Difference between revisions of "Week 8 Questions/Comments-327 09"
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It was interesting to read about the feme sole laws in Pennsylvania and South Carolina. Pennsylvania allowed women whose husbands would not support them to become feme soles. That was definitely a positive gain for women whose husbands deserted them or were bankrupt. It makes sense that the women may have had to use their earnings to pay off their deadbeat husband's debts because that is basically like marriage today. If one spouse goes into debt then they are both in debt. I also found in interesting that South Carolina did not specify who could or could not be a feme sole. Of course, a married woman who wanted to become a feme sole would have needed to have written permission from their husband. Still, the idea of allowing a married woman to participate in business shows that South Carolina was pretty liberal at this time. I find it funny that South Carolina was liberal back then, but isn't exactly known for being liberal today. -Katelyn Lease | It was interesting to read about the feme sole laws in Pennsylvania and South Carolina. Pennsylvania allowed women whose husbands would not support them to become feme soles. That was definitely a positive gain for women whose husbands deserted them or were bankrupt. It makes sense that the women may have had to use their earnings to pay off their deadbeat husband's debts because that is basically like marriage today. If one spouse goes into debt then they are both in debt. I also found in interesting that South Carolina did not specify who could or could not be a feme sole. Of course, a married woman who wanted to become a feme sole would have needed to have written permission from their husband. Still, the idea of allowing a married woman to participate in business shows that South Carolina was pretty liberal at this time. I find it funny that South Carolina was liberal back then, but isn't exactly known for being liberal today. -Katelyn Lease | ||
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| + | Suzanne Lebsock, The Free Women of Petersburg | ||
| + | It was interesting to learn that women's deed of gifts and wills were quite different than men in Petersburg. Not only was it out of the ordinary for women to have wills but very interesting to read about what they willed and who they willed it to. Mary Bolling is interesting because she included some of her heirs but excluded others such as her grandson Thomas Shore. The idea that women played favorites and designated who got what instead of most men's wills dividing everything equally among their heirs. I can't help but think about my grandmother when I read this chapter in the book. As we went through her things after she passed, we found little notes with specific names on it willed to that person. These items were not actually in her will but they meant enough in her mind to give it to a specific person. Though the women in Petersburg were in a different time than my grandmother, it gives us a sense of women's thought process. The thought of who would most benefit from receiving that gift, who was grandma's favorite, or who asked first? Women showed their nurturing abilities by denoting some security for their children. Men's wills did not show these specific details. -Marsha Himes | ||
