Remember the Ladies

Abigail Adams’s Letter to John Adams, Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society

In 1776, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John Adams:

"I long to hear that you have declared an independency -- and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.

That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of Friend. Why then, not put it out of the power of the vicious and the Lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity. Men of Sense in all Ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your Sex. Regard us then as Beings placed by providence under your protection and in immitation of the Supreem Being make use of that power only for our happiness."

Despite her plea, it would be almost 150 years before the United States would ratify the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote.

In my research, I frequently come across women with remarkable stories of adversity,  hardship, perseverance, triumph, and tragedy. Some of these stories are well-documented; others can only be reconstructed from records… and the silence where no records exist.

These women deserve their own telling. I'm going to take the time to do that when I can, because like Abigail Adams, I'd like to help Remember the Ladies. I can think of no better place to start than my own family tree.