The Captain's Widow of Sandwich: Self-Invention and the Life of Hannah Rebecca Burgess, 1834-1917 by Megan Shockley

Author:Megan Shockley
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: 9780814783191
Published: 2014-03-07T16:27:01.481000+00:00

Rebecca spent her widowhood surrounded by family and friends. Here she visits with Hiram, her mother, and her nieces outside the house she shared with her mother. Photograph courtesy of the Sandwich Glass Museum and Historical Society.

these entries, Rebecca described herself as a character delighted to be among

fellow church members. She commented on one sewing circle group in this

way: “Enjoy the meetings, and think all do.” 27 Rebecca noted that when she was at sea, she often wished that she could attend prayer meetings, to be with her church community. She reinforced bonds between herself and the community by attending these meetings, and she also noted that the meetings

provided spiritual support for her. One month before the fourteenth anni-

versary of William’s death, Rebecca wrote in her Challenger journal, “I have been to prayer Mtg at Church this Eve. Feel like being among Christians.” 28

Nowhere is Rebecca’s enjoyment of Christian community more evident

than in her attendance at the Yarmouth Camp Meetings. Rebecca’s narra-

tive crafted her as a central character in a wondrous world rife with conver-

sions and Christian unity. Rebecca attended the camp meetings yearly from

1863 to 1870, and she probably continued attending these meetings after her

last recording of the 1870 camp. From its early beginning, the camp meeting

became an annual highlight of summer on Cape Cod after its inception in

1863. The Methodist Church purchased land in Yarmouth for the purpose

of holding yearly tent revivals. Early on, the camp site had nothing but tents 140

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Visible and Invisible

erected by different communities and a large stand that could hold thirty to

forty ministers, surrounded by benches that could seat about fifteen hundred

congregants. West Sandwich was the first community to erect a tent, suggest-

ing that Rebecca’s entire community was very enthusiastic about the revival

project. Even in its early days, attendance at the summer event numbered up

to six thousand, which was approximately 20 percent of the Cape’s popula-

tion at that time. The Cape Cod Railroad built a station there to facilitate

travel to the site, and attendees could purchase meals at special eating tents.

By the early 1870s the campground took on a resort atmosphere as families

and communities erected permanent cabins and cottages. Ice Cream Parlor

tents and “Saloons” were stocked with everything from pickled limes and

sweets to soda fountains.29

Rebecca went to the meeting the very first year, and continued to attend

for years after that first meeting. In 1863 she remarked upon the meeting with an article pasted into her journal and the notation, “O how happy I was at the

‘Love Feast’ on the Campground! . . . My heart is grateful to God, for pleasing and strengthening remembrances of the first Camp Meeting at Yarmouth. ”30

The following year Rebecca provided more details about the meeting, focus-

ing on how many friends and family she had who joined her at the site. She

listed her friends who attended the meeting, including her Cousin Mercie,

her brother Tommy, her dear friend Lucy Bourne, and many other friends

and family from Sandwich and the surrounding area. She concluded:

A source of exquisite enjoyment was the meeting with so many friends.

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