I think you mean "grass widow," which can mean an unmarried woman who has a child. It can also mean a woman who is separated or divorced, one whose husband is temporarily away, or a former mistress. It is a difficult term to interpret in early records unless one really knows the context of the situation.
Cathy Hellier
Historian
Department of Training and Historical Research
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
P.O. Box 1776
Williamsburg, VA 23187
757-220-7442
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lewis Burruss
Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2014 9:16 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Baptism of bastard children in the Colonial Church
A "gross widow", by the way, is an archaic term that meant an unmarried woman who has a child.
On Thu, Feb 6, 2014 at 8:32 AM, Lewis Burruss <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Baptism of bastard children in the Colonial
> Church An interesting note in the 1677 parish record of baptisms of
> Abingdon parish, Gloucester Co. Va, is this (abbreviations changed to full words):
> "Thomas, son of Elizabeth White, gross widow, and Dr Daniel, the
> supposed father, was baptized about March 16th"
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 4:51 PM, [log in to unmask]
> <[log in to unmask]
> > wrote:
>
>> I should have known the discussion would veer off the main topic to
>> slavery, though my main question was about bastard children of ANY
>> color being baptized by the Anglican Church, which I had thought was
>> against canon law. (Paul, I didn't mean to imply I only got that
>> notion from *Tess of the d'Urbervilles*--I just threw that in for
>> some humor.)--Craig Kilby
>>
>> Original email:
>> -----------------
>> From: Jon Kukla [log in to unmask]
>> Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2014 12:47:33 -0500
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Baptism of bastard children in the Colonial
>> Church
>>
>>
>> There's plenty of evidence of slaves being baptized in reports back
>> to England, both to bishop of London and in the friends of Dr. Bray
>> stuff like that which John Van Horne edited.
>> Maury's letter struck me as kind of self-righteous ... from a guy
>> who had found a nifty way of taking the moral high ground while also
>> delighting in the fact that he was annoying less than favorite
>> parishioners.
>> On a similar note, a long-time pastor friend once commented that
>> it was too easy to succumb to the temptation of preaching hell-fire
>> and brimstone because it was like telling your parishioners to go to
>> hell.
>> Up in Richmond County when the Anglican rector announced that he
>> was going to answer the baptists in a sermon, his service was so well
>> attended that the balcony, where the slaves worshipped, collapsed. In
>> short, the evidence of slave participation in VA's colonial Anglican
>> is there if ya look for it.....
>>
>>
>> Jon Kukla
>> ________________
>> www.JonKukla.com <http://www.jonkukla.com/>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 11:28 AM, Tarter, Brent (LVA) <
>> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> > Years ago, Dr. Thomas E. Buckley, SJ, author of the recent
>> > excellent Establishing Religious Freedom: Jefferson's Statute in
>> > Virginia (Charlottesville, 2013), called my attention to a long 10
>> > October 1759 letter in the Patrick Henry Papers at the Library of
>> > Congress from James Maury, rector of Fredericksville Parish,
>> > evidently sent to Commissary Thomas Dawson. Maury described at
>> > length the objections that some
>> members
>> > of his parish vestry made after he attempted to baptize some
>> > enslaved children during the regular church service. That
>> > indicates, as Craig mentioned, that children of slaves were
>> > sometimes baptized. The
>> vestrymen
>> > did not object to their being baptized, only to their being
>> > baptized
>> during
>> > the regular church service along with children of decent white people.
>> >
>> > Brent Tarter
>> > The Library of Virginia
>> > [log in to unmask]
>> >
>> > Please visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at
>> > http://www.lva.virginia.gov
>> >
>> >
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [mailto:
>> > [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
>> > Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2014 9:47 AM
>> > To: [log in to unmask]
>> > Subject: [VA-HIST] Baptism of bastard children in the Colonial
>> > Church
>> >
>> > Hello all,
>> >
>> > I seem to have been suffering under the illusion ever since reading
>> *Tess
>> > of the Turbervilles* in sophomore English class that the Anglican
>> > church did not allow for the baptism of bastard children.* But in
>> > going through the Christ Church, Middlesex County parish register
>> > for the late 1600s
>> and
>> > early 1700s, I see that there are hundreds of bastard child baptisms.
>> These
>> > usually only name the mother. Also of interest are a considerable
>> > number
>> of
>> > slave children being baptized, which I also found unusual. So,
>> > gentle readers, where did I go astray regarding canon law in colonial Virginia?
>> >
>> > Craig Kilby
>> >
>> > *Those of you who were forced to read this drivel may recall that
>> > Tess found herself in a family way without benefit of matrimony,
>> > and then the baby died. She then has a nightmare that the devil was
>> > tossing the
>> infant
>> > boy around in the flames of hell on his pitchfork. Our teacher,
>> > dear
>> Mrs.
>> > Timmons, asked the class what this meant. One wag in class quickly
>> > answered her with, "Burn, Baby, Burn!" She was not amused, but the
>> > rest
>> of
>> > the class went into an uproar!
>> >
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