A common American family research goal is to trace each line back to the fist person to arrive in the country. Finding adequate documentation usually depends upon how, when, and where that ancestor landed. Were good records kept? Were they preserved? How much detail do they contain? Records for slaves are significantly less detailed than those for free persons, while those of women are often meager in comparison to those of men of the same era.
Our maternal ancestors came from Europe, primarily England and Scotland, and settled in coastal South Carolina and Georgia. Tracing our individual family lines to each American progenitor has been relatively straightforward. One brick wall is our 4th great-grandmother, Frances Ann(e) Harvey of South Carolina. Many records from that state were lost during the U.S. Civil War, which might partially explain the dearth of information on this ancestor.
1816 Marriage
Family histories claim that Frances was born in Georgetown, SC in 1800, though no supporting documentation is attached. We know nothing about either parent. Multiple documents attest to an 1816 marriage at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Charleston. One document recites details of the union as if transcribed from the original marriage license, since lost:
“Grayson, John of Charleston, mariner & Frances Anne Harvey of Charleston, spinster, 17 Sep 1816. License to Christopher Edwards Gadsden.”
This brief document is interesting for two reasons. First, though our 4th great-grandfather John R. Grayson, a trans-Atlantic sea captain, may have sailed out of Charleston regularly, his home port and residence were in Savannah, Georgia. Second, Frances is labeled “Spinster.”
Frances Harvey, Spinster
In modern terminology, “spinster” is perceived as a pejorative for an older woman beyond typical marrying age. Frances is believed to have been 15-years old at her marriage, so the “spinster” designation baffled me. Was she was actually older? If not, does the moniker infer that Frances’ premarital occupation was “spinner of wool”?
Frances Lucretia Grayson, Spinster
John and Frances settled in Savannah, where their only daughter was born in August 1821. A mere 15 years and 18 days later we find a record of that daughter’s marriage.
Once again we are confronted by the term “Spinster.” Frances Lucretia Grayson was demonstrably not beyond typical marrying age. If anything, much like her mother Frances Harvey, she was married earlier than was typical, even allowing for then-common customs. Was the younger Frances a wool-spinner too?
Other Documents
Frances Harvey Grayson was widowed three times and was outlived by a fourth husband, by each of whom she had at least one child. Frances’ 7th and final child was born in 1841. By this evidence, barring a biological marvel, we can confirm that Frances was born no earlier than about 1794. Finally, the 1862 Chatham County, Georgia death and burial log records that Frances was born in South Carolina, and died in Macon GA of consumption on January 4 at age 61 years and 15 days, setting her date of birth at December 18, 1800. If correct, Frances was 15 years, 9 months at her 1816 wedding, like her daughter hardly a spinster as we now understand it.
“Spinster” in Georgia Marriage Licenses
Thousands of original Georgia state marriage licenses dating from 1828 are digitally preserved and available online. They include the Frances L. Grayson 1836 license and two of her mother Frances Harvey Grayson’s subsequent marriages, her 3rd in 1832 and 4th in 1839. By skimming other contemporary entries in this collection we find that some prospective brides were preceded by a “Mrs.” or a “Miss,” while others were given no designation before nor after their name. Most of the women, however, were categorized as either “widow” or “spinster.” Thus we can infer that, at least in early 19th century South Carolina and Georgia, “spinster” was not a commentary on the age or occupation of a prospective bride, but merely a way of indicating that the woman had never before been married.
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