This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/AFB.2ACE/1760 Message Board Post: A person asked me for help concerning Susanna (Haswell) Rowson who was the daughter of William Haswell of England. She married Lt. William Roswell in 1786 probably in England and moved to America. She was born in 1762 in England. She died 2 March 1826 in Boston Mass. Some claim Susanna (a famous early author) was a Puritan. The person writing to me said that Puritans did not christen their babies but instead baptized them when they were old enough to choose for themselves. So if she was christened at St. Thomas her family had to have belonged to the Church of England (the Anglican church). One critic says that she was trying to argue that women should be able to preach in Puritan churches, which is an invalid idea at that time. She didn’t come to America until 1793 (after she wrote her book), so it doesn’t make sense that she would care at all about women in Puritan churches. “Puritan” used here is in the strictest sense to refer to the actual Denomination. The Puritans were dissenters from the Church of England. At first, they wanted to purify the national church and get rid of the “Catholic” aspects of it. Although the Puritans who came over on the Mayflower were some of the first settlers, there were a lot of people who came to America who weren’t Puritans. The Puritans kept their lives separate from others who did not share their religion and even disliked other groups of dissenters (like the Quakers, who did let women speak in church). I’m over here in Reno, NV trying to assist this person with information. Is there any person here that can lead me to more detailed information. I need a will of Lt. William Roswell. A church Record of the Church they belonged to in Boston. A cemetery record may help. Do you have some ideas to disprove Susanna was a Puritan? I found William Roswell on the 1800 and 1820 Mass Censuses. Thnaks Charles Barnum, jcnreno@sbcglobal.net