Caroline Greer

An exploration of the sexed body and female preachers

Hannah Maria Knowles traveled aboard the ship New York in June of 1829, migrating from her home country of England to the United States, landing in New York City in July.¹ Knowles came as part of a Primitive Methodist Mission sent from Britain, and her experience differed greatly from the others designated as missionaries by the denomination. Pregnant aboard the ship, Knowles experienced seasickness, which exacerbated her morning sickness or other pregnancy woes. Knowles felt the effects of bringing life into this world as she traveled to a new one. Another woman, Ruth Watkins, traveled alongside Knowles and her husband, William. Unmarried, the Primitive Methodist organization bestowed the title ‘missionary’ to Watkins, as well as William Knowles, but not Hannah Maria Instead, she labored under the headship of her missionary husband. Hannah Maria, heavily pregnant and a married woman, preached in New York City alongside William and Watkins, despite having the physical impediment of being close to confinement—and lacking the respect of the title ‘missionary’ from the Primitive Methodists. 

Hannah Maria preached multiple times in the weeks following their arrival in New York City as Watkins and the Knowles found a place to rent and began holding meetings. Often, William would preach first in the mornings, then Ruth, and last, and often in the evenings, Hannah Maria preached. This schedule prioritized the speaking of William, the only man at the New York Mission, but also meant that Hannah Maria had to wait until late in the day to preach, an already taxing and emotionally laden experience, and after participating in worship services all day long. Despite being pregnant, and two months away from confinement when they landed in the United States, Hannah Maria found her calling to preach the word of God worth the physical toll on her body.  

The record of Hannah Maria’s preaching for the New York mission comes not from her own words, but from the published journal entries of William and Ruth Watkins. These journal entries, entitled the Primitive Methodist American Mission and published by the Bourne brothers who led the denomination, contained extracts of letters and personal journal entries from the two official missionaries.² However, both William and Watkins write about Hannah Maria preaching, just as they did. The reason for her exclusion seems sure: as the wife of an established missionary funded to travel to the United States, the denomination expected her participation, especially as they funded the travel of the couple. There was no need to give Hannah Maria her own title, her own portrait, or her own funding. As a married woman, she existed under the cover of her husband, and if he labored for the conference, so would she.

Though William and Hannah could have had similar preaching experiences in the United States, her gender and sex created distinct differences and expectations. Socially, her gender meant that the denomination relied on her participation as both a missionary’s wife and as a preacher without an official appointment. Biologically, though William and Hannah Maria both became parents with the birth of their child soon after their arrival, yet Hannah Maria’s labor characterized both the birth and the nursing of their baby. Afterwards, she was  responsible for nursing and likely the bulk of childcare, even as she healed and continued to support her husband and the mission. Her husband (likely) would have cared for his wife during her pregnancy and her birth, and Watkins, especially as a woman, may have been involved. William, however,  did not feel the effects on his physical body as Hannah Maria did.

Hannah Maria Knowles, a white Primitive Methodist woman who was sent with her missionary husband, William, from England to New York, had a firsthand experience with pregnancy while traveling and itinerating. She left England and boarded a ship to New York with her husband, two other male missionaries and their families, and another female missionary, named Ruth Watkins in 1829. William Knowles, who was the official missionary sent by the Conference, wrote back to Brother Bourne of the journey, which was published in a pamphlet and circulated by the denomination for one penny. He wrote that he “expect[ed] his wife to be confined in a little more than two months.”³ Hannah Maria must have already been pregnant when she left England, and her husband also documented that both she and Watkins felt sick for much of the ship journey. ⁴

When the group arrived in the States, Hannah Maria continued to labor, despite being heavily pregnant, and being sent as the wife of a missionary instead of being sent on her own account, like Watkins. However, Hannah Maria was a preacher, just like her husband and Watkins. Both Watkins and Knowles, who wrote back to the denomination and had their diary entries and letters published, wrote about Hannah Maria preaching on the same days as they did, taking turns and each giving a sermon. Knowles wrote that the group “commenced [their] Missionary labours on the second of August” and on August 9th, he preached, followed by Ruth Watkins, and “[his] wife at seven in the evening.” The group began the day preaching at 10:30 in the morning, meaning that his wife not only preached while heavily pregnant but after spending over eight hours in a worship meeting. Why she preached last is unknown; likely she went last as the one member of the group who was not an official missionary, though if she had preached first, she could have rested more. Watkins and Knowles, who never mention Hannah Maria by her Christian name in the letters and journal entries sent back to the denomination, nonetheless wrote that Hannah Maria helped them “have every reason to believe good was done.” The absence of Hannah Maria’s own letters or journal entries highlight the lack of acknowledgement of her role as missionary and preacher, yet her explicitly giving sermons while pregnant highlights her commitment to the Lord despite formal recognition. ⁵

