Neither Hers Nor Theirs: Dower and Household Relationships Between Widows, Family, and Friends in York County, Maine

Abstract

If architecture expressed a sense of boundaries between family and society and even within the family, the law was central in defining and protecting these. In this article, Christi A. Mitchell, a historian of vernacular architecture from Peaks Island and Alna, Maine, explores the changing definitions of domestic space allotted by law to widows. She uses this aspect of dower rights as a window into changing family relations in the early nineteenth century. Dower assignments reflect an attempt to adapt to shifting household dynamics, to declining emphasis on land-based wealth, to a growing desire for privacy, and to the sanctity of the domestic sphere