Rebecca Dickinson

Rebecca Dickinson (July 25, 1738 – December 31, 1815) was an American gownmaker who lived during the mid-to-late eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century. She is significant as the author of a journal in which she writes about her life as an artisan in the context of a woman actively engaging in the economy and a Calvinist in New England in the years following the Revolutionary War (1787–1802). Throughout her life, Dickinson chose to live as a single woman in Hatfield, Massachusetts, sustaining herself through her trade. Her surviving journal documents her struggle to understand her singlehood in the context of her faith. Her diary also allows a glimpse into the lives of people, especially women, living through extremely influential historical events.

Early life

Rebecca Dickinson (sometimes spelled as Rebekah or Rebeca) was born in Hatfield, Massachusetts, as the oldest daughter of six children born to farmer and dairy man Moses Dickinson and Anna Smith. Named after her grandmother, Rebecca Barrett Wright, Dickinson entered a world of political and religious concerns. The relatively small town of Hatfield (which held a population of 803 in 1765) had a history of political, military, and religious upheaval for more than half of a century before Dickinson was born. Such conflict is demonstrated by the fact that Rebecca's own grandmother, Canada Waite, was born in captivity as her mother, Martha Waite, had been captured by Natives and gave birth as a hostage. As a result of the conflict surrounding Hatfield as well as the religious upheaval occurring simultaneously, the people of Hatfield were often worried about the possibility of war and the state of their spiritual lives.