volume, if you want to know about native american women as makers. right. you know. yes. barbara harms yeah. yeah. barbara mann's essay is you. it would be vital to to read, to answer that question, to write. okay. well then thank you very much. one more round of applause for our panel. thank you all for being here. and speaking for us. we appreciate it. and thank you all for. thank you all at home for attending and for your continued support of our mission. so we thank you very much and safe travels home.

evening, everyone. i'm happy to welcome all those of you who have made it in person as well as the people who are joining us online. and we have a great program this evening, our speaker tonight, dr. daphne, daphne palmer. gina orkopoulos will, tell us the story of sarah kidd, the wife, captain kidd, one of the most notorious pirates ever prowl the seas. sarah kidd secretly aided and abetted her husband, fighting alongside him against his accusers. more remarkably, still was that sarah not only survived, the tragedy wrought by her infamous husband's deeds, went on to live a successful, productive life. as one of new york's most prominent citizens. telling the story is dr. jean nicopolis. she is a historian, journalist and, author, having published articles in numerous publications, the new york times and the washington post.

she holds a doctorate and masters from georgetown university, as well as a master in business and ministration from george washington university. she has spent the last 15 years conducting research on pirates and wives in archives in london. washington. new york. rhode island and massachusetts. including, of course, massachusetts historical society. so i'm gavin kleespies i'm the director of programs, exhibitions and community partnerships for the massachusetts historical society. anyone who might be joining us for the first time, the mass historical society is the first historical society in america. we were founded in 1791 and for the past 230 years, we have been collecting and preserving, making accessible the history. massachusetts in america. we maintain a fabulous research which has a collection of close to 14 million manuscript pages. and these include the papers of mother soldiers, artists, activists as as three u.s.

presidents. we make this collection available, the public, for free. and we also a wide variety of programs such as this evening's our program season is wrapping up for the year but we still have a couple programs left. next monday, we will host our film club and this one will be discussing the film. good will hunting, and we'll be joined by tim kraft, who is the former deputy deputy director of the massachusetts film office, as well as missy stewart, a film producer and designer who worked on good will hunting. and then wednesday will host the grim keys. the legacy of slavery in an american family with greenwich from tufts university and i'm sure many of you know kerry, but she is off fabulous. we're only able host these programs thanks to support of our members and donors. so we hope you enjoy this evening's program. we hope you'll return future programs and we hope that you'll also support the work of mhr by becoming a member.

so without further ado, please join me in welcoming our speaker this evening. thank gavin and thank you for coming. it's such treat to be here in this beautiful space that massachusetts historical society. i found the massachusetts society research resource as to be a great help in my research and. i'd like to thank everyone on staff who maintain this valuable repository. i'm especially grateful for the opportunity to speak to you tonight about a book i've been working on for many years. it is the first ever direct account of the life of the wife of the notorious pirate captain william kidd. sarah lived a long and storied life, and i'm going to give you

a glimpse into it. i'm going to show you some slides and going to do a reading from my book. i hope you all will find sarah kidd to be easily as interested and remarkable as famous husband. generations of readers the world over have known this of captain william kidd, the noble sea captain privateer, who turned pirate. the history of the golden age of. the history of the golden age. piracy in which captain played an outside part is replete with replete with the exploits of pirates of many stripes who hoisted the black flag and prowled the seas attacking 17th

and 18th century merchant vessels bound for the west indies, west africa and north america. kidd's story is particularly striking. in 1699, captain kidd became the subject of a political scandal involving top officials on both sides of the atlantic, including the king of. there was a wide chase and eventual conviction and execution at the hands of colonial officials who may have been complicit in kidd's acts of piracy. it was a drama with lies, secrets and double dealing betrayal and treasure. the story of his journey from privateer to murderous pirate has been immortalized across the

centuries in print, on stage and screen, in video games, and even in an epic 22 verse ballad. but our understanding of his legend is incomplete. what is largely unknown is that kid had a partner and accomplice. a behind the scene who enabled his and helped him outpace his enemies. this accomplice was his wife, the english born sarah, a young, wealthy new york socialite whose extraordinary life is a lesson in reinvention and resourcefulness. was running a thriving merchant business in the new york city seaport when she met captain. the encounter set off a high octane romance that often

operated the law. while captain kidd plundering the high seas, sarah was pirating in her own way. within the confines of polite, polite society. working to ensure her husband never got caught. and that the location his buried treasure stayed with. bold determination to survive and protect her husband. sarah secretly aided and abetted her husband fighting alongside side him against his accusers. the most impressive part is that even after captain was put to death for crimes, sarah remained an incredibly beloved figure of the fixture, the community securing a long and prosperous life for herself and for family.

