{"id":54291,"date":"2019-11-22T11:44:57","date_gmt":"2019-11-22T16:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=54291"},"modified":"2024-04-24T14:17:26","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T18:17:26","slug":"the-kinsfolk-of-anna-green-winslow-taught-her-how-to-spin-liberty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/the-kinsfolk-of-anna-green-winslow-taught-her-how-to-spin-liberty.html","title":{"rendered":"The Kinsfolk of Anna Green Winslow Taught Her How to Spin Liberty!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry writes about Anna Green Winslow, a young woman in Colonial Boston who became a fervent supporter of the American Revolution. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Diary of Anna Green Winslow: A Boston School Girl of 1771<\/em> (actually a collection of Anna\u2019s letters edited by Alice Morse Earle and published in 1894) is a precious and charming account of a \u201cquaint mind\u201d living in Colonial America, as early reviews noted \u2013 but it offers so much more.<\/p>\n

What Anna left behind was a rare, intimate glimpse into how the roles shifted for young adults preceding the American Revolution. The political values of Independence and Equality were advocated to many girls and boys, whose participation in eradicating British oppression were more than elementary.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:<\/a>
Illustration: miniature of Colonial diarist Anna Green Winslow. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1770 Anna Green Winslow (1759-1780) arrived in Boston from Cumberland, Nova Scotia. Her parents Anna Green and Joshua Winslow wanted her to be among the Boston society circles. The academic instruction provided to the upper society young ladies was coined \u201cDame Schools.\u201d Essentially, it prepared these young maidens for marriage, instructing them in sewing, dancing, and writing.<\/p>\n

Anna\u2019s ancestors were Mayflower stock. She was a direct descendant of Mary Chilton and also John Winslow, brother of Governor Edward Winslow. Her maternal ancestor Percival Green came to Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1635 with his wife Ellen.<\/p>\n

Anna\u2019s New England kin were not in line with her daddy\u2019s politics and his love for the crown. He was commissary-general of the British forces in Nova Scotia.<\/p>\n

The \u201cfinishing school\u201d that Papa Winslow intended for Anna turned out to be a \u201crevolutionary\u201d transformation. Anna\u2019s hosts, Aunt Sarah Winslow Deming and Uncle Captain John Deming, exposed her to a social climate hot with revolt.<\/p>\n

Aunt Sarah was considered one of the prettiest belles of Boston and a friend of Mrs. Adams and other high-ranking dames. Her husband Captain Deming was the son of Samuel Deming, whose ancestors settled Wethersfield, Connecticut. Captain Deming was an ensign in the Ancient and Honorable Artillery in 1771, and a deacon of the Old South Church in 1769.<\/p>\n

While Anna mingled and dined with top-drawer socialites, she adopted their political ideology as well. (Diary entry: \u201cSeptember 23 1772 I\u00a0din\u2019d at aunt Suky\u2019s with Mr & Mrs Hooper of Marblehead.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: a 1771 letter from Anna Green Winslow in her own handwriting, which appeared in the 1894 edition of her \u201cdiary.\u201d Credit: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, in between her lessons and punch bowl soirees, Anna witnessed the true fervor\u00a0fueling the American Revolution. On June 4 she notes an extraordinary event:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole regiment muster\u2019d upon the common. Mr Gannett, aunt & myself went up into the common, & there saw Capt Water\u2019s, Capt Paddock\u2019s, Capt Peirce\u2019s, Capt Eliot\u2019s, Capt Barret\u2019s, Capt Gay\u2019s, Capt May\u2019s, Capt Borington\u2019s & Capt Stimpson\u2019s company\u2019s exercise. From there, we went into King street to Col Marshal\u2019s where we saw all of them prettily exercise & fire.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here is a diary entry of Anna visiting the home of Colonel Richard Gridley and Hannah Deming:<\/p>\n

\u201cI went a visiting yesterday to Col. Gridley\u2019s with my aunt. After tea Miss Becky Gridley sung a minuet. Miss Polly Deming & I danced to her musick, which when perform\u2019d was approv\u2019d of by Mrs Gridley, Mrs Deming, Mrs Thompson, Mrs Avery, Miss Sally Hill, Miss Becky Gridley, Miss Polly Gridley & Miss Sally Winslow. Col Gridley was out o\u2019 the room. Col brought in the talk of Whigs & Tories & taught me the difference between them.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When the Massachusetts Provincial Congress needed someone to head the Massachusetts Train of Artillery, it appointed Gridley as its colonel on 19 May 1775. He fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill. (Baule, Stephen)<\/p>\n

