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252:, England, he immigrated to Colonial North Carolina by 1734. They did not have any children of their own. Barker brought income into the family by renting out some of their enslaved people and selling sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and packs of cards. She purchased luxury items like rum, salt, sugar, molasses, and chocolate. When James died in 1755, she and the children inherited his estate and she became the richest woman in the
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285:. While her husband was unable to return home from London, Barker managed their estates and home, which included two children. By that time, she had lost four of her own children and three children from her husbands' previous marriages. Her son Thomas Hodgson died at the age of 25 in 1772. Her stepson John Hodgson died in 1774. Betsy Barker married a successful planter William Tunstall from
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Being informed by a servant that some
British soldiers were taking her carriage horses from her stables, she snatched her husband's sword from the wall, went out, and with a single blow severed the reins in the officer's hands, and drove her horses back into the stables. The British officer declared,
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The petition was published in colonial newspapers and in London. Barker also sent a "fiery letter" to London. The women were mocked in the London papers. A political cartoon entitled "Edenton Tea Party" was published and released in London on
January 16, 1775. The cartoon portrayed the women as bad
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Dillard described her as "one of those lofty, intrepid, high-born women peculiarly fitted by nature to lead; fear formed no part of her composition. Her face bears the expression of sternness without harshness, which a cheap novelist would describe as hauteur. She was a brilliant conversationalist,
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By the time she was seventeen years of age, Barker helped raise her sister's three children and married her sister's husband, attorney John
Hodgson, which began her life as a mother and planter. She married two more times to wealthy men, continuing to run plantations after their deaths. She gave
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Barker married her deceased sister's husband, John
Hodgson, in 1745 at about the age of 17. Their first son was Samuel. Only two years after their marriage, John died, when she was pregnant with their second son Thomas. She also had her sister and husband's three children to raise. She ran the
263:
in
Edenton in 1757, who was 16 years older than her, becoming Penelope Barker. He was previously married and brought a daughter named Betsy into the marriage. They had three children—Penelope, Thomas, and Nathaniel—all of whom died very young, from a few to ten months of age.
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Hodgson plantations, with 25 enslaved people. When she was 21 years of age, the Court doubted that she was old enough to raise and educate five children. They threatened to remove her children. In
October 1751, she was returned to the guardian of her three stepchildren.
309:. Thomas died on December 10, 1790, Barker inherited her husband's estate of 25 enslaved people, their luxury furnishings, and the plantation. Barker died in 1796. She and her husband are buried alongside each other in the small graveyard called Johnston's cemetery at
386:) for months because it could not be sold with the tax. At the start of the Revolution, a group of patriots gathered the tea and sold it to other patriots to fund the rebellion against the British. They had also ousted royal officials and agents at the time. The
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birth to five children and was the stepmother to four children, all but two of whom had died by 1761. Stepson Thomas
Hodgson died in 1772. Her only remaining child then was Betsy Barker, who lived to adulthood and married William Tunstall, a successful planter.
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By 1745, when she was a teen, her father and married sister, Elizabeth
Hodgson, died consecutively, leaving her to raise Elizabeth's children, Isabella, John, and Robert. Her brother-in-law and later husband, John Hodgson, managed her father's estate.
472:
James Craven wrote his will on
September 28, 1755, and died before the end of the year. The estate began to be probated in 1755, so the inferred death year is 1755. Mitchell says he died in 1755 and then eleven pages later says he died in
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Mitchell states that although it is widely stated that the meeting took place at the home of
Elizabeth King, there is little actual evidence that this occurred. In addition, her house may have been too small for such a
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The NCPedia states that Thomas was away from 1761 to 1778, but Waldrup states that he was made treasurer of the North Carolina Colony and assembly clerk in October 1774 and set sail a few weeks after the Edenton Tea
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In 1752, Penelope Hodgson transferred ownership of the property to James Craven, before their marriage, as stated in James Craven's will. He left the property, along with the rest of his estate to her upon his
795:
Penelope Hodgson to James Craven, 1752, Book F1. North Carolina State Archives. Chowan County, North Carolina Cross Index to Deeds - Grantees 1696-1878. Vol. B. Raleigh, NC, USA: State Archives, 1696-1878.
194:, one of three daughters to Samuel Padgett, a physician, and Elizabeth Blount. Her sisters were Sarah and Elizabeth. Padgett was the granddaughter of Anne Willis and James Blount, a prominent planter of
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Thomas, a representative of the North Carolina's assembly to the board of trade, sailed to Europe in 1761 and was delayed in returning due to the British blockade of American ships during the
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was created. On October 25, 1774, Barker and her supporters, Edenton Ladies Patriotic Guild, met at the house of Elizabeth King to sign the Edenton Tea Party resolution that protested the
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She has been said to have married at the age of 16, 17, and 19. If she was 19 when married, her marriage to John Hodgson would have occurred in 1747 (or she would have been born in 1726).
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382:). Northern women had spinning bees for the production of homemade material. A ship-load of imported East India Company tea was locked away in a port in Charles Town (now
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The women were praised as patriots by the Colonial American press. Other women followed suit by swearing off tea. Southern women danced in ballgowns made from
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198:. The Padgetts lived on a 2,000-acre plantation. As she grew up, Penelope lived a comfortable life of teas, church suppers, parties, and balls.