sarah knew how to persuade, and she knew how to hustle. and in a time, women held little legal power, she found a way to ensure her future and protect her family. but for more than 300 years, the story of sarah kidd has been all but erased from history. my journey. the world of pirates began in 2002, when i was commissioned by the new york times to write a freelance piece for their museum's special section about the widow pirate museum in provincetown, cape cod. the museum contains. the artifacts recovered from the widow pirate ship that crashed during a fierce nor'easter off the coast, wellfleet, cape cod, in.

1717. prior to writing this article, i didn't much about pirates except what i had read in books and seen in movies. i thought all pirates had a pet parrot parrot like long john silver in robert louis stevenson, treasure island. or it looked like the handsome and fit. errol flynn in the 1935 movie captain blood or recently walked talked and wore eyeshadow like jack sparrow in the movies pirates of the caribbean caribbean. looking at the everyday arctic artifacts recovered from the pirate ship silver coins, cutlery, pewter plates, a teapot, the shoulder blade of a pirate pistols, canon navigation

instruments, medical supplies and even a size five shoe a leg and silk stocking. i realized these mythological figures were mere ordinary men. the legend of the captain samuel bellamy and his love interest, maria hallett told me that pirates had connections only and they had families, community links that don't think much about. as i was researching my dissertation turn previous book, the pirate next door the untold story of 18th century pirates wives, families and communities. i kept encountering evidence of this mysterious woman who seemed, oddly, on the periphery, the story of the notorious

captain kidd. even the influential and authoritative early sourcebook on pirates called a general history of the robberies and of the most notorious pirates by captain charles johnson did not include in the lengthy chapter on kidd. sarah was alive at the time the book was in london. in 1724 and it would have possible for the author to interview her or people who knew her. finding sarah's initials as kay scratched on a colonial document at. an archive in boston started me on a thrilling journey. i wanted to know more about her. i would soon learn that her initials marked spot where love and lore divide.

to research sarah's story, i had to use a variety of sources because women left little record of their affairs. most women, including sarah, could not write. men owned all the property and exercised most of the legal rights at the time. i read the contextual of pirates and of the time period to learn the political, economic and cultural events that shaped sarah's life. i was able to find important primary sources of sarah's such as her petition to the governor of new york and master lord belmont to regain her seized. and i also found her last will and testament. many the ancient sources that i relied on were handwritten, and i transcribed over 250 of them to make them easier work with.

i visited archives in the places sarah and captain kidd had been including those in new york, boston and rhode. i traced sarah's steps in the surroundings she visited, especially in manhattan and where she spent most of life. i also found great resources in the admiralty papers at national archives in london. i found a rich cache of letters that were in a sea chest in captain samuel burgess's pirate ship when it was captured by a british. in 1699. the letters were in the pirates mailbag and contained a few from captain kidd's crewmen aboard the adventure galley to their wives and the wives to kids crewmen. the letters are dated from 1695

to 1699 and they show that the course was conducted thousands of miles across the globe between indian ocean pirates and north american colonists. and there was successful and direct communication oceans between new york and madagascar and back again. no letters. from sarah or captain kidd. among these letters. and none have survived. but there is every likelihood that they communicated. during his three year voyage through the mariner's mail service. on ascension island, a remote outpost in the atlantic, new york merchant captains trading with the pirates in madagascar stopped for fresh supplies of turtle meat and dropped off and collected the mail left under a

