Welcome to week 31 of Bidwell Lore! This week you will learn about the dramatic downfall of Barnabas Bidwell and the end of his time in Massachusetts. As we mentioned in recent installments of Bidwell Lore, Barnabas Bidwell served as Attorney General of Massachusetts from June 15, 1807, to August 30, 1810, after having served in the...
Tag: Bidwell House Museum
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Bidwell Lore – Barnabas Bidwell and James Madison
Welcome to week 30 of Bidwell Lore! Today we are sharing correspondence between Barnabas and Mary along with an important letter from Barnabas to James Madison and then at the bottom, you will see an 1810 discussion with President Madison about the possibility of Barnabas Bidwell ascending to the Supreme Court. Barnabas Bidwell’s letters home to his...
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Collections Focus – Portrait of Mary Gray Bidwell, Part III
Welcome to the final installment of our exploration of the portrait of Mary Gray Bidwell. If you have been following our Bidwell Lore series, you have come to know both Mary and her husband, Barnabas, and you can learn more about Mary and the entire Bidwell family here: https://www.bidwellhousemuseum.org/blog/. In the previous installments, we discussed...
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Bidwell Lore – Ultracrepidarianism, Slavery, and The Age of Enlightenment, Part I
Welcome to week 26 of Bidwell Lore! This week we begin a new three-part series, still in the world of Barnabas and Mary, titledUltracrepidarianism, Slavery, and The Age of Enlightenment. Thank you Rick Wilcox for all of your work writing these articles! Ultracrepidarianism: the habit of giving opinions and advice on matters outside of one’s knowledge. In my role...
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Bidwell Lore: Love, Marriage, and Politics in the Early Republic, Part III
Welcome to week 24 of Bidwell Lore! We conclude our three-part series about Mary and Barnabas with some wonderfully illustrative letters between the two. This correspondence gives you an idea of the type of person Mary was and hints at the great affection Barnabas and Mary felt for each other. A February 26, 1805, letter from Mary includes:“We...
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Bidwell Lore – Love, Marriage, and Politics in the Early Republic, Part II
Welcome to week 23 of Bidwell Lore! Last week we began a three-part series about the lives of Barnabas and Mary. This week we will look at Mary’s biography in a lovely article written by Rick Wilcox. In the parlor of the Bidwell House Museum, hanging in an honored location, is a portrait of Mary Gray Bidwell. The...
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Bidwell Lore – Jemima Bidwell Partridge
Welcome to week 17 of Bidwell Lore! Last week, we introduced you to Reverend Bidwell’s youngest daughter, Theodosia, with a wonderful guest post by Bidwell descendant Wilma Spice. This week we will introduce you to Reverend Bidwell’s oldest daughter, Jemima, with a guest post from Russ Taylor, one of our 2018 History Talk speakers and a Bidwell descendant. ...
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Bidwell Lore – Adonijah Bidwell, Jr.
Welcome to the thirteenth week of Bidwell Lore! In the previous three installments, we discussed the wives of the Reverend Adonijah Bidwell. Now we move on to his children, beginning with his oldest, Adonijah, Jr. Adonijah Bidwell was married three times and it was with his second wife, Jemima, that he had his four children: Adonijah, Jr. (1761-1837)Barbabas (1763-1833)Jemima...
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Bidwell Lore – Jemima Bidwell’s Wedding Pewter
Welcome to the twelfth week of Bidwell Lore! As we learned in the last two issues of Bidwell Lore, Adonijah Bidwell was married three times and his first two wives died when they were still fairly young. Sadly we know very little about the day-to-day lives of these women, but we were very lucky in 2019 to...
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The Last Skirmish of King Philip’s War, 1676 – Part II
Welcome to the ninth week of Bidwell Lore! Last week we read Part I of the essay The Last Skirmish of King Philip’s War, 1676 from guest writer and local Berkshires historian Bernard Drew. This essay has been adapted by Mr. Drew from a chapter in his book Henry Knox and the Revolutionary War Trail in Western Massachusetts (McFarland, 2012). At...