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Saretta G. Hicks papers on Lady Deborah Moody

Call Number

ARC.276

Date

circa 1960s, inclusive

Creator

Hicks, Saretta G.

Extent

1.8 Linear Feet
in two full manuscript boxes and two small boxes.

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

This collection consists of papers gathered and, in many cases, written by author Saretta G. Hicks during the period 1963 to 1965. The material includes her notes and research for an unfinished book about Lady Deborah Moody titled "Dangerous Woman: A Biography of Deborah, Lady Moody of Coney Island."

Biographical note

Born circa 1583 in Avebury, England, Deborah Dunch "...was the daughter of a barrister, granddaughter of a Bishop, wife of a member of Parliament" and a distant relative to Oliver Cromwell by marriage. Her husband, Sir Henry Moody, was made a baronet by King James I in 1622. After her husband passed away in 1629, Lady Moody was beset with financial difficulties and, finding the political atmosphere in England increasingly insupportable, immigrated to Lynn, MA in 1639.

At first welcomed in Lynn, Lady Moody's sympathies for the Anabaptist movement soon created increasing difficulties for her. Writer Saretta G. Hicks's research points especially to Lady Moody's support of the Anabaptist practice of limiting baptism to adults as a major point of contention with members of the community. The Anabaptists, a minority in Massachusetts, also advocated a separation of church and state. Lady Moody left Massachusetts in 1643 in search of a more tolerant, or less controlling, atmosphere.

She settled in New Amsterdam (later New York City), but in 1645 led a group of English settlers to Long Island and established a colony at Gravesend, located at the southern tip of Long Island, an area somewhat sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the westernmost extension of Coney Island and the town of New Utrecht. The grant to Lady Moody and her supporters consisted of present-day Coney Island and all of Gravesend and Sheepshead Bay. Author Jacob Judd noted that Gravesend "was organized under a Dutch patent providing for freedom of worship and self-government and by the 1650s had become a well-known haven for persecuted Quakers." It was also the first grant of land in the New World to a female.

Sources:

  1. Hicks, Saretta G. Dangerous Woman: A Biography of Deborah, Lady Moody of Coney Island. Unpublished manuscript.
  2. Judd, Jacob. "Moody, [née Dunch], Deborah, Lady." The Encyclopedia of New York City. Ed. Kenneth T. Jackson. New Haven: Yale University Press and the New-York Historical Society, 1995: p. 767.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into four series by type. The subject files are arranged alphabetically.

Scope and Contents

In addition to materials pertaining to Lady Moody's life, this collection also contains correspondence. Most of this relates to Hicks's research during the period 1963 to 1965. A few letters, however, provide some insight into the author's personal life. Of particular note is a copy of the Hicks family's Christmas letter of 1964, written by Saretta Hicks and containing photographs of each of her family members. It provides a brief glimpse into Hicks's life as she balanced the demands of family and authorship. Another letter, written in 1965 to Ms. Mary Tatchell in England, sheds some light on why the book was never finished. This letter notes that she had two chapters ready to be sent to a publisher in hopes of obtaining a contract when she discovered some additional information that led her to question Lady Moody's date and place of birth. It appears that she decided to hold her manuscript until she could resolve the discrepancy. The exact dates of Lady Moody's birth and death still remain uncertain in current scholarship, as evidenced by her entry in The Encyclopedia of New York City, which gives her date of birth as "1583?" and her death as "between November 1658 and May 1659."

The collection is comprised of two accessions, 1978.170 and 1980.003. Material that comprises accession number 1978.170 consists of Ms. Hicks' correspondence and research notes. There are some magazine and newspaper clippings, as well as guidebooks to and photographs of sites in England. The photographs were at one time separated and assigned the number V1997.001. This portion of the collection also includes one book, English Historic Costume Painting Book: Elizabeth and James I, 1558-1625, No. 6 (London: Winsor & Newton, Ltd., 1947). Also included are copies of original documents about Lady Moody and her family, genealogical charts (pedigrees) tracing the lineage of the Moody family, and a genealogical chart for the Hicks family. Also included are a typed transcript of the 1645 patent for Gravesend and a four-page typed transcript of the Gravesend town meeting records of 1656.

Accession number 1980.003 consists of Hicks' typewritten manuscript of the first three chapters of "Dangerous Woman: A Biography of Deborah, Lady Moody of Coney Island" and outlines of the remaining chapters. The collection also contains newspaper and magazine clippings about various locations in Massachusetts, New York, and England, as well as four indexes. The first of these organizes information about significant people and events in Lady Moody's life. The second indexes major dates in the history of the Moody family. The third index presents information on Gravesend and includes a list of early settlers. The fourth indexes bibliographic sources.

Source:

  1. Judd, Jacob. "Moody, [née Dunch], Deborah, Lady." The Encyclopedia of New York City. Ed. Kenneth T. Jackson. New Haven: Yale University Press and the New-York Historical Society, 1995: p. 767.

Conditions Governing Access

Open to users without restriction.