rock with a hole in it near harbor. this letter from the wife of crewman jacob horn was especially. sarah horn was heard was the wife of jacob horn and she wrote from their home in flushing york on june 5th, 1698, and she told husband, quote, we hear abundance of flying news concerning you. this meant that word had spread from port to port and ship to and that there was trouble aboard the adventure galley. that trouble would later learn was mutiny and piracy. to further the maritime world in

captain kidd was a part of. i attended a workshop at, the national archives in london and conducted research with scholars from the price papers project, a collaborative effort at the national archives with the university of oldenburg, germany, to research and to categorize the of yet unopened captured by the british in wartime in the 17th and 18th century. i examined trial records, depositions, personal correspond ins, ship's logs, cargo inventories and, even a mariner's personal journal that was worn where in his front pocket pocket? the manuscript room at the library of congress was a terrific resource, and captain kidd's own recorded statements

gave strong evidence of his love and devotion to sarah. archivists and other historians i met were enthusiastic and helpful. my research, as was my research assistant. higgins, a cavalier king charles spaniel named for a runaway pirate. jeremiah higgins. here he is, inspecting the galleys of the private pirates wife. unfortunately, there are no contemporary paintings. sarah kidd. she can't be seen that way. but in 1911, the john leon jerome fair created, this painting of captain in new york harbor. the attractive beautifully dressed woman with a lace fan holding captain kidd's hand on

the deck of his ship is an interesting rendition of a woman who is captured. attention. one contemporyf sara's described her as lovely and accomplished, and the woman in painting is certainly lovely. kidd's velvet kngth coat, a at his side and a tri hat are his historically accurate depictions of the entire of the period and what he would have worn as a successful sea captain. his gesture towards his lovely visitor, a suave gentleman, li bow, and a warm of her hand fits with the charming demeanor he was known to. while this painting is figment of the artist's imagination and in 1911 we did not know this

story of sarah and captain kidd. there is coincidence finally some historical semblance of truth in it. born sarah bradley. around 670. the future pirates wife arrived in new york from england with widowed father and two brothers. when she, 14 years old, at 15, she married to one of the richest men in the colony a much older wealthy merchant named william cox. when cox died tragically, four years later, in 1699, sarah was years old. she did what any woman would do at that time. she married again. she married a dutch merchant and mariner john ord. it was then that she met captain

william kidd, a well-respected gentleman with whom she began acquaintance captain was sarah's third husband. sarah was twice widowed, 21 year old, considered one of the most eligible and sought after women in new york. when she and kidd married just two days after her second husband's death death. while the circumstance might appear suspect for sarah kidd to marry so soon after john short's untimely demise kidd and sarah were stellar members of polite new york society. they were new york's power couple and no untoward behavior was ever proved at time of their marriage. the well-built, well-dressed 37

year old sea captain, who spoke with a hint of a scottish accent, was one of the most respected men in manhattan. he was a celebrated war hero and a sought after privateer for a private here was hired by the government to legally plunder and seize enemy ships. he, a legal pirate during wartime, the resources of warring countries were stretched to the limit and privateers were extra hands who owned own armed vessel and served as an auxiliary to england's navy. a privateers assignment was detailed in a document called a letter of marque and reprisal. he had investors and the captured captured prizes and cargo was shared with his investors. the captain and crew got a

smaller proportion of the take. there was sometimes fine line between a legal privateer and, an outlaw pirate. many a privateer once out at sea and beyond the reach of the authorities turned pirate to. avoid having to share the loot. there were other reasons to turning. pirate was an attractive alternative for some men, especially those with wives and. because pirates lived in a highly civilized democratic society. they were well paid when the going was good and they were treated fairly. pirates lived by a set of rules called articles. and each pirate had to his name. or if he could not write, he left his mark as an ex. and this was his his his mark to

show that he joined the crew of the pirate ship. with that to be true to his brethren of the coast as they were called, came benefits each pirate had an equal vote and most were given an equal share of the --. there was a form of health insurance, a form of life insurance and retirement benefits. the pirate community was designed to support and maintain the relationships on land while they were sea. if a pirate died in action, his share of the -- was smuggled halfway across the world to be given to his family, who was so much in need, turning pirate was a risky and dangerous, but for some, as one pirate captain

