Research note: Myra Montgomery and Haverhill, NH

From time to time, new research will be introduced on the Zephyrs10 blog.  The following abstract on Myra Montgomery serves as an introduction to an article currently under preparation for publication and has been the topic of several academic presentations.  She was a fascinating young woman and I look forward to sharing more with you on this unfolding project.  

“So Dreary an Aspect:” Myra Montgomery’s Haverhill Letters

Kimberly S. Alexander, Ph.D.

But I should like to know your daily employment, what you read, whom you visit, or whether you visit at all, and how you usually pass your long winter evenings, that I may judge what are the grounds of your preference of a town life to the undisturbed calm in which one is allowed to vegetate in the country.

— Myra Montgomery to her cousin, Horace Henry Goodman,

Haverhill, NH, Jan’y 25^th 1816

Myra Montgomery was born October 1^st 1794 in Haverhill, New Hampshire, and died in the place of her birth on April 14^th 1817 at age 22; most likely of consumption.  Sporadic letters, written between 1813 and 1817 to her cousin and fiancée, Horace Henry Goodman, paint a compelling portrait of the life of a young, well-educated, upper middle class woman living in a rural North Country town of some significance during the early years of the republic. Alternating between glib and sarcastic, caring and affectionate, learned and deeply reflective, the letters reveal Myra as a complex character. With few known surviving objects related to Myra or her family, her surviving missives are all the more significant.

For all the scholarship on the early republic—one finds endless biographies of Washington, Adams, and Madison in the popular bookstores—we know surprisingly little about the dynamics of relationships among ordinary people.  The process of meeting, courtship, engagement, wedding, the course of marriage, and departure remain elusive.  (For recent scholarship, see Jabour, Marriage in the Early Republic: Elizabeth and William Wirt and the Companionate Ideal and Kenslea, The Sedgwicks in Love.)  Consequently, our ability to place modern relationships in an historical context is rather barren.  Myra’s relationship with Horace is revealing in this regard.  She is essentially housebound for long periods of time while he is constantly traveling.

Although we know little about Myra’s earliest years, the correspondence suggests she was exposed to a world of ideas which extended far beyond the confines of Haverhill, including a constant stream of traveling dignitaries in the town for Court weeks. She required a skill set which ranged from understanding the political intricacies of invitations and the appropriate menus and service for special meals and dances. The ability to hold witty and intelligent conversation with individuals with many different backgrounds and interests was paramount. This was no doubt aided in some part by the time she spent, at the age of thirteen, attending the well-known Boston-based academy of Mrs. Susanna Rowson.

Myra provides the ideal vehicle for investigating the life of a rural, upper middle class New Hampshire woman. The bulk of her experiences are focused on her domestic and familial activities inside the house (especially as she grows increasingly sicker) and the shelter provided by the town and its inhabitants, with only the occasional reference to being out of doors (although these represent important moments in her life).  Clearly, as demonstrated by the above quote, there is a claustrophobic sensibility to her daily existences and we learn of Myra’s brimming desire to travel and experience more of life than Haverhill Corner.