Roxana’s Children

Biography of Roxana Brown Walbridge Watts 1802-1862, her life in Peacham Vermont mined from a rich lode of primary material--letters, diaries, and photographs. Letters from her 6 children, 3 who moved to the midswest, two who fought in the Civil War, a daughter who left to work in the Lowell textile mills and a daughter who attended Mount Holyoke Seminary. Their writings included matters of national significance, the westward migration, the temperance and abolitionist movements, mechanizing farm life, and the increase of secularization. A fascinating portrait of an American family caught up in the sweep of a century of change.

An archivist for thirty years, Lynn A. Bonfield has worked at the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe, the California Historical Society, and San Francisco State University. Mary C. Morrison, great-granddaughter of Roxana, is a writer and teacher.