said, a married life and a short one was his motto. their wedding took place in manhattan on a rainy saturday, may. 16 1691. it was a day of high drama and, grisly, 17th century justice. england was at war with france. pirates were plundering the high seas. and two traders, the self-appointed governor, jacob lester, and his son in law, jacob milbourne, were hanged for treason against king william and queen mary. in the public square, sarah and kidd attended the hanging after their wedding. a public hanging was an event everyone turned out for. it was carnival like source of entertainment. the stark contrast of the day a love match and an execution

foreshadowed the dark drama that would be their life. the kids lived in mansion. sarah inherited from her first husband located on the corner of pearl and hanover street in the hanover square neighborhood of manhattan. the waterfront property faced a wall now called street in the financial of manhattan. coincidentally, their home was just a few blocks from the office of my publisher, hanover square press, an imprint of harper collins. i like to think sarah found my for me. around 1692. sarah birth to a daughter. elizabeth. and in 1694, she had another daughter little sarah.

during the colonial period giving, birth was a social and bonding event where women looked after one another. sarah's babies would have been born at home in a separate area. a way from the main living quarters. men were involved in the birthing process, so as captain kidd would have been busy elsewhere, it was the of women relatives, neighbors, friends and in the colony to act as midwives, to assist in the delivery. special birthing linens were prepared and laid out. sarah would have used a birthing stool and perhaps a one held her upright and supported her as. she progressed through labor in the early stages. sarah would have acted as the hostess of the festive occasion. it was an old english tradition

for new mothers to serve groaning cakes. as a sweet, nutritious, baked, good made of spices, molasses, rum, apples and carrots. and to go with it. groaning beer. as they waited for the blessed moment, the women would entertain themselves with gossip, jokes and stories in. 1696 captain kidd was given a dream job. two privateering commissions from king william. the third and some of the most important men in england were his investors, including the newly governor of new york and, massachusetts, richard, known as lord. belmont's complicated with kidd

would lead to kid's tragic. in his brand ship one that looked like this. the adventure galley was a 280 ton warship with three tall masts. square rigged sails and 34 big guns. it was a hybrid ship called the galley, meaning they could be rowed as well as sailed. his job was to hunt enemy ships and, to rid the seas of pirates, disrupted international trade. his commissions for one year, his initial three unsuccessful voyage led to frustration, mutiny and eventually the kids turned to piracy piracy. sarah was kidd was to kids fight for his life against the men who accused him of turning from

privateer to pirate. she and their daughters spent time with captain kidd on their pirate ship. and sarah helped kidd hide his stolen treasure as an accomplice to an outlaw. she was arrested and in prison with him in boston. once released sarah helped construct the narrative. captain kidd presented in his defense. she she ensured he was taken of in jail and she tirelessly to help secure a pardon and even tried to help plot an escape. after was executed in 1701, sarah lived 40 years. she reinvented herself and she managed to go one half of a criminal couple back to a high

society socialite. she secured her family's inheritance. remarried. had more children and lived rest of her life as a prominent and respectable citizen. she even learned to write her name. sarah's life is a rare example of kind of life that pirates wives lived during the golden age piracy. is a tale about love. marriage motherhood and survival. sarah's life. and particularly her transformation from new york socialite to a stateless outlaw sheds. new light on the political economic and cultural events of the late 70 and 18 centuries. from her, we learn about the economic hardships of widowhood,

the political repercussions of piracy, the effects of war on the new and emerging colonies, the business of slavery. her life tells a broader story about how certain women were able to assert their will and reclaim their agency within the oppressive strictures of colonial america. sarah through seven british monarchs 21 new york governors. she experienced firsthand the golden age of piracy. she survived four husbands and three of her five adult children. the pirates wife. the remarkable, true story sarah kidd recasts the image of captain kidd from a diabolical to a flawed but decent man who

tried please his investors and his wife and family. he was a pirate but not one with a black heart heart. sarah's initials s-k scratch stone a few colonial documents. glaive gave clues to her existence. these bold pen strokes reveal a history we have only imagined the dangerous, difficult and thrilling life of a wife. they shed unexpected light on a young colonial woman caught up in a world of politics passion and 18th century justice. the unknown is finally identified. she is sarah kidd, the first lady of pirates pirates.

