Figure 1
The signatures of Hatty and Alice B. French

In my previous post on An Almanack, I determined that this book is not an almanac by any means. The book does not contain meteorological predictions, but rather the children’s literacy pamphlet The New England Primer. However, in understanding this book to be a children’s text the inclusion of owner’s names helps determine the afterlife of the present copy of An Almanack. Although difficult to read due to the combination of foxing and the writing being in pencil, the inside cover has the signatures of sisters Hatty and Alice B French (fig.1). I used Ancestory.com for much of the information I was able to collect on the sisters, who thankfully provided New Hampshire as their residency as “N.H.” (fig. 1). Including their residency made finding them much easier on Ancestory.com, I was able to narrow down the search results and it helped to ensure that I had the correct people while I was looking through documents. Hatty and Alice were the youngest of 9 siblings and the daughters of Stephen and Sarah Stevens French. Harriet “Hatty” Augusta French was born on April 19th, 1848, and passed away on November 8th, 1888. Little is known about Hatty as she never married and did not have any children. There is, however, a wealth of information about her younger sister Alice that contributes to the concept of how An Almanack was intended to be read and its value by the church.

Figure 2 The New London Literary and Scientific Institution record

Alice Bird French- Mills was born on August 25th, 1851, and passed away on May 20th, 1912. There are records of Alice attending the New London Literary and Scientific Institution in 1871, and Boston University in 1877 (fig. 2). Alice is attributed the title Doctor, which was rare for women in the late 1800s, with approximately 2,432 women practicing as doctors according to Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Dr. Alice Bird French married her husband Dr. Henry Mills in April of 1880, the same month she earned her degree. Henry had previously been married twice, both wives passed away along with the three children he had fathered with them. He was 78 when he married Alice, while Alice was only 29. The two did not have any children but rather conducted work together at their sanitorium until Henry’s death in 1897. Sanatoriums in 1880 as isolated environments used to treat tuberculosis (Harvard Library). The exact sanatorium the two worked at is unknown but sanatoriums were common in New York, the residence of the couple following their marriage. 

 

On February 19th, 1900, Alice applied for a passport which she was granted. The passport allowed for her to travel Syria and Palestine for a year when she returned in 1901 fig 3. There is however no record of this trip, apart from the dictation of such on Ancestory.com. After her return to the country, she began to preform medical missionary work as part of the Presbyterian church. The Womans Board of Home Missions was the organization she worked for in the Appalachian Mountains. She lived out the rest of her life in West Virginia, doing missionary work in Coal River, Dry Creek, and Raleigh County. She passed away in New Jersey.

Figure 3
The passport application of Alice B. French

The information learned about Dr. Alice Bird French- Mills explains how An Almanack was used in 1850. Raised in a religious household, Alice and her siblings, especially Hatty due to her birth and the publication being four years apart, would have likely learned to read the New England Primer within the almanac. English was taught through a religious lens, including the alphabet taught in relation to biblical stories, with images and brief references. Even the introduction of An Almanack makes the claim that the book was held in such regard that it would be placed next to the Bible on a bookshelf. Alice becoming highly educated as well as a missionary supports the idea of the Primer as a tool to educate children in English and religion.  

Figure 4 & 5 The religious stories used to teach letters, and the introduction describing the importance of the primer

 

Works Cited 

AncestryLibrary. Ancestry.com, ancestrylibrary.com. Accessed 2 Nov. 2024. 

“Contagion: Historical Views of Diseases and Epidemics.” Curiosity Collections, Harvard Library, curiosity.lib.harvard.edu/. 

Justin, Meryl S. “The Entry of Women into Medicine in America: Education and Obstacles 1847-1910.” Hobart and William Smith, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, www.hws.edu/about/history/elizabeth-blackwell/entry-of-women-into-medicine.aspx#:~:text=By%201880%20there%20were%202432,by%201900%20there%20were%207387.&text=The%20first%20medical%20society%20openings,of%20acceptance%20for%20female%20practitioners. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024. 

New Hampshire State, General Court, Assembly, Census. Assembly Document. 15 June 1860. Ancestry Library Edition, ancestrylibrary.com. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024. 

Newman, H. (1843). An almanack containing an account of the Coelestial Motions, Aspects, &c. For the year of the Christian Empire, 1691. Ira Webster. 

“Passport Request.” 15 Feb. 1900. Ancestry Library Edition, ancestrylibrary.com. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024. 

U.S., School Catalogs, 1765-1935. Ancestry Library Edition, ancestrylibrary.com. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024.