When we left Katherine Naylor in my previous blog, she was 33 years old, a widow with two children and substantial property. In 17^th century Puritan New England, widows did not remain unmarried very long, especially if there was property involved. In Puritan culture, marriage was an equal partnership, but the husband was the undisputed head of the household. It was his responsibility to maintain an orderly house in good standing with the church and the magistrates. A disorderly house could affect the entire community.

Puritan culture also had an ambiance of watchfulness. Puritans believed that God predestined certain people for salvation and the rest for damnation. Men and women were granted church membership on the basis of their personal testimony of faith and their public behavior. The presumption was that church members were destined for salvation. But only God knew who would actually be saved. Thus, much emphasis was put on outward behavior which led to a culture of watchfulness. From ministers to housemaids, people watched each other to discern if all was well.

In 1663, Robert Nanny – Katherine’s first husband – died. Katherine continued to live in their house with her two children, Samuel & Mary. In 1666, Katherine married Edward Naylor who moved into the house and managed Katherine’s property and the property held in trust for her children. Katherine bore two more surviving children: Tabitha in 1667 and Lydia in 1668. On the surface, all appeared well. 

In 1671 Katherine Naylor petitioned the court for a divorce on the grounds that Edward Naylor failed in his role as head of household and did not model appropriate behavior. She charged he was cruel and violent; that she feared for her life. He did not care about religion and could not insure their children would be properly educated in the fear of God. He committed “whoredoms.” In addition, Katherine pled that she needed to secure the estate Robert Nanny left to her and their two children before it was used to satisfy Edward’s creditors.

Edward’s Whoredoms aka Promiscuous Sexual Activities

Evidence proved that Edward Naylor frequented Alice Thomas’s “bawdy house,” that he was the father of Mary Read’s illegitimate child, and that he carried on a public relationship with Mary More. Fornication and adultery were public concerns, because such activities undermined the family  and tainted the entire community with sin. There was also the issue of who would support illegitimate children.

Mary Read was a servant in the Naylor household when she became pregnant in 1668; Katherine Naylor was also pregnant at the time. In 1671 Mary Read testified that Edward Naylor fathered her child. Several family members and others gave evidence about Mary Read’s relationship with Edward Naylor. Mary’s family wanted the court to declare Naylor the father of Mary’s child so he would take financial responsibility.

The midwives who attended Mary testified that they interrogated Mary about the father while she was in labor. Puritans believed such an admission was proof of paternity, and the father would be required to provide financial support. Mary admitted Edward Naylor was the father but to please keep the information quiet. Presumably, she already had a financial arrangement with Naylor.

Naylor also had a somewhat public relationship with Mary More. The couple traveled together and passed themselves off as married. They met for liaisons in shops, taverns, and houses where they were easily seen. Five men and eight women testified about the relationship. Susanna Cross deposed that when Mary brought a man to her house in June 1670 and sat in his lap, she thought they were married, but then later she thought perhaps they weren’t.

Jan Anibal and William Godfrey heard a couple talking and laughing in Widow Thomas’s shop. They crept up the stairs, peeked into the room, and saw Naylor with Mary More.

And then there was Alice Thomas’s brothel near the Naylor house lot. Thomas appeared before the Suffolk County Court and convicted of sponsoring frequent secret entertainments of a lascivious nature and enabling persons to commit ‘carnal wickedness.’ The court sentenced Thomas to a fine, prison and a public humiliation that included being whipped at a cart’s tail.

Suffice to say, the charge of whoredom was proven.

Drunkenness & Violence

The issue of drunkenness was also the sign of a disorderly house. Servants testified that Naylor left the house short of provisions, and they lent Katherine money to buy bread, butter, and cheese. In addition, Naylor ordered that various items be kept locked away from his wife, saying she was wasteful. This prevented Katherine from doing her wifely duty and providing for her family.

Naylor was an abusive drunk. He whipped his children and kicked them down the stairs. He made his daughter stand in her shift outside in the cold. Elizabeth Haridine said that Naylor once lifted his one-year-old child out of her cradle and threw her on the floor.

Mary Jackson testified that one Sunday Naylor abused Katherine to the point that she was in bed for two days. Naylor tried to prevent his family and servants from praying on a Sabbath night, saying that he would not pray nor allow anyone else to do so.

Thus, Edward Naylor did not provide for his family either physically or spiritually, and his disrespect for Katherine’s effort to fulfill her wifely duties shattered the Puritan marriage ideal.

The Verdict

The court granted Katherine’s petition for divorce and allowed her to keep her home and inheritance from her first marriage. Naylor was tried in civil court and found guilty of cruelty and fornication. He was banished from Boston and the surrounding area. Naylor later petitioned the court saying the divorce and banishment left him an outlaw unable to pay his creditors. He was allowed to come back to Boston after providing a bond for good behavior. Less than two years later, he forfeited the bond because he “intruded” into Katherine’s company.

By removing Edward Naylor from Katherine’s family unit, the court restored an orderly household whose members were again part of an orderly community. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Katherine did not remarry.

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Sandra’s Books: Ambition, Arrogance & Pride. Saxon Heroines. Two Coins. Rama’s Labyrinth.

