Okay, by now you must be aware of all the information recorded about John Albro I. Although there is some controversy about his parentage and the exact date of his birth and death, it seems to be widely accepted that he was born in England sometime around 1617, and died in Rhode Island in 1712. Yeah, sure, he did great things such as…he first arrived in America in 1634, after setting out from Ipswich, England aboard the ship Francis. He was among some of the first settlers and founding fathers of Portsmouth, Rhode Island. He attained the rank of Corporal, Lieutenant, Captain, and finally, a Major in the militia. He was clerk of weights and measures, a member and often moderator of the town council, a commissioner, a surveyor, a justice of the peace, a cattle viewer, and the coroner summon, just to name a few. But let us not forget his most important contribution to society...he started the first Albro line of descent in America and this would not have been possible without his wife, Dorothy. But just who was Dorothy Albro and what do we know about her?
Dorothy was most often referred to as Dorothy Potter, widow of Nathaniel. She later became known as the wife of John Albro and the mother of five children: Samuel, Elizabeth, Mary, John, and Susannah. Supposedly she was born in England in 1617 and many have speculated that she was the daughter of Samuel Wilbore and Ann Bradford, although no one seems to have any actual proof. Records state that she died February 19, 1696 in Rhode Island. But like many of the other Albro wives, very little is known about her. Which makes one wonder what her maiden name really was and what she was really like.
While John's role seemed to be the more important one not only to the community at that time (and to future generations) but also to the financial welfare of the family, he also seemed to be the one always in the spotlight. This may have made him well known to others and may have put his name in the pages of history but let us remember that Dorothy's role was indeed equally as important although she was probably more well known in the home than in the community. That is because the custom of those times was for women to stay at home and raise the children.
Therefore Dorothy's role could best be defined as the caregiver, the nurturer, the loving and devoted wife and mother who was always there keeping the home fires burning. Besides the job of cooking and cleaning, she also had to be the moral support for her husband and her children, always encouraging them in their endeavors and trying to bring their children up right by setting a good example. While John was indeed the one who believed in freedom of religion and had very strong beliefs, the fact that their children did have a religious upbringing must also be credited to Dorothy as well since it's often the mother who has to get the children's clothes ready, get them out of bed on time, get them dressed and fed, and remind them to read their Bibles. Most of all, she had to teach them manners and how to behave like Christians.
While some may think that this is no big deal and that it's what every woman was meant to do, I have to think that there must be a reason for her wanting to stay with John and continue this kind of lifestyle. There had to be something more besides the initial attraction to him. She must have seen the potential for him to be not only an important man in history but also to be a loving and devoted husband and father.
If you're thinking that she really didn't have any other choice once she married him, let us consider the fact that there were women, even in those times, who did leave their husbands, and even their children behind sometimes because it got to be too much for them. Proof of this in later years is found in newspaper articles. Abandoned husbands often placed ads in local newspapers declaring their wives as runaways. In a Rhode Island Historical Society publication entitled "She Hath Left My Bed and Board": Runaway Wives in Rhode Island, 1790-1810, by Sarah Leavitt, there are several examples of these ads which were placed alongside ads for runaway slaves, servants, cows, pigs, and horses!
The following is an example of one of the ads placed in the Providence Gazette and Country Journal, 28 August 1790:
"Whereas Waite, the Wife of me the Subscriber, on the 24th Instant, left my Bed and Board; all Persons are cautioned against trusting her on my Account, as I will not pay any Debts of her contracting after the Date hereof."
Daniel Wilbur, jun.
Smithfield, Aug. 27, 1790
When composing their advertisements, abandoned husbands didn't always reveal specific details of their marital difficulties. Some were silent on this point, but those who did elaborate often did so in vague terms and always placed total responsibility of the breakup on their wives. For example, one husband, William Gillcust of Providence wrote: "she has behaved in so disorderly a manner that I shall not live with her any longer." In response to this, his wife, Catharine, wrote the following:
"Whereas William Gillcust has forbid any Person trusting me on his Account: I think it my duty to declare, that I should not expect to obtain any Credit on his Account, were I inclined to make the Attempt, till he has paid the Debts of his own contracting; and that I am unconscious of having conducted myself in a "disorderly Manner", unless refusing to live with him, till he provide for his Wife and Children with his Earnings, instead of squandering them by Intemperance, and associating with lewd Women, can be deemed disorderly Conduct in me."
Catharine Gillcust
Providence, October 8, 1803.
When Noah Fuller, Jr. accused his wife of leaving "his bed and board", his wife, Roxanna Fuller, responded with an ad of her own in which she stated:
"It is true that I have left his House but I deny that I have left his Bed and Board; the Bed I left was my own, and never to my knowledge has he owned a bed since our Intermarriage, other than those I carried with me."
During those times, they lived under the law of coverture, meaning the legal right of the husband to all property, movable or otherwise, which the wife brought into their marriage, including land, any personal property of the wife, and even children as well! Therefore if she left, she would stand to lose everything. But sometimes this was not enough to stop a wife from leaving since mental cruelty, physical abuse, or neglect often took place.
While the act of a wife deserting her husband was unbecoming, a mother deserting her children was considered to be abhorrent. Thus women were in a unique bind; if they left without their children, they could be condemned for their unnatural behavior; if they took their children with them, they were guilty of an illegal act. Some women defied the law, while others left their children at home either by choice or by necessity. Many children were given over to their friends, relatives, or apprenticeships for unofficial guardianship.
Notes: 1. In a quantitative study of runaway wife advertisements in the newspapers of sixteen states, Herman Lantz recorded 3,348 advertisements between 1700 and 1800. "The predicted number had we been able to examine all of the newspapers (in those states) is estimated to be 7,504." Herman R. Lantz, "Marital Incompatibility and Social Change in Early America", Studies in Marriage and the Family Series (Beverly Hills, CA.: Sage Publications, 1976), 17.
2. Although divorce was quite uncommon at that time it was possible. All the English colonies in America had been subject to British law, which allowed divorce under certain strict criteria. New England early established marriage as a civil contract and codified rules for dissolving marriages in civil court, but strong social biases favored preserving even the most troubled marriages. When the new states began easing restrictions on divorce after the Revolution, New England took the lead, and though it's divorce rates remained low, they far exceeded those in the middle and southern states. According to Herman Lantz, divorce laws in Rhode Island were among the least restrictive in the early republic. Herman R. Lantz, "Marital Incompatibility and Social Change in Early America", 5-48. See also the analysis of divorce in Linda K. Kerber, "Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1980), and Mary Beth Norton, "Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women, 1750-1800 (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1980).
While we may never know first hand what it was like to live during those times (unless we find Dorothy's diary), we can take into consideration the facts that have been recorded in history and perhaps even our own life experiences and those of our parents and grandparents to help us begin to comprehend and imagine what Dorothy must have gone through. That would lead us to believe she was one very strong and determined woman to say the least. So that answers one part of the question of "Who was Dorothy Albro?"
As for the second part concerning what her maiden name was, we might be able to find the answer to that one if someone out there has any actual proof of her parentage and would be willing to share it with us! If we were able to unveil that secret than perhaps she would not just be known as Dorothy, widow of Nathaniel Potter, wife of John Albro I, and mother of five children, perhaps she would actually have her own identity! Or would she just be known as Dorothy, daughter of Samuel Wilbore?