Childrearing

Sarah Hicks Williams wrote a great deal about her experiences as a mother to her parents. Williams first became a mother in 1855, a year into her marriage and continues to have children into the 1860s. This selection of letters concern Williams's life as a mother.

Figure 3.a: The TermsBerry tool allows the user to examine high frequency terms and other words in their proximity to others. The terms closer to the middle are referenced more than others and when scrolling over the related terms become highlighted. From this TermsBerry, we can see children, love, and dr (the way Williams referred to her husband) are some of the most important terms Williams used in her letters to her parents.

Figure 3.b: A StreamGraph is used to depict the change of the frequency of words in a corpus or single document. From the display outputs we can see how each term is connected or used in relation to other terms. Williams wrote often about her children playing and thoughts on motherhood. She also wrote in detail the growth of her children. We can add or take away terms with this tool as well by clicking the term on the top of the StreamGraph.

Figure 3.c: Document Terms is a table view of the term frequency for each document. The term refers to the term in the document, count refers to the raw frequency of the term in the document, and trends is a sparkline graph that shows the distribution of the terms within the segments of the documents. Hovering over the graph allows for closer examination of the results. This tool allows us to track the activities Williams described her children's participation throughout the entirety of the letters. Williams recounted teaching her children as well as learning how to speak quite frequently throughout. However, some activities such as knitting are mentioned less.

Williams's Views on Motherhood

Sarah Williams doted on her children. She called them her "sunbeams," and devoted her life to them. When writing to her mother and father she told anecdotes of how her children are growing and believed her children to be the most beautiful in the county. She had grand expectations for her children and wanted to have a good education like the one she received in the North.

In antebellum America, mother and woman were two words that were almost one in the same. Motherhood was glorified throughout the South. Images appeared throughout the South that played into the traditional gender role of women (McCurry, 26). In the North, there was more of an emphasis on motherhood in connection to educating children. Southern ideals of motherhood stressed the domestic sphere, with women acting more as moral guardians of their children (Fraser, 54). Williams's children were very young at the time she wrote to her parents and her letters focus more on her Northern influences. According to Williams's letters, her focus is her children's education and development, rather than in raising good Southern gentlemen and future plantation mistresses.

In her youth, Williams's middle-class background, allowed for her to enjoy her time before boarding school playing and focusing on being a child, instead of on chores. As a mother, she aimed to give her children the same luxury. Her young children enjoyed play time and had hobbies such as knitting. The Williams children played with slave children on the plantation. She wrote how her oldest daughter Lilly in particular had "three little negro girls" for "playmates," which Williams accepted (November 9, 1855). However, as the children grew, she also knew her had the responsibility to teach her children about the paternalistic relationship between masters and slaves.

Williams relished being a mother, recounting every milestone in her children's lives from first steps to first words. Motherhood gave her a new sense of purpose amidst the tension between her mother-in-law and the pressure she felt as a wife of a plantation owner. Yet, she knew the kind of education her children will receive. Williams, after a visit in 1855 tells her parents she wanted to "leave [Lilly] with you but she is all the comfort I have when the Dr. goes from home" (October 1, 1855). Williams could not go through her leaving her daughter in the North because she needs her daughter. The very action of giving birth solidifies her place in the South. She now has roots in North Carolina (Fraser, 100). Her transformation to plantation mistress is complete with the birth of her children; she cannot leave her children in the North, just as she can no longer return North on her own.