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aWonderful. . . . A fascinating and complex account of husbands
struggling to assert their legal dominance in a changing cultural
landscape, while law remained static. . . . Stray Wives is full of
creative research and compelling new insights about marriage in
early national America. Sievensas nuanced argument about power and
interdependence within marriage is absolutely convincing. She also
clearly demonstrates that legal change lagged behind cultural
change, leaving husbands frustrated by their inability to
rule.a
--"William & Mary Quarterly"
aOffers an engaging look at marital conflict at a key
transitional time in the emotional and economic landscape of early
national New England.a
--"Journal of the Early Republic"
aSievens focuses on a rich and under-used source: the ads that
appeared in early American newspapers alerting readers not to
extend credit to run-away wives, as well as occasional replies made
by wives themselves. This is a terrific source that illuminates
marriage, gender, law, print culture, and community in early
America. Sievens has shown considerable sensitivity and acuity, as
well as diligence in the pre-digitized days, in her approach to
these fascinating sources. This is an impressively lucid coverage
resting on persuasive claims. . . . Indeed, this book, in its
brevity, clarity, and inherent drama, may be of particular use in
the classroom. A fine book on an important topic, it will certainly
be of use to many working in this field.a
--"Journal of Social History"
aSievens shows how even when free of their marriages, women
often remained dependent on male kin.a
--"The Chronicle of HigherEducation"
aTo fully appriciate how far womenas rights have evolved by the
twenty-first century, all one need do is read a work like this one.
. . . Highly recommended.a
--"Choice"
aStray Wives is an insightful, carefully argued, and
well-written work that complicates our understanding of law,
society, and gender in early national New England. Along the way,
it adds to our store of knowledge on such topics as women's
economic role, domestic violence, and community relationships in
early America. Sievens does a lovely job of showing the ways in
which wives contested their husbands' dominance at the same time
that they tolerated-indeed, sometimes benefited from-their own
dependence.a
--Anya Jabour, author of "Marriage in the Early Republic"
aIn Stray Wives, Sievens examines hundreds of desertion notices
to elucidate how couples negotiated the common law of marriage by
revealing the words they addressed to the public, the issues over
which they disagreed, and their strategies for maneuvering through
and settling their conflicts. This important book adds both detail
and depth to our knowledge of marriage and marital conflict in the
early republic.a
--Merrill D. Smith, author of "Breaking the Bonds"
"Whereas my husband, Enoch Darling, has at sundry times used me
in so improper and cruel a manner, as to destroy my happiness and
endanger my life, and whereas he has not provided for me as a
husband ought, but expended his time and money unadvisedly, at
taverns . . . . I hereby notify the public that I am obliged to
leave him."
Phebe Darling, January 13, 1796
Hundreds of provocative notices such as this one ran in New
England newspapers between 1790 and 1830. Theseelopement
notices--advertisements paid for by husbands and occasionally wives
to announce their spouses' desertions as well as the personal
details of their marital conflicts--testify to the difficulties
that many couples experienced, and raise questions about the nature
of the marital relationship in early national New England.
Stray Wives examines marriage, family, gender, and the law
through the lens of these elopement notices. In conjunction with
legal treatises, court records, and prescriptive literature, Mary
Beth Sievens highlights the often tenuous relationships among
marriage law, marital ideals, and lived experience in the early
Republic, an era of exceptional cultural and economic change.
Elopement notices allowed couples to negotiate the meaning of
these changes, through contests over issues such as gender roles,
consumption, economic support, and property ownership. Sievens
reveals the ambiguous, often contested nature of marital law,
showing that husbands' superior status and wives' dependence were
fluid and negotiable, subject to the differing interpretations of
legal commentators, community members, and spouses themselves.
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