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“Friendship, Sweet Soother Of My Cares!”: Women, Religion, And Power In The Diary Of Sarah Connell Ayer, Shannon M. Risk
“Friendship, Sweet Soother Of My Cares!”: Women, Religion, And Power In The Diary Of Sarah Connell Ayer, Shannon M. Risk
Maine History
The diary of Sarah Connell Ayer (1791-1835) reveals the motivations of a woman caught up in the Second Great Awakening that spread across New England in the early nineteenth century. Ayer arrived in Portland in 1811 and immediately sought out a circle of female friends who espoused the same desires as did she. She joined with other church women in challenging the boundaries of Republican Motherhood ,and under the veil of the church, helped to minister in the greater Portland society.This female church culture helped women like Ayer get through the many pitfalls of womanhood in the early nineteenth century, …