e-Newsletter | April 30, 2021 |
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Meet Dorothy Farnham Smith |
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Opening page of Dorothy Farnham Smith's travel diary. Courtesy photo. |
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The travel diary of Dorothy Farnham Smith (1753-1801) of Newburyport, Massachusetts, a small but well-preserved manuscript residing within the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University, has now been transcribed and edited for the first time by Dr. Timothy Whelan, Professor of English, Georgia Southern University.
Dorothy Smith was the daughter of Daniel Farnham (1719-76) of Newburyport. She was the second wife of Capt. Josiah Smith (1749-1828) of Newburyport.
Her Farnham siblings included Sibyl (1746-1842), who married Micajah Sawyer (1737-1815) of Newburyport; Hannah (1748-78) who was briefly married to the Rev. Ezra Weld of Braintree; Katherine (1751-1826) who married the British sea captain John Hay (d. 1805) in 1774 and whose brief diary of her journey to New York City in 1778 was published in 1997 in the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society; and William (1760-1829) who married Hannah Bliss Emerson, the aunt of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Dorothy Smith spent the months of February through July 1793 traveling down the east coast on her husband's merchant ship to Savannah, where she stayed for about three months before heading back to Newburyport via Charleston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston, leaving the ship at Baltimore and taking a stagecoach along the Old Post Road the rest of the way.
Her diary provides rare first-hand details through the lens of a woman writer on important people, places and events from 1793.
She names some 60 individuals in her diary. Many are from prominent families in Savannah in the early 1790s, including the Houstouns at White Bluff, reflective of her husband's stature as a prominent sea merchant who had previously made extensive business connections in the South.
Upon her return journey to Boston, she met many of the leading citizens in the various cities the Smiths visited along the way, including a chance meeting with George and Martha Washington in Philadelphia.
The website for Dorothy Smith's Diary includes the full text of the diary, with ample annotations, a biographical index of more than 40 individuals who appear in the diary, and an extensive Introduction to the Farnham and Smith families of Newburyport.
The diary of Dorothy Smith is the only extant diary by a woman living for a period of time in Savannah in the 1790s, and is consequently of great historical significance to scholars, students and the general public of life in a Southern city in the early 1790s as seen through the eyes of a woman from Massachusetts.
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In 1787 the Smiths moved to the Farnham estate at the corner of High Street and Toppan’s Lane on the edge of Newburyport. Daniel Farnham had purchased the land and buildings belonging to this estate in 1769. Josiah subsequently demolished the existing home and built a new mansion which he called “Mount Rural,” a name the property retained until its demolition in the twentieth century. The mansion was valued at $3,200 in 1798. |
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Dorothy Farnham Smith rests in Old Hill Burying Ground, Newburyport, Mass.
Her tombstone reads, "In Memory of Dorothy, the wife of Jofiah Smith Efq. who died Sept. 14th 1801. Aet. 48." [sic]
Courtesy photo: Find a Grave.
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About Dr. Timothy Whelan
Timothy Whelan (PhD, University of Maryland) is Professor of English at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, GA. His archival research has led to nearly 60 articles and some 12 books on British Dissenting writers (primarily Baptist), Dissenting booksellers and print culture, and religious and literary figures between 1720–1840, including the Romantic
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writers William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge; numerous Baptist ministers, including Andrew Fuller, Robert Hall and John Foster; and Dissenting women writers and booksellers, many relatively unknown, such as Maria de Fleury, Martha Gurney, Mary Lewis, Mary Steele, Anne Steele, Mary Scott, Elizabeth Coltman, and the diarist Jane Attwater Blatch.
In recent years his primary research has been on the three eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century women writers, Mary Steele (1753-1813), Mary Scott (1751-93) and Mary Hays (1759-1843). For more information, Dr. Whelan can be reached via email here.
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Puzzle Me This and a Great Gift Idea! |
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This week's puzzle, "Yellow Pansies for Mrs. Bradlee" by Laura Coombs Hills is a pastel on board, 8 7/8" x 7 7/8" and signed in the upper left. To begin the puzzle, click here or on the image. From the collections of the Museum of Old Newbury.
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Puzzled on what to get Mom for Mother's Day?
Garden Tour tickets make a great gift!
