The Boudinot and Stockton Women

Susan Boudinot Bradford was the daughter of Hannah and Elias Boudinot and wife of Pennsylvania Chief Justice and Attorney General William Bradford. As a young girl during the Revolution, Susan was remembered as throwing her tea out of the window at the New Jersey Governor’s home, establishing herself as a young Revolutionary. In her later life, Susan Bradford shared her social circle with Nelly Parke Custis and Elizabeth Bordley Gibson. 

Bradford remained a widow of femme sole status following the death of her husband in 1795, perhaps making her eligible to vote in the state of New Jersey.

Princeton University Art Museum / Art Resource, NY

Hannah Stockton Boudinot was the sister-in-law of Annis Boudinot Stockton, the mother of Susan Vergereau Boudinot, and the wife of Elias Boudinot, a successful New Jersey lawyer, congressman, and supporter of women’s rights. In this portrait, she holds a copy of Scottish poet James Thomson’s The Seasons (1730), demonstrating her pride in her literacy.

Princeton University Art Museum / Art Resource, NY