This monumental study of two generations of women who married either before or after the Patriote rebellions of 1837-38 explores the meaning of the transition from wife to widowhood in early nineteenth-century Montreal. Bettina Bradbury weaves together the individual biographies of twenty women, against the backdrop of collective genealogies of over 500, to offer new insights into the law, politics, demography, religion, and domestic life of the time. She shows how women from all walks of life interacted with and shaped Montreal's culture, customs, and institutions, even as they laboured under the shifting conditions of patriarchy. Wife to Widow provides a rare window into the significance of marriage and widowhood.
- ISBN10 0774819510
- ISBN13 9780774819510
- Publish Date 15 June 2011 (first published 1 January 2011)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country CA
- Imprint University of British Columbia Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 520
- Language English