Even after giving birth, Knowles returned to preaching after an unknown amount of time, maybe still nursing but most definitely still caring for her infant. In 1831, she and her husband, baby in tow, went to preach in Ohio, sent along to the frontier by the Primitive Methodist Mission. Again, her own words are absent from the record, but her husband’s journal details her work in Ohio. He recorded that after she preached, everyone continuously asked, “when will she preach again?” ⁶Moving and having a child did not prevent Hannah Maria from preaching, nor preaching well. Instead, she did the dual labor of being a mother and being a missionary. She continued to have a great effect as a preacher, despite still not receiving formal recognition from the denomination. She did, however, receive recognition from local newspapers, as her husband saved an article from The Eaton Register in his journal that detailed his wife’s preaching. The article emphasized her effect on the audience:

 She walked amid the pressing crowd, and ascended the sanctuary of holiness, in the presence of near a thousand solicitous spectators, who were anxious to hear what a woman had to say in the church. A profound silence reigned; the young and old were anxious on the occasion; all eyes were fixed on the pulpit; hope and fear triumphed in succession for the stranger, lest female delicacy should prove inadequate to the task of bearing ample testimony of God and his religion. But soon both were dispelled. ⁷

The author complimented Hannah Maria, stating her sermon “had a better influence on the audience than any sermon, to my recollection, ever preached in Eaton.”⁸ Hannah Maria’s relationship to her body and to preaching must have changed, however, after giving birth and caring for a son. Yet, she continued to itinerate with her husband, and even to preach, despite that not being her official role. Likely, Hannah Maria either preached, or did religious labor, while nursing, and also may have had other pregnancies in her life she contended with as a missionary. Her husband, even as he fathered new life, did not have to deal with pregnancy, labor, or nursing, even if he did help care for his child. 

Other women, even if they did not have children at all, or did not experience childbirth  while preaching, dealt with the ramifications of their sexed bodies. Many traveling women dealt with monthly periods, as well as cramps and other side effects of menstruation. The sacrifice of traveling extensively was compounded during one’s cycle, especially with a lack of comfort items or money to ease both the journeys and one’s pain. Adding the sexed body along with gender further highlights the differences in experience between male and female itinerant preachers and the added bodily sacrifice that women made to follow their call to preach. 

As much as the social construct of gender created different lived experiences for women and men itinerants, biological sex also created variances. For example, some female itinerants had children, and some even dealt with childbirth while itinerating or on missions. Even if these women did not give birth while they had a ministry, those who had children already, such as Abigail Roberts, dealt with balancing their children’s needs with the needs of itinerating. Roberts’ husband, Nathan, was unusual in his support of his wife’s ministry and his willingness to take care of their children when she left. Female preachers did not often preach while married, though an exception to this rule was if they married a male minister. Abigail began preaching while married, not before, while many female preachers only began a ministry before marriage and stopped once they were wives. Jarena Lee, who only began preaching after she was widowed, would leave her children with Richard Allen, the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal church. Allen’s willingness to do childcare for Lee, who he had no familial or marital connection to, underscores both his belief in female preaching, but also his belief in Lee’s skills as an orator.

References:

1.  “New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1891”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVR3-RBXF : Sun Dec 03 14:51:14 UTC 2023), Entry for Ann Maria Knowles, 1829. ↩︎
2.  Primitive Methodist American Mission. Bemersley: Printed by J. Bourne, 1829. Held at the Bridwell Library, Southern Methodist University. Methodist Reference: 287.06BP P953A. ↩︎
3. Primitive Methodist American Mission (Scanned Copy), pg. 3 ↩︎
4. Primitive Methodist American Mission (Scanned Copy), pg. 1. ↩︎
5. Primitive Methodist American Mission (Scanned Copy), pg. 3. ↩︎
6. Entry from William Knowles’ Journal, 14 December, 1830; quoted in Elizabeth Gillan Muir, Petticoats in the Pulpit: The Story of Early Nineteenth Century Methodist Women Preachers in Upper Canada, (Toronto: The United Church Publishing House, 1991), 158. ↩︎
7. Reprinted from The Eaton Register in Primitive Methodist Magazine (1832), 94-6; quoted in E. Dorothy Graham, “Chosen By God: the Female Itinerants of Early Primitive Methodism,” PhD diss., University of Birmingham, 2013. APPENDIX XV: EXTRACT FROM THE JOURNAL OF WILLIAM KNOWLES: 1831 (PMM (1832) pp. 94-6), pages 237. ↩︎
8. Reprinted from The Eaton Register in Primitive Methodist Magazine (1832), 94-6; quoted in E. Dorothy Graham, “Chosen By God: the Female Itinerants of Early Primitive Methodism,” PhD diss., University of Birmingham, 2013. APPENDIX XV: EXTRACT FROM THE JOURNAL OF WILLIAM KNOWLES: 1831 (PMM (1832) pp. 94-6), pages 237. ↩︎