The notorious Elizabeth Tuttle : marriage, murder, and madness in the family of Jonathan Edwards /
Chamberlain, Ava,
The notorious Elizabeth Tuttle : marriage, murder, and madness in the family of Jonathan Edwards / Ava Chamberlain. - New York : New York University Press, ©2012. - 1 online resource (272 pages). - North American religions . - North American religions. .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction -- Prologue -- Hardy Puritan pioneers -- Three struggling patriarchs -- A brutal murder -- A criminal lunatic -- A messy divorce -- The inheritance -- Blood will tell -- Conclusion.
"Who was Elizabeth Tuttle? In most histories, she is a footnote, a blip. At best, she is a minor villain in the story of Jonathan Edwards, perhaps the greatest American theologian of the colonial era. Many historians consider Jonathan Edwards a theological genius, wildly ahead of his time, a Puritan hero. Elizabeth Tuttle was Edwards's "crazy grandmother," the one whose madness and adultery drove his despairing grandfather to divorce. In this compelling and meticulously researched work of micro-history, Ava Chamberlain unearths a fuller history of Elizabeth Tuttle. It is a violent and tragic story in which anxious patriarchs struggle to govern their households, unruly women disobey their husbands, mental illness tears families apart, and loved ones die sudden deaths. Through the lens of Elizabeth Tuttle, Chamberlain re-examines the common narrative of Jonathan Edwards's ancestry, giving his long-ignored paternal grandmother a voice. Tracing this story into the 19th century, she creates a new way of looking at both ordinary families of colonial New England and how Jonathan Edwards's family has been remembered by his descendants, contemporary historians, and, significantly, eugenicists. For as Chamberlain uncovers, it was during the eugenics movement, which employed the Edwards family as an ideal, that the crazy grandmother story took shape. The Notorious Elizabeth Tuttle not only brings to light the tragic story of an ordinary woman living in early New England, it also explores the deeper tension between the ideal of Puritan family life and its messy reality, complicating the way America has thought about its Puritan past."--Project Muse.
9780814723746 0814723748 9780814723739 081472373X
(Coutts)021714593
22573/ctt8jwphq JSTOR
2012010671
Edwards family.
Tuttle family.
Edwards, Richard, 1647-1718 --Marriage.
Tuttle, Elizabeth, 1645- --Marriage.
Edwards, Jonathan, 1703-1758 --Family.
Edwards (Famille)
Edwards family
Edwards, Jonathan, 1703-1758
Edwards, Richard, 1647-1718
Tuttle, Elizabeth, 1645-
Tuttle family
1600-1699
Murder--History--Connecticut--17th century.
Divorce--History--Connecticut--17th century.
Families--Mental health.
Meurtre--Histoire--Connecticut--17e siècle.
Divorce--Histoire--Connecticut--17e siècle.
RELIGION--General.
Divorce
Families
Families--Mental health
Marriage
Murder
Family members.
Connecticut--Biography.
Connecticut--Biographies.
Connecticut
Electronic books.
Biographies
History
BX7260.E3 / C48 2012
285.8092 B
The notorious Elizabeth Tuttle : marriage, murder, and madness in the family of Jonathan Edwards / Ava Chamberlain. - New York : New York University Press, ©2012. - 1 online resource (272 pages). - North American religions . - North American religions. .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction -- Prologue -- Hardy Puritan pioneers -- Three struggling patriarchs -- A brutal murder -- A criminal lunatic -- A messy divorce -- The inheritance -- Blood will tell -- Conclusion.
"Who was Elizabeth Tuttle? In most histories, she is a footnote, a blip. At best, she is a minor villain in the story of Jonathan Edwards, perhaps the greatest American theologian of the colonial era. Many historians consider Jonathan Edwards a theological genius, wildly ahead of his time, a Puritan hero. Elizabeth Tuttle was Edwards's "crazy grandmother," the one whose madness and adultery drove his despairing grandfather to divorce. In this compelling and meticulously researched work of micro-history, Ava Chamberlain unearths a fuller history of Elizabeth Tuttle. It is a violent and tragic story in which anxious patriarchs struggle to govern their households, unruly women disobey their husbands, mental illness tears families apart, and loved ones die sudden deaths. Through the lens of Elizabeth Tuttle, Chamberlain re-examines the common narrative of Jonathan Edwards's ancestry, giving his long-ignored paternal grandmother a voice. Tracing this story into the 19th century, she creates a new way of looking at both ordinary families of colonial New England and how Jonathan Edwards's family has been remembered by his descendants, contemporary historians, and, significantly, eugenicists. For as Chamberlain uncovers, it was during the eugenics movement, which employed the Edwards family as an ideal, that the crazy grandmother story took shape. The Notorious Elizabeth Tuttle not only brings to light the tragic story of an ordinary woman living in early New England, it also explores the deeper tension between the ideal of Puritan family life and its messy reality, complicating the way America has thought about its Puritan past."--Project Muse.
9780814723746 0814723748 9780814723739 081472373X
(Coutts)021714593
22573/ctt8jwphq JSTOR
2012010671
Edwards family.
Tuttle family.
Edwards, Richard, 1647-1718 --Marriage.
Tuttle, Elizabeth, 1645- --Marriage.
Edwards, Jonathan, 1703-1758 --Family.
Edwards (Famille)
Edwards family
Edwards, Jonathan, 1703-1758
Edwards, Richard, 1647-1718
Tuttle, Elizabeth, 1645-
Tuttle family
1600-1699
Murder--History--Connecticut--17th century.
Divorce--History--Connecticut--17th century.
Families--Mental health.
Meurtre--Histoire--Connecticut--17e siècle.
Divorce--Histoire--Connecticut--17e siècle.
RELIGION--General.
Divorce
Families
Families--Mental health
Marriage
Murder
Family members.
Connecticut--Biography.
Connecticut--Biographies.
Connecticut
Electronic books.
Biographies
History
BX7260.E3 / C48 2012
285.8092 B