One Colonial Woman's World: The Life and Writings of Mehetabel Chandler Coit

Statement of Editorial Method

StateMent oF editoriaL Method The text of the diary and letters included in this book reflects a near-literal transcription, maintaining as closely as possible the authors’ original spelling , capitalization, and punctuation, none of which were standardized in colonial america. Common early american contractions and abbreviations using superscript letters, such as “wth ” for “with” and “cozn ” for “cousin,” have been retained, as has the archaic thorn, or “y” for “th” (“ye ” for “the,” “yt ” for “that”). nontextual elements, such as dashes at the end of sentences, and random underscoring not meant for emphasis have been omitted. Crossed-out words have been silently deleted unless they add insight to the meaning of the text. any additional punctuation necessary for clarity has been supplied in brackets, as have suggestions for words that are missing or illegible. The goal throughout has been to ensure readability while preserving both contemporary stylistic conventions and each writer’s individuality of expression. an old testament name, “Mehetabel” has been said to mean “God’s favor” in hebrew. a more common variation is “Mehitable”; however, our subject chose to spell her name in the former manner, and that is how it appears throughout this book. xxvii OneColonialWoman’sWorld Map of Mehetabel’s new england by Margaret McWethy. ...