Last night I attended a lecture in Boston by Diane Rapaport, author of The Naked Quaker: True Crimes and Controversies from the Courts of Colonial New England. Ms. Rappaport, a lawyer, spent many an hour of her spare time, searching New England archives looking at court records from the 1600s. Reading them was like reading scripts of soap operas. In my own research for Women of Granite I found the same thing. It seems that before radio and television, people occupied their time by sueing their neighbors--and sometimes their own family--for matters both large and small. Rappaport has collected twenty-five stories in her book.
I'm sure you're intrigued by the title story, "The Naked Quaker." It seems that in colonial New England, EVERYONE was required to attend Puritan services, including Quakers. Some of the Quakers protested this lack of religious tolerance. One was a New Hampshire woman by the name of Lydia Wardell. Lydia went to church and then stripped bare as her way of protest. The authorities were not amused and punished her. Her punishment? Being stripped to the waist and whipped! Ouch!I purchased a copy of the book for the library, and the author signed it, so give us a few weeks to process, catalog it and get it on the new book shelf!
The lecture was held at the New England Historic Genealogical Society on Newbury St. Visit their website to learn about other, sure to be fascinating, events.
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