The objects here express the ideals, hopes, and community of Dutch and Quaker women in Colonial New Jersey.

This valuable piece of silver was a gift from a Dutch woman in 1770s New York or New Jersey. It is inscribed “Liefde Gift Van de longvrous Anna Maria Hultin Von Beferhoudt” (loving gift from Jankrouw Maria Hultin Von Beverhoudt). The underside is maker-stamped by Myer Myers, a Jewish silversmith who worked in colonial New York and later in revolutionary Connecticut. 

The Dutch community of New Jersey had a greater tradition of legal property and business ownership by women than the English.

The Rosenbach, Philadelphia

This valuable piece of silver was a gift from a Dutch woman in 1770s New York or New Jersey. It is inscribed “Liefde Gift Van de longvrous Anna Maria Hultin Von Beferhoudt” (loving gift from Jankrouw Maria Hultin Von Beverhoudt). The underside is maker-stamped by Myer Myers, a Jewish silversmith who worked in colonial New York and later in revolutionary Connecticut. 

The Dutch community of New Jersey had a greater tradition of legal property and business ownership by women than the English.

The Rosenbach, Philadelphia

This valuable piece of silver was a gift from a Dutch woman in 1770s New York or New Jersey. It is inscribed “Liefde Gift Van de longvrous Anna Maria Hultin Von Beferhoudt” (loving gift from Jankrouw Maria Hultin Von Beverhoudt). The underside is maker-stamped by Myer Myers, a Jewish silversmith who worked in colonial New York and later in revolutionary Connecticut. 

The Dutch community of New Jersey had a greater tradition of legal property and business ownership by women than the English.

The Rosenbach, Philadelphia

This sampler belonged to Quaker Elisabeth Cooper of Gloucester County, New Jersey. Sampler making helped young girls like Cooper learn basic embroidery techniques, their numbers and alphabets, and how to record their family histories.

The Quakers’s egalitarian principles may have influenced the radicalism of the Revolution in New Jersey. Elisabeth Cooper’s uncles, John and Joseph Cooper, helped draft the 1776 New Jersey Constitution that declared an independent state and opened the door for women and free African Americans to vote.

The Quaker faith embraced more egalitarian views regarding women’s social, religious, and economic roles. Quakers emphasized women’s independence within their families and communities. In New Jersey, Quakers were dominant in the southwestern region of the state.

Gloucester County Historical Society