Anna\u2019s\u00a0lessons were given by the best scholars and die-hard Patriots,\u00a0such as \u201cMaster Holbrook.\u201d Earle notes in her introduction to the diary that Anna was taught by Samuel Holbrook, who was \u201cone of the \u2018Sons of Liberty\u2019 who dined at the Liberty Tree Tavern in Dorchester, Massachusetts on August 14, 1769; and he was a member of Captain John Haskin\u2019s company in 1773\u2026 and a member of the Old South Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anna, who once sported the latest London fashions, shed her Loyalist attire and joined the women warriors of the \u201cPatriotic sewing circles.\u201d All the rage became spinning and weaving cloth to make homegrown dress attire \u2013 boycotting all things British.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: large fireplace and spinning wheel, Westmoreland County, Virginia. Credit: Harris & Ewing; Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ann Marie Kordas points out in her book The Politics of Childhood in the Cold War<\/em> that American freedom was not only won by the sacrifice of select elders, but a large percentage of the youth recruited to assist in the cause. Even after the Revolution children were groomed to be patriots. The communities instilled love of country and the significance of liberty, justice, and equality \u2013 very much like the mantra of Ben Franklin that motivated the Colonies: \u201cWe must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.\u201d<\/p>\n

The newly enlisted lasses, such as Anna, willingly fulfilled their duty. Her diary notes that she strove to wear only garments made by homespun cloth:\u00a0\u201cAs I am (as\u00a0we say) a daughter of liberty I chuse to wear as much of our own manufactory as pocible.\u201d Anna and her \u201csisters of the Old South\u201d met frequently to spin and sing songs.<\/p>\n

She writes: \u201cMy cousin Sally reeled off a 10 knot skane of yarn today.\u201d A few days later, on February 18: \u201cAnother ten knot skane of my yarn was reel\u2019d off today. Aunt says it is very good.\u201d Her cousin Sally was Sarah Winslow, daughter of Elizabeth Mason and John Winslow, brother of Joshua Winslow.<\/p>\n

According to Phillip Hoose in We Were There, Too! Young People in U.S. History<\/em>, Boston was dominated by the spirit of Liberty. The Sons of Liberty were meeting around the clock, while the Daughters of Liberty held spinning and weaving bees. By the time Anna arrived over four hundred spinning wheels had been built in Boston, and one Patriot boasted there were more looms in one town than houses.<\/p>\n

While the girls gathered to spin their emancipation garb, they also pledged to drink no British tea till the revenue act was repealed. An association formed within the sewing circles with the proud declaration: \u201cWe, the daughters of those Patriots who have appeared for the public interest, do now with pleasure engage with them in denying ourselves the drinking of foreign tea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoose asserts that the children \u201cfelt the thrill of revolt and joined in patriotic demonstrations,\u201d and the entire graduating class at Harvard, to encourage home manufactures, took their degrees in homespun.<\/p>\n

With her diary, Anna Green Winslow left us a valuable gift, which we are \u201csew\u201d thankful for. This crafty \u201cDaughter of Liberty\u201d will never go out of fashion, nor will the stories woven from \u201cPatriotic sewing circles\u201d run out of good material!<\/p>\n

Charity Clark, another member of the \u201cPatriotic sewing circles,\u201d wrote in a letter<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cHeroines may not distinguish themselves at the head of an Army, but freedom will also be won by a fighting army of amazons\u2026 armed with spinning wheels.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Genealogy:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anna Green Winslow\u2019s mother, Anna Green (1728-1816), was the daughter of Anna Pierce (1702-1770) and Joseph Green (1703-1765), a wealthy merchant. Anna Pierce was the daughter of Joshua Pierce and Elizabeth Hall of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Joseph Green was the son of Rev. Joseph Green and Elizabeth Gerrish.<\/p>\n

Anna Green Winslow\u2019s father, Joshua Winslow (1726-1801), was the son of John Winslow (1693-1731) and Sarah Pierce (1697-1771).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melissa Davenport Berry writes about Anna Green Winslow, a young woman in Colonial Boston who became a fervent supporter of the American Revolution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":54315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12557],"tags":[48641,705,12,18861],"class_list":["post-54291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genealogy-stories","tag-anna-green-winslow","tag-colonial-america","tag-genealogy","tag-letters-and-diaries-or-journals"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/photo-1122-2019-featured-graphic-spinning-wheel.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98760,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54291\/revisions\/98760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}