{"id":99146,"date":"2024-05-29T10:41:42","date_gmt":"2024-05-29T14:41:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=99146"},"modified":"2024-06-14T08:40:52","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T12:40:52","slug":"17th-century-quaker-women-gone-wild-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/17th-century-quaker-women-gone-wild-part-4.html","title":{"rendered":"17th Century Quaker Women Gone Wild (part 4)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry writes more about a brave Quaker woman who defied Puritan officials in Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1600s: Deborah (nee Buffum) Wilson. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Today I resume my series focusing on three brave 17th century Quaker women: Lydia Wardwell, Deborah Wilson, and Margaret Brewster. They were among the many dames who protested the orthodox Puritan church in Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1600s.<\/p>\n

To recap: My first two stories covered Quakeress Lydia (nee Perkins) Wardwell of Hampton, New Hampshire, wife of Eliakim Wardwell, who went naked into Newbury Meeting House in 1663 to protest the actions of Puritan officials. Read \u201cQuakers Gone Wild\u201d Part 1<\/a> and Part 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And Part 3<\/a> recalled another act of nude protest carried out in June of 1662 by Deborah (nee Buffum) Wilson, who walked through the town of Salem, Massachusetts, naked as a sign of the spiritual bareness of the orthodox church. When Wilson pulled her Godiva act, she was accompanied by her mother Thomasin (nee Ward) Buffum and sister Margaret (Buffum) Smith, wife of John Smith, both fully clothed, to support her cause.<\/p>\n

The following cartoon depicts the Quakers of the 17th century and includes all three subjects of this series. The Quaker lot were viewed by many historians as loud troublemakers, dissenters, and unruly heretics (more on this below).<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:<\/a>
Illustration: cartoon from \u201cQuaint Old New England\u201d by James Burke and William B. Coltin, artwork by Jack Wythycomb. Public domain cartoon from the collection of Melissa Davenport Berry.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An author reviewing James Duncan Phillips<\/a>\u2019s book Salem in the Seventeenth Century<\/em>, published in 1933, features chapters dedicated to the persecution of the early Quakers.<\/p>\n

A review of Phillips\u2019s book appeared in the Springfield Republican<\/em> with this headline: \u201cPeriod When Quakers Had Their Ears Cut Off and Were Hanged \u2013 Famous Town\u2019s Beginnings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Springfield Republican (Springfield, Massachusetts), 22 October 1933, page 45<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Phillips, like many antiquarians, believed the Quakers to be fanatical and unruly. And nudist Deborah Wilson was no different.<\/p>\n

In the eyes of 17th century Puritan New England, the Quakers were a bothersome lot disrupting their well-organized system, and no matter what punishments (ear cropping, branding, whipping, hanging, and banishment) the authorities laid on them, they just kept coming.<\/p>\n

In this book review, the reviewer quotes Phillips regarding our subject:<\/p>\n

\u201c[The Quakers] were a trial, and I suspect that Deborah Wilson, a \u2018young woman of very modest and retired life, going through the town of Salem naked as a sign\u2019 must have been a bit of embarrassment to the authorities, and it seems difficult to get away from the conclusion that she was immodest, bold, and exceedingly impudent.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The reviewer then writes:<\/p>\n

Yet it is possible that she was merely deluded \u2013 as deluded, for instance, as the magistrates and leading citizens were in the witchcraft period some 40 years later.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wilson was arrested before she made the full rounds of the village and Judge William Ha[w]thorne<\/a> ordered her punished, according to court records<\/a>, for:<\/p>\n

\u201cher barbarous and unhuman going naked through the town, is sentenced to be tied at a cart\u2019s tail with her body naked downward to her waist, and whipped from Mr. Gidneyes\u2019 gate till she come to her own house, not exceeding thirty stripes, and her mother [Thomasin] Buffum and her sister [Margaret, wife of John] Smith, that were abetted to her, etc., to be tied on either side of her, at the cart\u2019s tail, naked to their shifts to the waist, and accompany her.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Another layer to the story of Deborah Wilson\u2019s naked protest walk is told in George Bishop\u2019s \u201cNew-England Judged, by the Spirit of the Lord<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bishop claims the harsh punishment the court<\/a> placed on Deborah Wilson was so severe it caused the constable ordered to carry out the judgement, Daniel Rumbal, uneasiness.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:<\/a>
Illustration: example of being whipped \u201cat the cart\u2019s-tail,\u201d from the \u201cAmerican\u201d magazine, Springfield, [etc.], Crowell-Collier Pub. Co. [etc.], 1876-1956. Credit: New York Public Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>Bishop addressed the court:<\/p>\n

\u201cDaniel Rumbal, who had bowels of compassion, could not do to her as you would, for which he was questioned by your Court; which he put off, and said, \u2018He was loath to be whipped as he whipped her.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to sources Rumbal allowed Robert Wilson, Deborah\u2019s husband. to use his hat and hand as a shield on her bare flesh to protect her from the whip.<\/p>\n

However, there are other accounts which suggest Rumbal had a romantic crush on the nudist. Heather Wilkinson Rojo, a 9th general descendant of Deborah Wilson, reveals more on this story in \u201cA Love Story Too Sad for Valentine\u2019s Day<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no doubt that Debora Wilson\u2019s bold act of civil disobedience made much talk in town for years to follow!<\/p>\n

Here is a photo of the grave marker for Deborah (Buffum) Wilson\u2019s father, Robert Buffum (1590-1669), located in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Massachusetts. In 1991, the Buffum Family Association erected and dedicated this 400th anniversary memorial to Robert.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: grave marker for Robert Buffum. Credit: Robert Buckley of Salem, Massachusetts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stay tuned for the next wild Quakeress!<\/p>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> \u201cCassandra Southwick in court before the magistrates,\u201d from the Boston Globe, 23 October 1923.<\/p>\n

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