Religious beliefs led to relatively high literacy rates among early New England Protestants and their European counterparts. This book, The Reformed Pastor, belonged to Hannah Barnard Westcarr Beaman (1646-1739) of Deerfield, Massachusetts. The author was Richard Baxter, a Puritan minister and a chaplain in Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army during the English Civil War (1642-1648.) Hannah first received this book while married to her first husband, Dr. John Westcarr of Hadley, Massachusetts. Although Greek and Latin had not been spoken for centuries, they remained the written languages in which educated people, usually men, were expected to discuss complicated ideas. Hannah knew enough Latin to be able to write”ejus liber”, meaning “her book.” She passed the book on to her brother, Thomas Barnard, who took it with him when he went to Harvard College to prepare for the ministry.
Baxter, Reverend Richard. The Reformed Pastor. Nevil Simmons, 1657. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/i-b-1822a/. Accessed on October 16, 2024.
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