Conditions Governing Use

Writings in this collection by Saretta Hicks are subject to literary copyright. Permission to quote or publish from these writings must be obtained from the copyright holder. While many items at the Center for Brooklyn History are unrestricted, we do not own reproduction rights to all materials. Be aware of the several kinds of rights that might apply: copyright, licensing and trademarks. The researcher assumes all responsibility for copyright questions.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date (if known); Saretta G. Hicks papers on Lady Deborah Moody, ARC.276, Box and Folder number; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Source and date of acquisition for accession 1978.170 are unknown. Accession 1980.003 was the gift of the estate of Saretta G. Hicks, 1980.

Related Materials

Town of Gravesend record transcriptions (1977.308)

Gravesend history collection (1978.046)

American Indians and English settlers Gravesend deed (1977.594)

William Henry Stillwell manuscript on the history of Gravesend (1977.309)

Transcriptions of Dutch legal documents on Flatbush, Flatlands, and Gravesend (1978.034)

Collection processed by

Liz Larson

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-09-26 17:11:13 +0000.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is written in: English, Latin script.

Processing Information

This collection was rehoused and the finding aid revised by Dee Bowers in 2024. At that time, some items were photocopied and the originals discarded due to condition and/or format. The current arrangement is only lightly modified from the original March 2006 finding aid. It is assumed that the subject files were so arranged by the creator.

The collection combines the accessions 1978.170 and 1980.003. The photographs from accession 1978.170 were at one time assigned the number V1997.001.

Repository

Brooklyn Historical Society

Series 1: Research subject files, circa 1960s, inclusive

Avebury

Box: 1, Folder: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Scope and Contents

Includes typed transcripts of depositions from 1598.

Related Materials

See also Series 4: Photographs.

Bibliographies

Box: 1, Folder: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence

Box: 1, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

England - research on life in 1600

Box: 1, Folder: 4 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

England - travel journal, 1963

Box: 1, Folder: 5 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Related Materials

See also Series 4: Photographs.

Garsdon

Box: 1, Folder: 6 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Related Materials

See also Series 4: Photographs.

Gravesend

Box: 1, Folder: 7 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Scope and Contents

Notes, clippings, copies, transcript of 1645 patent, transcript of 1656 town meeting records.

Huntingdon

Box: 1, Folder: 8 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Related Materials

See also Series 4: Photographs.

Indians

Box: 1, Folder: 9 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Inns of Court

Box: 1, Folder: 10 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Scope and Contents

Includes typed list of admissions to Lincoln's Inn for 1581-1619.

Kieft, William

Box: 1, Folder: 11 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Little and Long Wittenham

Box: 1, Folder: 12 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Scope and Contents

Includes typed transcript of translation of 1590s-1620s memorials to the Dunch family in the chapel at Little Wittenham.

Related Materials

See also Series 4: Photographs.

London

Box: 1, Folder: 13 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Related Materials

See also Series 4: Photographs.

Lovelace, Henry

Box: 1, Folder: 14 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Miscellaneous

Box: 1, Folder: 16 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Scope and Contents

Notes, guidebook, unidentified sketch bearing measurements.

Moody and Dunch families

Box: 2, Folder: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Scope and Contents

Includes copies of 16th-18th century originals.

Mervyn, Dunch, Stone and Moody families wills and funeral certificates

Box: 2, Folder: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Scope and Contents

Includes copies of 16th-18th century originals.

Moody, Deborah

Box: 2, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Scope and Contents

Includes English Historic Costume Painting Book.

New Haven

Box: 2, Folder: 4 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

New Netherlands

Box: 2, Folder: 5 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Oxford and Cambridge

Box: 2, Folder: 6 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Scope and Contents

Contains copies of original 1620s documents pertaining to Henry Moody.

Related Materials

See also Series 4: Photographs.

Pedigrees

Box: 2, Folder: 7 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Scope and Contents

Includes reproduction of circa 1670-1719 portrait of Edmund Dunch.

Pilkington family

Box: 2, Folder: 8 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Rhode Island

Box: 2, Folder: 9 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

St. Mary Aldermary church, London

Box: 2, Folder: 10 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Scope and Contents

Includes typed transcript of church register, 1558-1611.

Related Materials

See also Series 4: Photographs.

Thames river

Box: 2, Folder: 11 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Wiltshire map and index

Box: 2, Folder: 12 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Scope and Contents

Map depicts 1630.

Series 2: Research indices, circa 1960s, inclusive

Index to bibliographic sources

Box: 3 (Material Type: Text)

Index to people and events in Lady Deborah Moody's life

Box: 4 (Material Type: Text)

Index to dates in Moody family history

Box: 4 (Material Type: Text)

Index to Gravesend

Box: 4 (Material Type: Text)

Series 3: Book manuscript, circa 1960s, inclusive

Story ideas

Box: 2, Folder: 13 (Material Type: Text)

Preface and prologue

Box: 2, Folder: 14 (Material Type: Text)

Chapters 1-3

Box: 2, Folder: 15 (Material Type: Text)

Outlines of chapters 4-16

Box: 2, Folder: 16 (Material Type: Text)

Series 4: Photographs, circa 1960s, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 17 (Material Type: Graphic Materials)

Scope and Contents

Includes photographs taken by Hicks of Avebury, Cambridge, Garsdon church, Henley, Huntingdon, Malmesbury, Little and Long Wittenham, London (including St. Mary Aldermary church), and Oxford in England, as well as Salem, Massachusetts.

Center for Brooklyn History
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