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Hannah Heaton. The Diary of an Eighteenth-Century New England Farm
Woman
The
World of Hannah Heaton. The Diary of an Eighteenth-Century New England Farm
Woman. Barbara E. Lacey (editor). Northern Illinois
University Press, DeKalb. (2003). xxxii,343 pages. First Edition. With ALS
Acknowledgement thanking William & Mary professor for his review quote used
on the dust jacket. Size: 9-1/4 Inches. Hard cover. Dust jacket. Overall very
good condition.
- - - An ordinary eighteenth-century New England woman,
Hannah Heaton left an extraordinary document as her legacy. Over a period of 40
years, from the Great Awakening through the Revolutionary War, this farm wife
and mother kept a diary recounting her experiences. Now published for the first
time, Heaton's diary offers an unparalleled revelation of one American woman's
experience of the birth of the nation.
Much of her diary records
Heaton's spiritual struggles, beginning with her conversion during the Great
Awakening and her separation from the established Congregational church. Pious
by nature, she recalls her childhood fears of the devil, who at night tempted
her away from prayer and told her in a whisper to hang herself. Deeply
concerned over her own salvation and that of those she loved, Heaton found
comfort in the act of writing, feeling that such self-examination brought her closer
to God.
Hannah Heaton was devoutly
religious and intensely self-aware. Spiritually isolated from her husband and
children, and often at odds with her neighbors and church community, she found
solace in her journal, which was at times her only friend. She loved her
husband deeply, but nonetheless regretted marrying a nonbeliever and yearned
for him to become a true spiritual partner. He tolerated her religious
convictions but occasionally grew frustrated and even hid her spectacles so
that she could not read the Bible.
A staunch patriot, Heaton
carefully recorded her impressions of the Revolutionary War. Believing the
fight for independence was part of God's plan, Heaton, who before the war had
scarcely taken note of the political world around her, began to write at length
about imperial policy and military engagements. As she wrote of the national
struggles, however, she remained equally interested in the intricate details of
her own private life: her relationships with kinfolk and neighbors, her domestic
struggles, and her personal experiences with disease and death. Heaton's
unabridged diary, edited and annotated by Barbara E. Lacey, is an
extraordinarily valuable source for scholars and students of colonial history,
women's studies, and religion in America.
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