What Is Life Like in Colonial Rhode Island?
Life here is centered around the family. Everything we do is family oriented including praying, educating our children and even choosing trades.
Family Life:
Women Raising Families Alone:
Family Life:
- The family is headed by the adult male. Although his wife is the second authority figure, she has few rights in this role.
- Each member of the family is expected to contribute to its economic well-being.
- Rhode families produce relatively large numbers of children for economic reasons. Like all the colonies, many of our children die at a young age. Fathers generally work in agricultural pursuits on family land or in industry.
- Mothers work at home, cooking, cleaning, sewing and educating their families.
Women Raising Families Alone:
- Although married women have few legal rights in Rhode Island, widows are permitted to conduct business and maintain their families as unmarried women.
- We have a lot of families in Rhode Island which are led by single women! Widows are allowed run family businesses, buy and sell property and act on their own accord legally. As a result, many choose not to remarry and to retain their freedom.
- In 1647, Massachusetts Bay legislation provided for compulsory elementary education for children. The rest of the New England colonies passed similar legislation except for Rhode Island.
- Unfortunately, this does mean that children from wealthier families probably get a better education because their families hire more expensive tutors.
- Boys from wealthy families might go off to colleges such as Harvard in Massachusetts.
- Girls from similar families might learn foreign languages.
- Most Rhode Island children do learn how to read the bible.