Ep. 54: The Witch of Medbury Grove

Little is known about the personal life of Ann Parlin, the woman who came up with the idea for clam bakes to raise relief money for the families of imprisoned suffragists. She married Dr. Louis Parlin on July 7th, 1839, in Maine before moving to Providence. In 1841, they appear in the city’s business records through Dr. Parlin’s homeopathy clinic. He’s considered the founder of homeopathy in Rhode Island, and he practiced there for two to three years while participating in the city’s bubbling radical politics. The Parlins were fairly well off and Louis was a landholder or a freeman allowed to vote, but both of them believed fully in the people’s sovereign power to reform their governments at will.

“A Woman of Spunk: Ann Parlin’s Vision for Revolution”

Russell DeSimone, “Lewis and Ann Parlin” in Rhode Island’s Rebellion: A Look at Some Aspects of the Dorr War, Bartlett Press. 2009.

Comegna, “The Dupes of Hope Forever: The Locofoco of Equal Rights Movement, 1820s-1870s,” (PhD Diss.) University of Pittsburgh. 2016.

Zagarri, Rosemarie. Revolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Earl American Republic. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2007.

Zboray, Ronald & Mary. Voices Without Votes: Women and Politics in Antebellum New England. Durham, NH: University of New Hampshire Press. 2010.

Music by Kai Engel

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