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Sarah Wister (July 20, 1761 – April 21, 1804) was a girl living in Pennsylvania during the American Revolution. She is principally known as the author of Sally Wister's Journal, written when she was sixteen; it is a firsthand account of life in the nearby countryside during the British occupation of Philadelphia in 1777 and 1778.
Sally's mother, Lowery Jones, was the daughter of Susanna Evans and Owen Jones (Sr.), of Wynnewood, Lower Merion.Howard M. Jenkins, "Gwynedd in the Midst of the Revolution: Sally Wister's Journal", Historical Collections of Gwynedd Chapter XIX, 1897. Jones was the granddaughter of Gainor Owen and Jonathan Jones and the great-granddaughter of Mary Wynne (daughter of Dr. Thomas Wynne) and Dr. Edward Jones.John W. Jordan, Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania, 1911 Sally was their first child.Myers, p. 18.
Little is known of Sally Wister's early life. She attended a girls' school run by the Quaker philanthropist Anthony Benezet.Myers, p. 13.
Her writings show some knowledge of French and Latin, and she was clearly familiar with the literature of her time, particularly poetry, and especially Alexander Pope.Myers, p. 13–14. It was at the Benezet school that young Sally met the future historian and memoirist Deborah Norris, whom she called Debby.Myers, p. 14; Jenkins. She was also friends with Polly Fishbourne, Sally Jones, Anna Rawle, Peggy Rawle, and Sally Burge. The girls formed a "social circle" and exchanged numerous letters during the summers.Myers, p. 15.
In 1777, the British Army moved to take Philadelphia, the capital and principal city of the Thirteen Colonies. With the fall of Philadelphia seen as imminent, many Philadelphians fled the city, and Wister's family of seven moved to North Wales, Pennsylvania, home of Hannah Foulke,Myers, p. 17–18. a widow whose son had married a sister of Lowery WisterJenkins; Myers, p. 21. and whom Sally knew as "Aunt Hannah" Sally Wister's Journal, December 12, 1777. The main house is located a few hundred meters east of Wissahickon Creek, where the Penllyn station has been built; at the time, the Foulkes' mill was nearby.Myers, p. 19–20. The Wisters probably arrived about late 1776;See Jenkins, who postulates 1777. they were certainly there by early 1777. Sally kept up correspondence with at least Debby NorrisMyers, p. 6. and a few others.
The letters, written in Quakers-style,"The Diary of a Quaker Maid" (review of Sally Wister's Journal), Saturday Book Review, The New York Times, February 21, 1903, p. BR15. use numbers for the days of the week (Sunday is "First Day", etc.See " The Quaker Calendar", Swarthmore College; accessed 2024.06.01.), and show the thoughts, hopes, and fears of a sixteen-year-old in wartime. She sometimes wears womanly clothes, awkwardly preferring "the girlish dress"; Sally Wister's Journal, December 7, 1777. other times, she revels in her budding womanhood. Sally Wister's Journal, June 2–3, 1778. The journal covers nine months, a span of time that included the capture of Philadelphia, the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga, the encampment at Valley Forge, the Conway Cabal, and the eventual British evacuation of Philadelphia. The battles of Germantown, Whitemarsh, and Barren Hill were fought relatively close to North Wales, but the Wisters remained safe, although there were moments of trepidation. Sally hears gunfire on December 7, and her next journal entry begins, "Rejoice with us, my dear. The British have return'd to the city. Charming news this." Sally Wister's Journal, December 8, 1777.
While they avoided battles, the inhabitants of the Foulke farm saw many troop movements, and a substantial number of Continental Army officers were billeted in the house, or visited those who were. Visitors included General William Smallwood, commander of the Maryland troops, who made the house his headquarters, Colonel James Wood of Virginia, and Aaron Ogden of New Jersey. All three of these later became governors of their respective home states.Myers, p. 9.
Sally and some of the other girls enjoy flirtations with some of the younger officers and, in league with some, play a trick on another. She appears to be falling in love with Major William Truman Stoddert,Book review, The New York Times, Feb. 21, 1903. "about nineteen" and a nephew of Gen. Smallwood. Sally Wister's Journal, October 20, 1777. After a few weeks, the soldiers receive orders to march; Sally is "very sorry" and Stoddert "looks dull". Sally Wister's Journal, November 1, 1777. Stoddert returns a month later, ill with a cold and fever; Sally Wister's Journal, December 6, 1777. he is nursed back to health and leaves again, but soon returns, "not relishing the idea of sleeping on the banks of the Schuylkill". Sally Wister's Journal, December 11, 1777. However, he does not stay long, and when he leaves, Sally observes "we shall not, I fancy, see him again for months, perhaps years". Sally Wister's Journal, December 13, 1777. Any romance between them would have been problematic: "A wide gulf of social and religious prejudice lay between them",Myers, preface. as he was an Anglican, a soldier, and a member of a slaveowning family, while she was a pacifist Quaker, a member of a sect that forbade its members from marrying out of the faith or owning slaves.
In between these periods of excitement were stretches of boredom. On December 20, Sally observed, "I shall hang up my pen till something offers worth relating." Her next entry was not until February. Sally Wister's Journal, February 3 or 4 (she is uncertain), 1778. Winter passes uneventfully. As it draws to a close, Sally and a friend go to look over the remains of the nearby army camp, which she describes as "ragged" and "ruinous". Sally Wister's Journal, February 30 apparently, 1778. She skips from March to May, both for "scarcity of paper" and "hardly anything" of news. Sally Wister's Journal, May 11, 1778. With the advancing season come rumors of an imminent evacuation of Philadelphia (and unwanted attention from another officer). On June 19 comes word that the occupying army has left; the Continentals depart in pursuit, and Sally, "thinking of nothing but returning to Philadelphia", concludes her journal. Sally Wister's Journal, June 20, 1778.
The Wister family returned home to Philadelphia in July 1778,Myers, p. 34. Upon the death of Sally's grandfather, John Wister, in 1789, her father took up residence in Grumblethorpe in Germantown. and Sally Wister lived there the rest of her life.
Although a number of the soldiers noted in the journal did not survive the Revolutionary War,Myers, p. 36–38. Stoddert did, although "much indispos'd" as of 1780.Myers, p. 36. He returned to Maryland, married a woman named Sally,Myers, p. 31. and died "from the lingering effects of the hardships of camp life"Myers, p. 32. in 1793.
The letters constituting the journal, 48 pages in all,Kathryn Zabelle Derounian, ed., The Journal and Occasional Writings of Sarah Wister, Associated University Presses, 1987, p. 13. remained at the Wister house until about 1830, years after their author's death. At that time, her brother Charles Wister loaned them to Debby Norris, who was by then Mrs. George Logan of Stenton. The journal as a whole was not widely published until 1902, Sally Wister's Journal, p. ii. although excerpts were published earlierJenkins. or in restricted circulation.Derounian pp. 13–15. The book received favorable reviews, with The New York Times praising the "exhaustive biographical notes" published with it. According to The Athenaeum:
Benjamin Rush noted her death in The Philadelphia Gazette on April 25, 1804, lauding her "prudence, virtue, piety, and eminent acquirements". Philadelphia Gazette, April 25, 1804, in Myers, p. 41.
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