Colonial Dames Entrepreneurs: Their Stories and Their Ads, Part 2

Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues to show how women in colonial America rolled businesses and made out newspaper ads to promote them. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.

As I wrote last week( assure Colonial Dames Entrepreneurs: Their Stories and Their Ads ): There was a feisty pioneer spirit in many colonial maidens of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. From what was forged out of necessity to survive sprang a legion of enterprising wives. An commodity published in the State Times Advocate newspaper revealed that businesswomen of olden times were no different than their modern sisters: they believed in advertising. These noblewomen campaigned to promote their products and services.

Illustration: maiden brewing brew. Credit: Medievalists.net; Wikimedia Commons.

Also last week, I wrote about a woman brewer in colonial America( examine Something Old, Something New- By God’s Grace, We Will Always Have Brew ! ).

This State Times Advocate newspaper article asserted that a study of old newspapers, diaries, and tax registers proves the abundant spirit of colonial women inventors. Among their professions were distillers, brewers and bakers.

One girl highlighted was Anna Jones.

State Times Advocate( Baton Rouge, Louisiana ), 12 September 1924, page 8

The Salem, Massachusetts, selectmen appointed for Anna the quay inverse the dwelling house of Mr. Miles Ward “as a suitable place where it will be least offensive for the exerting of ye commerce of mystery of purifying spirits.”( “Annuals of Salem” p. 167)

Anna’s fine liquids- her “trade of mystery”- were as potent as her pedigree. She was the granddaughter of Rev. Seaborn Cotton and Dorothy Bradstreet; huge granddaughter of Governor Simon Bradstreet and Anne Dudley; and gr. granddaughter of Sir Thomas Dudley. She was also a cousin of Abigail Adams.

Another colonial maiden, Vashati Bradish, started a brewery and bakery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which induced a sound in the residences of Harvard. The chaps loved her hot buns and hearty pitchers of brawny- so much so, in fact, that the authorities regarded her a threat and a bad distraction.

In the State Times Advocate newspaper article, the president of Harvard may be found commending “Sister Bradish” and soliciting that the city officials give her ply her transaction, as both her bread and beer accommodate “relief’ that her clients “can seldom meet with” elsewhere.

State Times Advocate( Baton Rouge, Louisiana ), 12 September 1924, page 8

Henry Dunster came to her defense to help keep her in silver and to too enjoy her staples.

Vashati started her business when partner Robert Bradish, a dyer by swap, been killed in 1659. She raced the biz out of her residence on the southwest corner of Crooked Street( now Holyoke ).

Future generations of Bradish’s too afforded nutrient and drinking, and I observed a newspaper article reporting that Vashati’s son Ebenezer acquired the “Blue Anchor Tavern, ” which became known as “Bradish’s, ” in 1749. This place plied another generation of Harvard fellows, and became a popular watering hole during the American Revolution.

Boston Record American( Boston, Massachusetts ), 29 April 1963, page 5

According to this article 😛 TAGEND

“Here was coming and disappearing the night of April 18, 1775, when name was overtaken around that the Minute Men had been called out … Now were anxious hours and cordial ones, very, while the British were said shut up in Boston and red hairs apply lieu to blue coatings at tables.”

A grandson, William Bradish, was one of the two drummers of Colonel Gardiner’s regiment at Lexington and Concord. His name appears on a muster roll of the Company under the bid of Capt. Samuel Thatcher in Col. Gardner’s Regiment of Militia.

A fitting description for these industrious colonial madams can be summed up in the words of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 😛 TAGEND

“Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the head as a continuous purpose.”

More Colonial Dames Industry and Ads coming soon!

Note: Just as an online collect of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives, told the stories of these women financiers in colonial America, they can tell you narratives about your ancestors that can’t be found anywhere else. Come look today and experience what you can discover!

Further Reading 😛 TAGEND

Felt, Joseph Barlow. “Annuals of Salem.” Daughters of the American Revolution. “An Historic Guide to Cambridge.” Hannah Winthrop Chapter, Cambridge, MA, 1907. Anderson, Robert Charles. “The Great Migration and The Great Migration Begins, 1620 -1 635, Volume 1. ” New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1996 -2 011.

Related Articles 😛 TAGEND

Colonial Dames Entrepreneurs: Their Stories and Their Ads Something Old, Something New- By God’s Grace, We Will Always Have Brew ! Early Women Occupations, Jobs& Avocations Discovering the Work Your Female Ancestors Did

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