Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England 1650-1750

by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

A Book Review by Marcia Wickes

March 2009

Good Wives is a fascinating book in which the author attempts to show the complexities of women’s lives in northern New England from the years 1650-1750. Unlike some other books that revert too often to one-dimensional examples of women in the past, Good Wives portrays women of that time as more real and more complex. Although difficult at times to read (the author uses complex sentence structures and scholarly language that at times slows the narrative), Good Wives is well worth the effort because it portrays the differences not only of women’s lives past and present but also contrasts the lives of those women of the past with the lives of their contemporaries. All too often women in this time period are pictured as simple ‘good wives’, subservient to their husbands or male family members, dependent and devoted and loving, with no parts of their lives not reflected somehow through the lives of their men. Some are painted as loving wives and helpmates, good mothers, and icons of virtue, while others are painted as downtrodden second-class citizens with no power, used and/or abused by the men in their lives. Still others are the ‘fallen’ women, who (often because of disobedience or attempts at independence) are the ‘jezebels’ of the time, with no true place in civilized society. Blame is often placed upon the women rather than on circumstance and often only one aspect of the women’s lives is shown. However, through the examples of specific women whose lives have been meticulously researched, Ms. Ulrich reveals that women then (as now) had lives that were multifaceted and as different from each other as they were similar. She takes the presumed images of these women and compares and contrasts those images with the reality. She shows that while in some circumstances the stereotypes are true, more often her research shows that the women she looks at are individual and distinct and do not often fit with the established pattern of previous depictions.

Good Wives is divided into three sections: Bathsheba, Eve, and Jael. These sections, named for biblical images, show women’s roles as virtuous women and helpmates, women as sexual partners and consorts, and women as heroines and persons of courage. She breaks this down further with descriptions of women as deputy husbands, friendly neighbors, pretty gentlewomen, mothers, women of violence, and heroes. She uses a multitude of primary resources such as diaries and journal entries, court and church records, wills, sermons and essays, letters, even graveyard inscriptions. She also uses a number of writings of the times in her research. In fact she states in her introduction that she chose to write about New England colonial women in part because of her geographical proximity to the sources used for this book. As professor of history at the University of New Hampshire she undoubtedly has knowledge of and access to a number of useful resources she has used in the writing of this book. The book is very interesting in large part because of the variety of primary sources used in the research. It is refreshing because of her honest yet empathetic way of interpreting and presenting that information. The individual women whose lives she explores through her primary sources are in some ways ‘typical’ of the time but (as she frequently reminds us) were also unique individuals in their personalities, decisions, their choices and their reactions to the times they lived in. Because so many women lived undocumented lives, authors sometimes judge all women by the lives of the few who have left behind written records. Ms. Ulrich goes further, making calculated (and probably accurate) speculations about the lives of women by analyzing property inventories, funeral records and wills, court transcripts and documents, letters, and other resources. Her interpretations and conclusions about these sources can better show what life may have been like for many women whose lives left behind no individual written records. Her social history is unique because she delves so deeply and reads between the lines to go one step further in trying to understand how different lives were for women in those years. In addition to the main body of the work, there are also illustrations, maps, a list of pertinent abbreviations, author’s notes on individual pages, a bibliographic essay that explains in detail some of her sources, and an extensive index. Valuable information can be found in all of these sections particularly the notes on various pages that provide a more in depth look at the information on the page.

The author is a historian whose other work, A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812, received the Pulitzer Prize, the Bancroft Prize, and the American Historical Association’s Joan Kelly and John H. Dunning Prizes for 1990. She received her B.A. from the University of Utah in 1960, her M.A. from Simmons College in 1971, and her Ph.D. from the University of New Hampshire in 1980, where she is currently professor of history. Her interest in the history of New England women is reflected in the series of vignettes and in her descriptions of every day lives in Good Wives. She is masterful at adding her own viewpoint to these while acknowledging the possibility of her own biases in their interpretation. Her focus on the smallest details of women’s lives makes the book almost impossible to put down in spite of the sometimes labored and complex writing style.

Because history often ‘comes alive’ for students when the details of everyday life in the past are brought to light and contrasted with life today, this book is of particular interest to teachers, especially those of reluctant learners. The vivid descriptions of New England life contributed to my understanding of the area by showing how the lives of women were affected by it and by their interactions with that life and with each other. This book also sparked my curiosity about the women in colonial times and I now have a better idea of what I want to look for and learn while I am in Boston. I think that any teacher of American history would put the information in Good Wives by using it to give students a greater understanding of the big events of this period by showing how everyday life was and how that might have had influence on bigger events. In the study of history it is sometimes easy to forget that while huge events are taking place, there is still everyday life that goes on day after day and some basic needs and wants that don’t change much over time. Good Wives speaks of women moving through the everyday world, dealing with husbands, families, and the home, making the book of keen interest to those students who more easily relate to that then to just looking at big events they may not be able to personally connect with. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in a realistic and fascinating look at the variety of roles women played in colonial New England. The women whose lives are explored in the book seem authentic and unique; they are women well worth remembering.