Women Lenders as Sources of Land Credit in Nineteenth-Century Michigan

Individuals held almost all of the rural mortgages in nineteenth-century Kalamazoo County, Michigan. The women among their ranks were responsible for one of every six loans in the study's townships. Most women lenders, some of whom were socially prominent, lived within the County's limits; they varied considerably in age and marital status. Their role as sources of rural credit, however, is valuable evidence of women's early financial activity.