Their Lives, Their Wills: Women in the Borderlands, 1750–1846 by Amy Porter (review)

Women who are mostly illiterate leave no diaries, no letters. They are rarely mentioned in newspapers. But legal documents can still reveal much. Amy Porter demonstrates that fact in Their Lives, Their Wills. Porter examined wills from five Spanish settlements in northern New Spain: Saltillo, San Esteban, Santa Fe, El Paso, and San Antonio. The book is divided thematically, with the wills from each town being used to offer information about and analysis of Spanish colonial life.

The book begins with the physical circumstances of each town, giving a brief history of its settlement and development. Porter uses the wills to analyze people’s attitudes about life and death and compares each town to the others. The Indian women of San Esteban, for example, experienced harsher conditions and higher mortality rates than did the mestizo women in the more prosperous neighboring settlement of Saltillo. The remoteness of San Antonio contrasts with the prosperity of Santa Fe. But all these women had to contend with frequent death. Then Porter looks at the material world of these women. Wills named the possessions of each person along with their debts and what was owed to them. Women owned land, homes, and water rights as well as their clothing and household furnishings. The belongings were usually described in detail, giving historians a clear look into the material culture of the time.

Families could include children from successive spouses, adoptees, and more. A surprising amount of personal information about family members might be included in a will, from a testament about how good (or bad) a spouse had been to how loyal a child had been. Relatives inherited often, showing the value placed on extended family. These bequests show the power that women held within their households.

While women held no official authority in the Church, their wills held a confession of faith, gave bequests to various religious endeavors, and showed how much service they had given to the Church throughout their lives. Requests to be buried in a particular place or in specific clothing told a lot about that person’s social and economic status. Funeral arrangements in the will reveal how the deceased wished to be remembered. Religion was an important part of their lives.

Many women, but widows especially, ran businesses, ranched, knew and used their legal rights, loaned and borrowed money, and participated in barter economies. Women understood the difference between separate and community property. Even the poorest women knew what belonged to them and what belonged to their husbands. Women held a surprising amount of economic power for this overtly patriarchal society.

This book is both a wonderful resource on its own and an aid to future researchers. The appendices list all of the wills and where to find them, with some translated samples. Porter included the tables of data she assembled. This excellent book is clearly organized and well-written. It could be used in classes on the Spanish borderlands, women’s studies, and legal or cultural history. Its meticulous research and analysis could be used to teach how to use primary sources. It is short enough that undergraduates might actually read all of it. It is so interesting that they will be glad they did.