 30 of our men A hundred & 50 of the Regulors.

These excerpts are from In the Words of Women, the first from Chapter 1, page 23, the second from page 29. The illustration is from The Boston Tea Party Historical Society.

Elizabeth and Abigail Foote of Colchester, Connecticut, documented their busy, daily routines in journals. Although Elizabeth was aware that fighting had broken out in Boston and baked biscuits to help feed those who were resisting the British, it is the day-in, day-out work that dominates the sisters’ diaries. The details they provide—and the fact that they found time amid endless chores to chronicle their everyday activities—are impressive. Here is a sample from Elizabeth Foote’s journal:

[Thursday April 13, 1775]—I made a gown for Mrs. [Amos] Wells and about noon went to Mr. Jones, from thence to Mr. Otis’s and Hannah came home with me to work and we fixed our wheels to spin linen and Mrs. Wells owed me 7s 6d for my work being 7 per day.
Tuesday 18—I rose before the sun and made apple pies and dumplins for breakfast and Lura Jones and Sally Otis came back with us last night we meeting of them and so stay’d to breakfast, but they said they would not if it had not rained. I did housework and spool’d a little. …
Thursday 20—I did housework and made gowns for Lieut. Wells’s wife. At night it rained and they stayed all night. In the morning they paid me the money and so went home.
Friday 21—In the morning we heard they had begun to fight at Boston. About noon there came an Indian and his wife (he said it was) here and I bought a snuff bottle of ’em with bread and cheese and cider. I did housework and quilled [quilted] for Ellen as I have done all this week.
Saturday 22—I just got the work done up and the quilts filled when Jonah came and telled me to go making biscuit for to carry to fight the regulars [British] which I did and baked a pudding and you may guess at the rest. …
Tuesday 25—Morning milked the cows and went to Capt. Caverly’s but came right back to get some bacon and beef tongues for Mr. Wilde on the town’s cost, which weighed 8 lb 12 oz and Jonas Cleavland had 13 lb pork and 7 lb 8 oz of cheese on the town cost last Saturday.

Abigail Foote noted in her journal:

[June 1775] Thursday 29—I begun to spool a piece for Israels [their brother] shirts and a little before night went down to Mr. Caverlys old house to pick some cherries.
July [1775] Sunday 9—I stayed at home in the forenoon and made cheese. In the afternoon I rid Israels mare to Antioch.
Wednesday 12—I went to Mr. Otis’s and spooled some of Mrs. Wright’s yarn and come home about noon and sot my piece to work and Eliza Wells was here and I helped Israel pole hay a little.
Monday 17—Israel killed a calf and I dressed the feet and went and carried some veal to Noah Foots and there was a thunder shower [in the] afternoon.

Like all diarists, Elizabeth Foote sometimes found it difficult to keep her journal up to date.

[October Wednesday 18 1775]—I forgot what I did.
Tuesday 24—I lay a bed till sun an hour high. I got up and carded a little while and then writ journal for 2 weeks back and Alice went home sick after she had spun 4 knots. Procrastination is surely the thief of time.

This excerpt is from In the Words of Women, Chapter 1, pages 39-40.

Sarah Perkins Hodgkins of Ipswich, Massachusetts, was left behind, like so many other wives, to care for the family when her husband went off to war. Correspondence was their only link. This letter, written in 1776, conveys how much Sarah yearned to hear from him.

Loving Husband these Lines come with my kind regards to you hopeing they will find you in as good health as they leave me and the rest of the family at this time. I received two Letters from you since [you] left home & was glad to hear you were well. I want to hear again. Don’t mis any oppertunity you may have of writing to me Sence that is all the way we have to converse together. It is much to my greif that it is so. I am a good deal concerned about you on account of the army being so thin for fear the enemy should take the advantage. I hear you have lost one of your company & hope it will be sanctified to you all … I conclude by Subscribing my Self your most afectionate companion till Death. Sarah Hodgkins

PS … my pen blots so that I have made a wick of my Letter but I trust you wont expose it so I wish you a good night.

This excerpt is from In the Words of Women, Chapter 2, page 59.

Please don’t think badly of Sarah Perkins Hodgkins because she penned hopeing … mis … oppertunity … greif … my self … and afectionate in the letter above!

Her idiosyncratic spelling is not what we now consider correct. But in her time there was no authority to which anyone could refer, and thus no “correct” spelling. And the manuscript letters and diaries excerpted in In the Words of Women reflect that reality. You’ll find considerable inconsistency in spelling: a word might spelled one way in one sentence and another way later on in the same letter. Sally Jay spelled “received” the way we do today; her husband spelled it “recieved.”

In both the blog and the book, we’ve opted to preserve the spelling, punctuation and usages of the selections as they were written. We see this choice as a way of conveying the flavor and style of both individual writers and the period. (The letters of Deborah Franklin and Jane Mecom, Benjamin Franklin’s wife and sister, respectively, are the sole exceptions. Their writing was so phonetic and such a challenge to read that we provided “translations” along with passages they wrote. You’ll see what we mean in this post.)

For more about the editorial considerations and choices that inform In the Words of Women, please look at Reading Old Documents.