The Diary of Elizabeth Drinker: The Life Cycle of an Eighteenth-Century Woman

3. Middle Age in Years of Crisis, 1776-1793

3. Middle Age in Years of Crisis, 1776-1793 Two major public events bookend the central phase of Elizabeth Drinker's life: a violent War for Independence and a virulent yellow fever epidemic. Both episodes threatened the Drinkers' well-being, although neither claimed the life of immediate family members. During the Revolution, zealous rebel leaders banished Henry Drinker and other fellow Quakers to Virginia, leaving Elizabeth and "Aunty" to cope as best they could. With the children's health at an all-time low and inflationary prices at an all-time high, servants running away and armies drawing near, Elizabeth found it difficult to maintain her equanimity in a war zone and occupied city. Nevertheless, she dealt with each potential disaster as it arose, and in the spring of 1778 she and several other wives journeyed to Lancaster to confront the radical leaders and plead for their husbands' release. Elizabeth's passion for privacy prevented her from revealing the intimate nature of Henry's homecoming , but the Drinker children doubtless welcomed their affectionate "Daddy" with great joy. Ten years after the war's end, yellow fever struck Philadelphia with such force that Drinker titled her journal for that half year the "Book of Mortality." The disease claimed at least 10 percent of the city's population of forty thousand, while seventeen thousand terrified citizens fled until the epidemic subsided-the Drinkers among them. When Elizabeth Drinker's oldest daughter was nearly twenty, Elizabeth gave birth to her last child, a son who died in 1784 at age two and a half. Four years later, she became a grandmother. Entries for the 1780s are sparse, but despite their meagerness recount the progression of Sally's and Nancy's courtships. Suitors visited the two older Drinker sisters on a regular basis and spoke to The Diary of Elizabeth Drinker 55 Henry Drinker "on account of" his daughters. Sally and Jacob Downing married in 1787, and John Skyrin became Nancy's husband in 1791. Both Sally and Nancy named their first daughters after their mother, and by the end of 1793 Elizabeth Drinker was a grandmother three times over. It is at the end of this chapter, when Drinker was in her late fifties, that now and then she found herself free from the continual beck and call of others-a circumstance reflected by the notation "no of our Children at home . . . myself alone." The Diary of Elizabeth Drinker Janry.25 ED-M. Janry. 30. JD. call'd before the Committee.' [Feb.] 12 had a very bad Night, got up with my Forehead very much swel'd discover'd it to be St. Antoys Fir&-sent for Dr. Redman-Jacob Shoemaker call'd, a man for poor Tax-H Sanson, Becky WaIn, Rachel and Henry Drinker here to Day:-fine Weather. 15th. John Drinkers Store shet up by the Committe3- . HD. JD. return'd the 18th. 1776 March 2. HD. left home Sammy Sansom-call'd,4 din'd A Benezet; Salors Wife, G. Churchman, call'd--Cheese from Burlington, fell on Sisters Toes-Ellection5-MS. out this Morning at R Stevensons &c. May 8th. HD. this Morning Henry Mitchel and Jos James went to Atsionthe Town has been in Confusion this afternoon on account of an engagement I. John Drinker and Thomas and Samuel Fisher were called before !he Committee of Observation and Inspection for !he City and Liberties of Philadelphia on Jan. 30 for refusing to accept continental bills of credit. On Feb. 5 !he committee issued a statement condemning !hem as enemies of !heir country; !he !hree men nei!her denied nor appealed !he charges. The committee also precluded !hem from all trade wi!h !he inhabitants of!he colonies (Pa. Journal, Feb. 7, 1776; Col. Recs. Pa. 10:486-87). 2. St. An!hony's Fire, also known as erysipelas or !he rose, is characterized by red swellings on !he face, !he legs and face, or !he whole body, and is caused by streptococci. Some forms attacked women in childbearing years (Buchan, Domestic Medicine [1799], 188-91; Gould, Dictionary ofMedicine). 3. On Feb. 15 !he Council of Safety directed !he Philadelphia Committee of Observation and Inspection to seize all of John Drinker's books and papers and deposit !hem in a locked and sealed chest or trunk in his ship and to lock up !he windows and doors of his stores and warehouses and nail !hem shut (Col. Recs. Pa. 10...