Salem Women's
History and
Business Community
History and
Business Community
Mary Turner Sargent
Salem sites:
• The House of the Seven Gables
• The House of the Seven Gables
Mary Turner Sargent (1744-1813) resided at what we now call The House of the Seven Gables until she married Daniel Sargent of Gloucester and the couple moved to Boston where he led the effort to build Long Wharf.
A copy of Mary's portrait by John Singleton Copley is on display at The Gables but interpreters are still piecing together her life. To date, no papers of hers have been found, but the recent discovery of the letter books kept by her niece, Judith Sargent Murray, are revealing important information.
In these letter books — blank volumes into which Judith made copies of her correspondence to family and friends — the letters to or about Mary describe her as a woman of integrity, selflessness, and compassion.
Even in her last moments, slowly dying from water on the brain, Mary "expressed great astonishment at the presence, and solicitude of her friends. She persevered, while a vestige of strength remained, in refusing the assistance of watchers, nurses &c &c and her desire, and ability to do every thing for herself was uncommonly prolonged."1
One of Mary's sons was the renowned portraitist Henry Sargent. Another, Lucius Manlius Sargent, became a well known historian and writer.
Sources
1 Judith Sargent Murray Papers.
A copy of Mary's portrait by John Singleton Copley is on display at The Gables but interpreters are still piecing together her life. To date, no papers of hers have been found, but the recent discovery of the letter books kept by her niece, Judith Sargent Murray, are revealing important information.
In these letter books — blank volumes into which Judith made copies of her correspondence to family and friends — the letters to or about Mary describe her as a woman of integrity, selflessness, and compassion.
Even in her last moments, slowly dying from water on the brain, Mary "expressed great astonishment at the presence, and solicitude of her friends. She persevered, while a vestige of strength remained, in refusing the assistance of watchers, nurses &c &c and her desire, and ability to do every thing for herself was uncommonly prolonged."1
One of Mary's sons was the renowned portraitist Henry Sargent. Another, Lucius Manlius Sargent, became a well known historian and writer.
Sources
1 Judith Sargent Murray Papers.
