Remarkable women: Female moral reform in Addison County in the 1830s and ’40s

Of the various reform causes that Addison County women supported in the first half of the nineteenth century, there was one that became almost solely a women’s cause. Though moral reform is little known today, compared to temperance and antislavery, it was the first uniquely women’s movement for social change in America. It arose in alarm over a perceived rise in “licentiousness,” be it prostitution, fornication or adultery. In women’s hands, moral reform became a protest against male sexual aggression gene … (read more)

Remarkable women from the past: Deborah Pickman Clifford

Deborah Clifford had a passionate interest in 19th Century American history and, soon after she and her family moved to Cornwall in 1966, she began graduate study of Vermont history at UVM with Professor Sam Hand. She quickly became an enthusiastic and ti … (read more)

Remarkable women from the past: Anna Jessica Stewart Sylvester Swift

Jessica Stewart was born a child of privilege in Middlebury and used that privilege to greatly enrich her home community. In her long life she brought together some of the most prominent family lineages in Middlebury history — Seymours, Battells, Stewarts … (read more)

Remarkable women from the past: Abby Maria Hemenway

Like other remarkable women in Addison County, Abby Hemenway rebelled against the prevailing, centuries-old, androcentric perceptions of her gender. She was a teacher, poet, author, historian and publisher, proving herself with fortitude, independence and … (read more)

Remarkable women from the past: Emma Hart Willard

Emma Hart Willard founded schools for women, published literary and instructive books, and established herself as one of the great champions for women’s equality. Although she left Middlebury in 1819, the struggles and lessons learned during her 12 years … (read more)

Remarkable women from the past: Charity Bryant & Sylvia Drake

Charity Bryant (1777-1851) and Sylvia Drake (1784-1868) Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake met as young women in February 1807 in Weybridge. They spent the next 44 years in each other’s company until Charity’s death. Together they built their family house. T … (read more)

Remarkable women from the past: Sally Kellogg Markham

Some women drive change, others survive it. Moving with her family from Connecticut to Addison in 1770 at the age of 3, Sally Kellogg was part of the wave of migrants from southern New England who settled on Abenaki lands after the French and Indian war a … (read more)

Sheldon celebrates remarkable local women through history

MIDDLEBURY — In honor of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote, the Henry Sheldon Museum’s Stewart-Swift Research Center has been planning an exhibit of a selection of women who demonstrated the determ … (read more)