By Sue Russell, Historic Canterbury Women’s Committee
In the rural landscape of 19th-century Canterbury, New Hampshire, the lives of Mary “May” F. Dearborn and Sarah “Angie” French are intertwined through shared roots, and the exchange of the very land beneath their feet. Though their paths diverged—one seeking the cutting edge of medicine in the bustling streets of New York, the other quietly anchoring herself as an independent landowner in the town of her birth—both women carved out remarkable narratives of independence in an era heavily dominated by men.
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The Canterbury Shakers get a lot written about them, so I’m glad that the focus here is on women from the Town of Canterbury. The Historic Canterbury Women’s Committee is doing a superb job of chronicling these lives in a most interesting way. However, can I make a suggestion to the committee? When you get closer to the end of the project and might be interested in doing something on the Shaker Sisters–particularly less well-known ones–please contact me. I have some ideas and stories to share. Darryl Thompson