413:. It states, "Women in this town led by Penelope Barker in 1774 resolved to boycott British imports. Early and influential activism by women."
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351:. It was the "first recorded women's political demonstration in America". Barker continued to protest throughout the Revolutionary War.
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Plaque commemorating the Edenton Tea Party, October 25, 1774. Located inside the North Carolina State Capitol, Raleigh, North Carolina.
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of her own. Barker wrote a statement proposing a boycott of British goods, like cloth and tea. Followed by 50 other women, the
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that for such an exhibition of bravery, she should be allowed to keep her horses, and she was never afterward molested.
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James Craven, died 1755. Wills and Probate Records, 1663-1789. North Carolina. Division of Archives and History.
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In 1908, a plaque was dedicated by the Daughters of the American Revolution of North Carolina and placed in the
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405:. It honored her leadership at the Edenton Tea Party. In 1940, a marker was placed at West Queen Street (
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In 1752, Barker married wealthy bachelor James Craven, who was a planter and politician. From Doughton,
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Years of death are also 1787, 1788, and 1789 but his gravestone states that he died December 10, 1790.
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Thomas returned in September 1778. In 1782, Thomas and his wife built a home, known today as the
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For the third and final time, she married Thomas Barker, an attorney and a member of the
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Edenton Tea Pot. Sculpted in 1905, this teapot commemorates the 1774 Edenton Tea Party.
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274:, Edenton, North Carolina, built by Penelope and Thomas Barker in 1782, listed on the
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1124:
Garrison, Webb (1993). "First Women's Movement Urged Cider, Buttermilk, and Water".
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1166:
Silcox-Jarrett, Diane (2000). "Penelope Barker, Leader of the Edenton Tea Party'".
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The political cartoon of the Edenton Tea Party was published in the London press.
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Waldrup states that she was 19 when her father died, which would have been 1747.
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Barker was known as a patriot of the Revolution and ten months after the famous
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During the Revolutionary War, Barker protected her residence from the British,
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America's Women: Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines
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170:. It was the "first recorded women's political demonstration in America".
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of British goods in 1774 orchestrated by a group of women known as the
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158:(June 17, 1728 – 1796), was an activist who, in the lead-up to the
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Heroines of the American Revolution: America's founding mothers
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mothers with loose morals and received misogynistic ridicule.
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Penelope Padgett was born June 17, 1728, at Blenheim Manor in
1066:. Nashville, Tenn. : Rutledge Hill Press. p. 92.
1103:
Collins, Gail (2003). "What have I to do with politicks".
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411:North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program
1219:, Edenton North Carolina, n.d., (21 June 2006).
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1193:. Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co.
1158:Treasonous Tea: The Edenton Tea Party of 1774
1148:Treasonous Tea: The Edenton Tea Party of 1774
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723:Martin, Michael G. Jr. (December 2021).
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67:Activist during the American Revolution
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1172:. New York : Scholastic Inc.
1109:. New York : William Morrow.
178:and a society leader of her day."
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1187:Waldrup, Carole Chandler (2004).
534:, National Women's History Museum
1273:Women in the American Revolution
977:"Marker: A-22 Edenton Tea Party"
531:Mythbusting the Founding Mothers
418:Women in the American Revolution
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570:National Women's History Museum
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1243:18th-century American planters
1151:(Masters). Liberty University.
378:fabric (that started with the
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933:Chowan County, North Carolina
840:Edenton Historical Commission
642:Edenton Historical Commission
566:"Penelope Barker (1728–1796)"
1063:A treasury of Carolina tales
59:1796 (aged 67–68)
394:, boycotted British goods.
237:Thomas Hodson, Barker's son
224:Portrait of Penelope Barker
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384:Charleston, South Carolina
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254:Province of North Carolina
1248:American women landowners
1155:Mitchell, Maggie (2015).
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1130:. Rutledge Hill Press.
1060:Garrison, Webb (1988).
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349:British Tea Act of 1773
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399:state Capitol Building
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1161:. Liberty University.
528:Howat, Kenna (2017),
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182:Early life and family
1216:Edenton History FAQs
1014:, pp. 1, 8, 43.
409:) in Edenton by the
388:Daughters of Liberty
154:, commonly known as
912:, pp. 118–119.
900:, pp. 117–118.
287:Pittsylvania County
160:American Revolution
1253:Women slave owners
1145:Mitchell, Maggie.
725:"Barker, Penelope"
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261:House of Burgesses
1200:978-0-7864-1839-8
1179:978-0-439-25947-7
1137:978-1-55853-270-0
1116:978-0-06-018510-7
1073:978-0-934395-75-5
981:www.ncmarkers.com
638:"Penelope Barker"
564:Michaels, Debra.
380:homespun movement
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1227:Categories
986:2023-03-20
884:2023-03-20
845:2023-03-19
647:2023-03-19
510:References
502:gathering.
416:See also:
226:, in color
64:Occupation
734:March 18,
341:Tea Party
250:Yorkshire
376:homespun
1097:Sources
879:NCpedia
729:NCpedia
289:in the
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