Warning for allegations of child abuse.
Janet Ulhar has a fascinating article over at the Journal of the American Revolution: Joseph Warren, Sally Edwards, and Mercy Scollay: What is the True Story?
Ulhar examines the evidence and argues that scholars have misinterpreted the presence of two females in Joseph Warren’s life: that his supposed fiancée, Mercy Scollay, was little more than a nanny, and Sally Edwards, a pregnant teenager some assert was carrying his child, was more likely a patient who required discretion.
First, the Edwards case. I really appreciated Ulhar taking scholars to task for referring to Edwards as a mistress – based on the ages of all the potential Sally Edwards in Boston, there’s a 2/3 chance she was 13 and a 1/3 chance she was 17. Yes, the age of consent back then was 12 for girls (14 for boys), but let’s not pretend that isn’t abuse of a child.
The main argument for Warren as the abuser is that he and two former apprentices paid for Sally’s lodging in Dedham as she neared the end of her pregnancy. Ulhar argues that this does not mean they used their own money; they may have transferred it from Sally’s family to pay for their patient. A family may well have wanted to conceal a daughter’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy by sending her to a professional who could care for her while hiding a scandal. Unfortunately, if this is the case, there’s no record of it, and there likely wouldn’t be.
More compellingly, Ulhar points out that Paul Revere’s son Paul Revere Jr. later married a Sally Edwards, who is often suggested by scholars to be the same Sally who had been pregnant. Paul Jr. would have been about fifteen at the time of Sally’s pregnancy, making him an age-appropriate partner. Both of them would’ve been so young that unintended consequences of an immature romance would hardly have been surprising, as well.
Paul Revere and Joseph Warren were very close, and it is not inconceivable that Paul Revere might have asked Warren to help should Paul Jr. have a teenage pregnancy out of wedlock–and when the two of them, even by those times, were very young to wed, especially if Sally was 13. (Prior to 21, you needed a parent’s permission.)
Was Sally’s child Warren’s or someone else’s, perhaps Paul Revere’s son’s? Was the child from an unwise teenage love affair or abuse (not limited to Warren as the possible abuser)? We just don’t know. Often predators don’t fit with what we think of them, but the evidence that it was Warren is pretty blurry here, as that evidence could also indicate he was actually helping a child in desperate need of protection.
So: I find Ulhar’s argument here convincing. I don’t think it’s possible to say definitively that Sally Edwards’ daughter wasn’t Warren’s, but I agree that the evidence doesn’t actually suggest it.
Ulhar’s second argument is that Mercy Scollay was just a nanny with potentially romantic feelings for Warren, and that there is no evidence he returned those feelings. Moreover, Scollay is portrayed as scheming for custody of the children, further victimizing the Warren family. These are, clearly, heavy allegations.
For evidence, Ulhar notes that our definition of “family” may not be the same as the 18th century’s. “Family” back then could include servants, which would include Scollay if she was a nanny. Furthermore, Ulhar highlights that even when Scollay tried to gain custody of the children, she never claimed betrothal. I personally found this unremarkable; sure, it’s evidence of nothing official betrothal-wise, but then, betrothals were rarely official. You usually just published an intent to marry (the “banns”) at a church for a few weeks. Calling Scollay his “fiancée,” to me, has always seemed like modern folks trying to classify this relationship with modern terms. All that said…
What I did find compelling: Warren always charged Scollay for treatments, which doesn’t seem likely if you were family. At the same time, Ulhar’s source is the account book from May 1774 to April 1775, and I’d be very curious to know when precisely Scollay appears. Is it throughout – is Warren still charging Scollay in March 1775? Or are the payments clustered towards spring and summer 1774, allowing time for a romance to develop?
Ulhar does not show evidence of a contract or payment to Scollay for services as a nanny, which seems odd to me if she was just a nanny. That being said, this could have been lost.
tl;dr, I like Ulhar’s research and willingness to challenge the prevailing narrative. I tend to agree with her that we don’t have enough evidence for Warren having abused Sally Edwards, and though I’m still inclined to think there probably was a romantic connection with Mercy Scollay, I agree that we need more evidence. I highly recommend reading Ulhar’s article.
Next week, we’ll discuss the other Dr. Warren.
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