Illustrations & A Few Sources

A Fair Puritan by E. Percy Moran c. 1897; Tavern Puritans by William Cullen Bryant & Sydney Howard Gay, 1881; New England 1920; Couple Making Love, 1646; Couple Courting by a Tree by Léon Bonnat, 1871; A Drunken Man Standing by Aleksandr Orlovsky, 1822; Early Puritans Going to Worship by George Henry Boughton, 1872. Melissa Ann Johnson. “The Talk of the Town: Women, Gossip, and Watchfulness in 17^th Century Massachusetts.” Dissertation. University of Michigan. 2019. Lauren J. Cook. “Katherine Nanny, Alias Naylor.” Historical Archeology. 32:1.15-19.

The post Katherine Naylor: Petition for Divorce Granted first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.

While the manuscript for Sea Tigers & Merchants wends its way through the pre-publication process, I’m doing research for a prequel to the Salem Stories series. My new story begins in 17th century Salem about forty years before the infamous witch trials. The primary characters are Philip and Mary English whose descendent became Mary Hodges Derby, the woman featured in the opening pages of Ambition, Arrogance & Pride.

Teasing out personal details from 17th century Salem is difficult. As I looked for ways to develop Mary English’s personality, I came across a dissertation about women and gossip in 17th century.* One of the case studies featured Katherine Naylor’s divorce. The divorce is not completely unknown in the obscure annals of 17th century Boston history, but neither is it a dramatic event like the banishment of Anne Hutchinson who publicly questioned ministers and magistrates. Nevertheless, Naylor’s divorce affected the Puritan community by making one family’s private life very public.

Katherine’s Early Life

When six-year-old Katherine Wheelwright arrived in Boston with her family, the city’s population was less than 1,200. The migrants, led by John Winthrop, came to America to escape religious persecution in England, and to establish a model of church and state.

Katherine’s father, Reverend John Wheelwright, had married Anne Hutchinson’s sister-in-law Mary Hutchinson. A follower of the minister Rev. John Cotton, Anne became outspoken in her disagreement with what she called the ‘covenant of works.’ Cotton preached that a life of faith was enough for God to forgive a person’s sins. Other ministers emphasized good works as evidence of salvation. Anne Hutchinson established small groups to discuss Cotton’s concepts. Dissension and disagreement began to appear, first in the church and then in the government of Massachusetts Bay colony.

Rev. John Wheelwright and his family arrived in Boston in 1636 and quickly became associated with Cotton and Anne Hutchinson. Eventually, the controversy reached a tipping point. Rev. Wheelwright preached that the majority of civil and religious leaders in Massachusetts Bay followed the ‘covenant or works.’ The magistrates found his sermon seditious. In November 1637, church leaders and magistrates banished Rev. Wheelwright. Shortly thereafter, Anne Hutchinson was put on trial for disturbing the civil and religious peace of Massachusetts Bay.

Rev. Wheelwright took his family first to New Hampshire where he and his associates founded Exeter, and then to Wells, Maine.

Mrs. Robert Nanny

Robert Nanny arrived in Massachusetts Bay in 1635. He first settled in Dover, New Hampshire but by 1650 he lived in Boston. The record doesn’t indicate how Katherine Wheelwright met her husband or exactly when the couple married. Robert was seventeen years older than his bride.

Robert was a prosperous merchant with contacts in northern New England who provided the timber and cod fish he sent to the West Indies. He owned a plantation in Barbados. In Boston, Nanny owned land, and a dwelling house with a hall, kitchen, three chambers and two garrets. He also owned warehouses and a wharf on the north side of Boston.

Between 1653 and 1664, Katherine Nanny gave birth to eight children. Two of them, Samuel and Mary, lived past childhood.

It appears that some time in 1663, Robert Nanny’s health began to fail. In April, he willed his property in trust to Katherine for his children. If the children predeceased Katherine, the property would become hers. Five days after writing his will, Robert Nanny died.

Widow Katherine Nanny Remarries

In Puritan society, widows could own property and sign contracts, but they could only keep one-third of their property. Thus, one-third of Robert Nanny’s property remained with Katherine for the rest of her life. The remaining two-thirds were in trust for his children.

Widow Katherine was 33 years old and in possession of property valued at £560. No doubt, she had household servants. It would seem she had enough resources to remain single. Yet the basis of Puritan society was the family unit with a male head-of-household. So, whether from social pressure or personal preference, Katherine married a fur trader named Edward Naylor who moved into the house Katherine inherited from her first husband, and managed her property.

As matters turned out, Naylor was a less than faithful husband. He was a drunkard and patron of bawdy houses who abused his wife and children. He owed £500 to his creditors.

Katherine never said a word against her husband until she filed for divorce. But the women in her circle — servants, neighbors, and friends — testified that Edward Naylor failed to fulfill his duties as a husband. Details about the divorce in my next blog.

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Sandra’s Books: Ambition, Arrogance & Pride. Saxon Heroines. Two Coins. Rama’s Labyrinth.

Illustrations & A Few Sources:

*Melissa Ann Johnson. “The Talk of the Town: Women, Gossip, and Watchfulness in 17^th Century Massachusetts.” Dissertation. University of Michigan. 2019.

New England Woman 1917; Boston by Nathaniel Dearborn; Reverend John Wheelwright by Unknown; Puritan Engravings 1646. Lauren J. Cook. “Katherine Nanny, Alias Naylor.” Historical Archeology. 32:1.15-19.

The post Katherine Wheelwright Nanny Naylor & Puritan Dissension first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.