Catharine Williams and William Mead

Catharine R. Williams’s biographer described her as “short and stout,” with eyes that were “small and piercing.” He was more flattering about her literary work, which enabled her to earn sufficient income to sustain herself and her child after a brief marriage and divorce. She was a relatively early writer of colonial and national history and one of the few women authors who focused on the period. She is best remembered for her unsuccessful advocacy for universal suffrage for white men in her home state of Rhode Island. William Cooper Mead was the rector of a Connecticut church for forty-three years. He also undertook important roles in the Episcopal Diocesan Conventions. His specialty was canon law, and he helped develop the shared principles and processes for church governance. Mead was also a Freemason, serving for a time as the grand chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.