i'd like to close, by reading a passage from the pirates wife. i'm going to read from the prolog. sarah kidd lay in a weakened state in the bedroom of her manhattan mansion. a contagious lethal disease raged through the colony, striking young and old, rich or poor, black or white. it was september 12th, 1744, and 74 year old sarah had first taken to her bed to get warm under the soft quilts and to rest her head on the goose down pillows. then the chills, fever and fatigue set in. she was nearly certain she had

contracted the deadly disease. everyone called tip the area as a precaution. she asked family and friends to stay at a safe distance. she arranged for soft foods and a soothing drink made from the medicinal herbs in her garden to be left outside her bedroom. her mind wandered in a fever haze. she closed her eyes and remembered herself in another time and place. she was a young woman with her husband, captain william kidd, on his pirate ship, the saint antonio, a vessel laden with gold, silver and jewels. as his closest confidant. she learned learned that buried some of his stolen treasure for safekeeping and he described to her where it was hidden.

she was not to tell a soul for more than 40 years since his death in 1701. sarah pirates wife kept his secrets safe. not even five children knew. she alluded to it in will, noting that she had assets in the city of new york and elsewhere. she did identify elsewhere sarah worried about the consequences if her were caught with stolen pirate loot. her stocks strong instincts told it was best to leave well enough alone as she thought back over her life. not all of her memories were fond ones, especially the time when she was a pirates wife. but the memory of the hardships and the heartbreak had softened, and sarah wouldn't have traded

it for anything. she felt. she felt very proud to have been a pirates wife. and she wore the title as a badge of honor. repeated a prayer as. her condition worsened. almighty god, have mercy, my soul and pardon and forgive me all my sins and offenses. so that i may after this miserable, arise with. our savior, jesus christ. she became delirious from the fever and shook uncontrollably. the sheets were soaked with her perspiration. still, the of that secret weighed on her as well, kept secrets often do as she prayed for forgiveness. she may have thought it was time to identify elsewhere to two or three children who paced

downstairs in the sitting room. it wasn't long before sarah developed a sore throat that felt like razor when she swallowed. she tried to speak, but it hurt so much she could only whisper her elizabeth kidd troop page through the keyhole to. check on sarah. the once vigorous woman now appeared very small among the furnishings and, tasseled curtains. she looked pale in her white bedclothes and, so frail, lying on side, facing the door, elizabeth saw her lips moving words, but she could not hear her. she strained through the keyhole to hear what she might whispering. elizabeth called for her brothers, william henry, who had stepped outside on the front stoop. that face, the.

the cry. of the seagulls, seemed to signal alarm. elizabeth told them to hurry. each took a turn at the keyhole, looking and listening. sarah's breathing was loud and strained as she gasped for air. the three of them looked at each other with tears in their eyes. when the room fell silent, there was not a sound. not even whisper. for over 300 years, treasure hunters have scoured the north american eastern seaboard, trying to find where is that? is with sarah buried in the churchyard of trinity church. your wall street in manhattan. thank you you.

i'm sure i would be happy to take questions from the audience, and i know that we have some of mine, but. we think they're saying nothing. there's no evidence of how he died or where he died. so it is suspect because she only married captain kidd two days later. but there was no evidence to support that. they did or they didn't. so because they were such stellar members of new york society. no one ever launched an investigation investigation. we have some questions online. one is, how was zero released

from jail? because knew of who she was. and secondly, i'm sorry, because of who she knew in high society. why was she released from jail? she was from jail because the governor, belmont, could not find a reason to keep her there. it was not because of her connections, high society. it was just that he couldn't hold there any longer. so i was wondering, you mentioned that before starting your work, you didn't know much about privacy and i was wondering and throughout the research that you've done, how many individuals were you able to trace whether it was themselves or pirates wives or anybody in connection to pirates? so i uncovered that over 80 pirates had, which was new me and i think it's new to the

because people don't think that pirates wives. so that was one of the biggest takes from my research. to sarah and i freed his first name. captain kidd living descendants. and did you get to interview any them or any other pirate descendants for your book? i'm sorry. could you repeat that? do they have living descendants? not that i know of of. and i did. look, i. i was hoping i could interview somebody. but i didn't. i didn't find anybody. they. great question. yes. you know, pirates had a very democratic society. the. were you surprised by that? because you think it was swashbuckling pirates of like stealing money, but actually they were very fair. how was surprising to hear that it was.