Early bird ticket pricing available until May 13, 2021
Give Mom what she really wants...time with you. Spend an afternoon touring the beautiful gardens featured in this year's Annual Garden Tour "Sowing the Seeds: A Season of Renewal." Or buy her (and yourself) a membership to the Museum of Old Newbury ($40) and receive 2-for-1 Garden Tour ticket pricing!
Make a day of it! Start off with a light breakfast in Rowley, then visit several gardens in the morning, followed by lunch in West Newbury or Newburyport, and finish off your tour in the afternoon.
Click here to purchase your tickets...for all pricing options, press "Select a Date" and choose the day you wish to attend (Saturday or Sunday). Note: you are welcome both days, but to purchase tickets you need to select one of the days.
With an eye to erring on the side of caution with regard to evolving COVID safety protocols, all tickets must be purchased online. If unable to order online, checks may be made payable to "Museum of Old Newbury" and sent to 98 High Street, Newburyport, MA 01950. Please include an email for sending you the link to the digital program book that will include garden addresses, owner information, suggested area restaurants and more.
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Miss a Recent MOON Program? Watch here. |
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Thanks to the wonder of the Zoom platform, all of our programs are recorded and available online shortly after presentation. Visit our website for upcoming events, previous recordings, including the four 2020 Virtual Garden Tours, our Annual Meeting, children's and holiday programs, as well as all episodes of "Yeat Yeat, Don't Tell Me!"
In lieu of a printed program book, we will be featuring monthly events here, as well as maintaining a complete list on our website: www.NewburyHistory.org.
All of our virtual programs are free, however donations are gratefully accepted to help defray speaker fees.
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"Yeat Yeat, Don't Tell Me!" Starts at Noon Today |
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Jack Santos, Custom House Maritime Museum, and Colleen Turner Secino, Museum of Old Newbury, are back at it today at noon with episode 25 of the fast-paced Newbury-area historical trivia show.
Whether you want bragging rights or the chance to win some great prizes, "Yeat Yeat, Don't Tell Me!" has something for everyone.
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REGISTER:
Thursday, May 20, 2021 @ 7:00 p.m.
Lucinda A. Brockway is the Program Director for Cultural Resources at The Trustees of Reservations where she is responsible for 112 properties and 25,000 acres of Massachusetts cultural landscape.
Join us for her online presentation, Cushing House Garden: A Closer Look, when she shares the history, restoration and evolution of the MOON's Cushing House Garden. A Zoom link will be sent closer to the date. Registration closes at 4:30 p.m. on day of the event.
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REGISTER:
Thursday, June 10, 2021 @ 7:00 p.m.
The East India Marine Society Museum was one of the most influential collecting institutions in 19th-century America.
"Collecting the Globe" presents the first in-depth exploration of the Museum, the precursor to the internationally acclaimed Peabody Essex Museum (PEM).
Join PEM Associate Curator George Schwartz as he explores the practices of collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting a diversity of international objects and art in the early United States.
This is a virtual event. Register here and a Zoom link will be sent closer to the date. Registration closes at 4:30 p.m. on day of the event.
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Something is Always Cooking at the Museum
This savory pie, a distant cousin to the empanada, comes from Karen Houston and would make a great Sunday dinner. Serve with a side salad and voilá!
Bolivian Pie
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/ to 1 1/2 cups jalapeño peppers, depending on taste
2 medium onions, chopped
2 red peppers, chopped
1 1/2 cups Spanish olives with pimento, roughly chopped
1 1/2 cups raisins
1 deep-dish pie crust, top and bottom
16 ounces ricotta cheese
Ground pepper to taste
1 egg, beaten
Preheat oven to 375ºF. In a large frying pan, brown hamburger and drain oil; do not overcook. Add in chopped jalapeños, onions, red and green peppers, olives and raisins, in that order. Heat until a steaming mixture and peppers have somewhat softened. Put into pie crust bottom and top with ricotta cheese. Sprinkle with ground pepper. Place top crust on and brush with egg. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. Serves 6.
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During this difficult period of COVID-19, we rely on your support more than ever. We continue to develop new, online programs for you to enjoy and keep us connected and look forward to in-person events as protocols for safety loosen. We hope, if you are able, that you will consider a donation to the museum. Thank you for your continued support.
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Museum e-Newsletter made possible through the
generosity of our sponsors:
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Museum of Old Newbury
98 High Street
Newburyport, MA 01950
978-462-2681
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