[Autograph letter of an elderly woman with Fourierist leanings.]

Albany, New York, 8 May 1843. Autograph letter signed, 10” x 8”. 3 pp. CONDITION: Good, two small holes, partial losses to a few words.

An engaging letter by an intelligent, elderly widow discussing American Fourierism.

Writing to “sister” Hildah Monson of South Avon, New York, Sears opens this letter by describing the establishment of a Fourierist community in Pennsylvania, to which various individuals and families she knows have recently moved. Sears also touches on lectures delivered by Albert Brisbane and others who popularized Fourier in the U.S.:

many occurrences have taken place, which you have not been apprised of—and an important one is the departure of Mary Ann, and Rhoda, with their husbands and families— together with several others from this city, and New York, as socialists, on the Fourier system, which you have probably heard of—there have been a number of lectures delivered here, the winter past, some by Mr. Brisbane, Mr. Horace Greeley, and others, setting forth the advantages of Association, the immense economy, and the pleasure with which all labor will be combined, and each one seeking the good of the whole, because every one will be interested in the general welfare, [?] conducted with perfect equality, and full liberty to enjoy their own opinions and their own rights, in all respects. But any description that I can give will convey but a faint idea of the beautiful system, as translated from the French of Fourier by Mr. Brisbane, and you must see the work, in order to form anything like a correct opinion of the plan. I have seen only a pamphlet, but I understand there are six volumes in the original only one of which has as yet been translated. Charles has one of them, and he, with a number of others, have taken up stock in the company, the shares are $25. They esteem it, the beginning of a new Era, as it is entirely different from anything that has ever been proposed, and if they can carry it out, in all its details, they believe they can, they will indeed, form the most happy society that has ever existed. They have made a purchase in Pike County, Pennsylvania, adjoining the Hudson and Delaware Canal, and near the Delaware River. They started from Albany on the third instant, and [then?] to meet the company from N.Y. at Kingston.

Sears also comments on the departure from Albany of “Brother Smith” (apparently a minister) and his expected replacement by “a Mr. Britton”; helping Mary Ann and Rhoda get “ready for their journey”; illnesses in the family; the welfare of one “Amos,” who works for a shop that has “just fitted out eight superior Pianos, for Rochester”; and other matters.

Elizabeth "Betty" Sears Hawley (1763–1846) married Nathan Hawley in Connecticut in 1785. Soon after the wedding, the Hawleys moved westward—settling in Rensselaersville and finally in Albany by the early 1800s—where Nathan worked as a jailor. By 1810, the couple had a dozen children. Nathan died that year, just before the birth of their youngest child. The city census for 1810 identifies Elizabeth as the head of a household including nine younger residents. In 1813 the Albany Argus reported that Mrs. Hawley was the keeper of a tavern located in the “rear of the old jail.” Beginning in 1813, city directories called her a widow innkeeper. Hawley died at the Albany home of her son in 1846, at the age of eighty-three. It seems not unlikely that Sears’s experience as a single mother of a dozen children predisposed her to an interest in the Fourierism of her day and the potential advantages it offered women, especially with regards to childcare. The Albany Institute owns a watercolor by artist William Wilkie entitled, Nathan Hawley and Family (1801), showing Elizabeth amongst her husband and children in a domestic setting.

A very scarce letter discussing American Fourierism.

REFERENCES: Bielinski, Stefan. “Elizabeth Sears Hawley” at exhibitions.nysed.gov.