Celebrating the Women Who Stood Beside the Signers

It was not just the men who signed the Declaration of Independence who for the sake of freedom risked death or imprisonment, or suffered personal tragedy. Their wives and families also shared their peril. Consider the price paid by just two of these steadfast women. 

Elizabeth Lewis was the wife of Declaration signer Francis Lewis. During the British occupation of Long Island, soldiers were dispatched to the Lewis' home. As troops approached and a ship fired at the house, Elizabeth refused to yield or retreat. The British captured her, holding her in dreary conditions with little food for several months. Though she was eventually freed, her health never recovered and she died in 1779.

In 1774, British loyalists burned down the home of Mary Bartlett whose husband, signer Josiah Bartlett, was an advocate for independence. Mary responded to this tragedy by moving her 12 children to the family’s farm. A biographer noted that she managed the farm herself, and “in all her letters to her husband and her children, there is not one word of regret at his course or pity for herself.”

These are just a few examples of the sacrifices and hardship faced by these women and their families. We encourage you to read their stories throughout this month.

Presenting America’s forgotten history and heroes

with an emphasis on our moral, religious and constitutional heritage.