John Hastings, Jr.,

Résumé du livre

On October 30, 1832, Gardner Ruggles (1782-1853), from Barre, Mass., wrote about the Massachusetts state and county convention in Worcester concerning Andrew Jackson's reelection and the "unholy alliance" between Jacksonians and the anti-Masonic parties. In the late 1830s and early 1840s, Hastings served as a justice of the peace in West Troy, New York. He and his wife were given a summons to appear before the chancery court concerning a foreclosure filed against them. There were other court cases concerning indebtedness. A January 21, 1842, letter from F.B. Bigelow is a letter of reference for Hastings to Levi Thaxter (1778-1857) by listing his assets and liabilities, including his tendency to try to undertake too many things at once and his having been "laid low by the treachery of a friend in business." The later letters from 1842- 1859 include letters to and from his daughters, Mary Ann and Ruth Hastings, while they were in boarding school in Hudson, NY. They were students of Emma Willard (1787-1870), and their letters detail their school life and also reference Emma Willard herself. The daughters expressed their lack of support for "women's rights" versus "women's duties." On October 23, 1853, Mary Ann met with and attended a lecture by Lucy Stone (1818-1893), women's right activist and abolitionist. Mary Ann described her physical appearance and personality but remained unenthusiastic about women's rights. Another letter of note is that of December 20, 1859, in which Mary Ann wrote of "excitement in the South," referring to John Brown and Harper's Ferry. She believed Brown's name would be honored as long as truth, justice, magnanimity, and philanthropy shall be reckoned as the highest attributes of humanity."