Lecture: Faith Trumbull Huntington: An 18th-Century Woman Encounters War

Margaret Meahl will speak about how in June 1775, Faith Trumbull Huntington and “a small travelling party” unknowingly arrived at the Patriot encampment in Roxbury on the same day as the Battle of Bunker Hill. Huntington was the daughter of Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull and the wife of Jedediah Huntington, a colonel in the Continental Army. Attend the first talk of the Dedham Historical Society & Museum’s 2019-2020 lecture program to learn what happened to Faith after that encounter, and what this Connecticut resident’s connection was to Dedham. The talk will discuss a variety of themes including girls’ education, religion, colonial American women, the Revolutionary War, mental illness, funerals, and family bonds. Highly educated for her time, she learned the art of needlework from Mrs. Murray, an instructor in Boston, where she produced four elaborate needleworks (including “Fishing Lady” scenes) when she was 11-19 years of age. These works are in the collections of the Connecticut Historical Society and the Lyman Allyn Museum. 

Save the dates: October 26, 1:30: The Social History & Iconography of Gravestones (plus Walking Tours of the Old Village Cemetery at 12:15 and 2:45; tours limited to 20 each); November 21, 7:00 pm: Old Ironsides and Dedham Connections, Then and Now; February 27, 7:00 pm: Founding Martyr Joseph Warren, the Revolution and Dedham; March 19, 7:00 pm: Parades in New England, 1788-1940; April 21, 7:00 pm: The Ben Fisher Memorial Lecture: John Doggett of Dedham: Carver, Gilder, Entrepreneur (in association with the Annual Meeting). The 2019-2020 lecture series is generously sponsored by David G. Newsom.