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“Lonely Colonist Seeks Wife: The forgotten History of America’s First Mail Order Brides

“Lonely Colonist Seeks Wife: The forgotten History of America’s First Mail Order Brides. Marcia Zug. Jamestown Brides. Threats to success of colony Unmarried men not interested in settling, wanted to acquire wealth & return home Reversed immigration 40-50 men living in Powhatan’s village

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“Lonely Colonist Seeks Wife: The forgotten History of America’s First Mail Order Brides

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  1. “Lonely Colonist Seeks Wife: The forgotten History of America’s First Mail Order Brides Marcia Zug

  2. Jamestown Brides • Threats to success of colony • Unmarried men not interested in settling, wanted to acquire wealth & return home • Reversed immigration • 40-50 men living in Powhatan’s village • Perceived as a security threat • Lord Bacon, Founding member of the Virginia Company • Actively recruited & provided incentives for women • (1612) 90 women arrived • (1613) 50 women arrived • 1691 passed a law to prohibit white-Indian marriages

  3. “Founding Mothers” Vs. White Slave • Recruits “received…upon good recommendation” • Poor, but not desperate • No prostitutes, criminals or beggars • Chosen to immigrate • Colonists had to pay 120-150 pounds of tobacco to the Virginia Company of London • Incentives: • Petticoats, caps, apron, two pairs of shoes, six pairs sheets • Free transport, free good and shelter until they married • Promise to be married to freemen and those capable of support • Granted married households first servants

  4. Scarcity of women • 1620’s 6:1 • 1630’s 3:1 • Women enjoyed increased legal and social position relative to their non-colonial sisters • Breach of Promise, while normally not allowed in England, women had more leeway intially in Virginia • Choice of marriage

  5. Feme Covert • England – Feme Covert • Could not hold property in their own name • Could not alter, dispose of property without husbands consent (even their own inheritance) • Could not make wills of appoint executors without their husbands agreement • All moveable property became their husbands with marriage

  6. Chesapeake women/relaxed coverture MD, VA, SC • Virginia House of Burgesses, petition July 31, 1619 • Request that parcels of land be allotted for males and their wives • Question of equal distribution • More dower & inheritance rights • Executrixes of late husbands estates • Frequently provided more than 1/3 share of estate as required under dower law • Femme-sole trader – married women obtained this status • Right to sue, conduct business, be sued, enter into contracts, sell real property and have power of attorney in absence of husbands

  7. Filles Du Roi/ The Kings DaughtersNew France • Male colony, 75% reversed migration (1600s) • Married native women – matrilocal • Early 1600s encouraged white-Indian marriage • Fostered assimilation • Creation of French citizens • 1627 incentive to naturalize converted native women, could go to France and acquire property with rights of inheritance without any request or declaration to become naturalized • Dowry fund of several thousand livres to provide dowries for prospective native brides

  8. Policy Change • Intermarriage perceived as security threat • Filles du roi – recruited to save the colony • 1663 - matchmaking program (800) women • Ages 12-25, healthy, suitable for procreation • Free and marragiable • Voluntary immigration/poor and orphaned, educated • 1670 15 demoiselles or aristocratic women volunteered • Incentives: • Fee transport, when married provided a sgnificant dowry (50 livres, 100 livres, 600 livres) • Cost of transportation, recruitment and dowry 12, 570-33,000 livres • 82% pre-marital agreements stipulating material terms of the marriage • Could refuse a suitor and chose who they married • 4% chose never to marry • Indentured servants sometimes allowed to break contract in order to mary

  9. Coutume du Paris • French legal system used to protect womens rights • Imported to New France • In absence of a contract, all of the married couples assets, earning and debt were held jointly • Marital contracts: women reserved some or all of the dowry & personal proterty

  10. Louisiana’s Pelican Girls &Casket Girls • Colonial population decline • Men absorbed into native nations • 1701 founder of colony, Iberville requested Brides: • Casket girls believed to be a myth • Pelican Girls (20)1704 • Voluntary immigration • Lied to about conditions & prospects/forced to stay • Married against their will • 1713 Forced/coerced immigration • “corrections girls” Prostitutes and criminals

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