The Women of Marblehead

Although one hears regularly about the hardy men who built Marblehead as ship captains, fishermen, and shoe makers, historian Bob Booth tells us the story of Marblehead’s oft-forgotten, but oh-so-intrepid women. Indeed, the town’s women were able to earn their own livings and pay for construction and ongoing expenses of four new churches as early as the 1830s. They ran the Underground Railroad before the Civil War, operated the new machinery introduced in the shoe factories, initiated strikes against the owners, and took to the streets in temperance marches. In 1889, 31 years before women got the vote in America, a woman was elected to Marblehead’s school board.

Learn about Marblehead’s ‘other half’ in this lively presentation drawn from Bob Booth’s book, The Women of Marblehead, which was published in 2016 by the Marblehead Female Humane Society in celebration of its 200^th anniversary.

Robert Booth, a resident of Gloucester, is a native of Marblehead. Retired as CEO of a national healthcare not-for-profit, he has written three published books of history and is finishing a fourth about Marblehead in the period 1680-1740. He also provides house histories and consults on the renovation and adaptive re-use of old buildings.

The Women of Marblehead will be available for purchase and signing.

Photo Credit: Vicki Horton Booth