well, when i learned it, i was very surprised because people don't think of pirates as as very smart. they think of them as kind of the of society. but they're the of their community is. so sophisticated and fair that i really kind of admire it. well, i'm just going for a follow on to that basic question for first of all, just the fact that there are a golden age of piracy. is sort of an amazing concept to me. but where were these communities. i mean, are you saying that there are communities embedded in the united in the colonies that were just pirate communities or were there hidden. where were these communities and were they really that common? it seems like an amazing thing.

so that's why i am mystified. well, there were certain colonies that were pirate havens. madagascar was a very one. and in the caribbean there was also a pirate haven haven. pirates were very prevalent in new york in the 1690 because the governor, benjamin fletcher, allowed in for various reasons, hoping increase the economic of the colony because the colony was in bad shape due to the war with france. so he allowed pirates to come in and. pirates served a benefit to the colonies because at the time the colonies were experiencing strong trade restrictions that were given, that were authorized.

the authorities in london. they were called the navigation acts. and what it meant that what it meant was that merchants had to send their goods from, the colonies first to england and then to the other places around the world, which was very time consuming and very expensive. so it was bad for business for the merchants. and the merchants were that the economy in, the colonies was suffering and was a shortage of gold and silver coins called specie. was a shortage. so that they had to resort to bartering in order to survive. and what the pirates brought was bags bags of stolen loot. so they brought gold and silver coins. so it was good for the economy. but they also brought in exotic goods from the other parts of the world. and because they didn't have they could sell it to the

merchants at a rock bottom price. and then the merchants could market up and make a nice living. and then the colony was would develop because they could build homes, they could start businesses. so it was an economic for in some ways for pirates to to be in the colonies during a certain time. but eventually they were cracked down and piracy was ended. eventually yes. well, yes, you did. sarah kidd or captain kidd of had any contact with some of the well-known women pirates like barry reed and others who were actually pirates in their own right. those were a different time period. they weren't created during. the answer is no. mary reed and anne bonny was. were not. part of captain kidd's group.

it's a great question. have a question online. you mentioned that she was able to reclaim her inherited. can you speak more about how she accomplished this. a great question and one of my favorite questions actually after kidd was tried and convicted and, executed, sarah lost everything. all her belongings were taken from. her. her house. her belongings. and she was a social outcast. and she was destitute. and it was only later when queen anne came to the throne that queen can restore sarah to her rightful place. and that happened several years, many years after captain kidd was after captain kidd died.

did i answer your. okay okay. i'm doing this one. see. don't we have ellen asking? what originally interested you and sarah story and do you think we're so fascinated by the lives of pirates. that's another really good question. what interest interested me in sarah's story? first i couldn't her. she was referred to alluded to by colonial governors and the first one said in a letter to the authorities that captain may be available for a private local privateering voyage not the big one that he eventually took, but

he took many smaller ones. if his wife would let him go. and when i read that, i thought, who is this wife? so that me to wonder who she was. i didn't. we didn't know her name. i didn't know her name. and it wasn't until i found her in the massachusetts state archives on the petition and the piece that i showed you where i found her initials and that i really was taken to learn more about her. the archivist at the archives was at the state archives was so kind. and he let me hold the document. and for a second he let me touch her initials and just for a second. but i could. how how she had scratched with a quill pen into the document.

and as you it her letters were labored and it was hard for her to move the pen. and i just thought she's working so to make herself visible. and there she is. i finally found her. she there was her name, sarah kidd. and i thought, i need to know more about. her. well, thank you very much. and i think you are dreaming and thinking virginia woolf, for a wonderful. we have books for sale in the lobby for those of and might not be able purchase a through bookshop.org bookshop.org. thank you very much.

all right. welcome everyone. welcome to tonight's pride o