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Measurement and
Data Analysis for
Engineering and Science
Fourth Edition
Measurement and
Data Analysis for
Engineering and Science
Fourth Edition

Patrick F. Dunn
Michael P. Davis

Boca Raton London New York

CRC Press is an imprint of the

Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
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Contents

Preface vii

Authors ix

1 Introduction to Experimentation 1
1.1 A Famous Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Phases of an Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Example Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Bibliography 7

I Planning an Experiment 9
2 Planning an Experiment - Overview 11

3 Experiments 13
3.1 Role of Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.2 The Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.3 Classification of Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.4 Plan for Successful Experimentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.5 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Bibliography 23

II Identifying Components 25
4 Identifying Components - Overview 27

5 Fundamental Electronics 31
5.1 Concepts and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
5.1.1 Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
5.1.2 Current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
5.1.3 Electric Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5.1.4 Electric Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5.1.5 Electric Potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5.1.6 Resistance and Resistivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
5.1.7 Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
5.1.8 Capacitance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
5.1.9 Inductance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
5.2 Circuit Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
5.2.1 Resistor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
5.2.2 Capacitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.2.3 Inductor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

i
ii Contents

5.2.4 Transistor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.2.5 Voltage Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5.2.6 Current Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5.3 RLC Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
5.4 Elementary DC Circuit Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5.4.1 Voltage Divider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
5.4.2 Electric Motor with Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
5.4.3 Wheatstone Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.5 Elementary AC Circuit Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
5.6 Equivalent Circuits* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5.7 Meters* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
5.8 Impedance Matching and Loading Error* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
5.9 Electrical Noise* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.10 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Bibliography 67

6 Measurement Systems: Sensors and Transducers 69

6.1 The Measurement System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
6.2 Sensor Domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
6.3 Sensor Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6.4 Physical Principles of Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6.5 Electric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
6.5.1 Resistive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
6.5.2 Capacitive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
6.5.3 Inductive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
6.6 Piezoelectric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
6.7 Fluid Mechanic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
6.8 Optic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
6.9 Photoelastic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
6.10 Thermoelectric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
6.11 Electrochemical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
6.12 Sensor Scaling* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
6.13 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Bibliography 127

7 Measurement Systems: Other Components 129

7.1 Signal Conditioning, Processing, and Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
7.2 Amplifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
7.3 Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
7.4 Analog-to-Digital Converters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
7.5 Smart Measurement Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
7.5.1 Sensors and Microcontroller Platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
7.5.2 Arduino Microcontrollers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
7.5.3 Wireless Transmission of Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
7.5.4 Using the MATLAB Programming Environment . . . . . . . . . . . 152
7.5.5 Examples of Arduino Programming using Simulink . . . . . . . . . . 153
7.6 Other Example Measurement Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
7.7 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
 Contents iii

Bibliography 171

III Assessing Performance 173

8 Assessing Performance - Overview 175

9 Measurement Systems: Calibration and Response 181

9.1 Static Response Characterization by Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
9.2 Dynamic Response Characterization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
9.3 Zero-Order System Dynamic Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
9.4 First-Order System Dynamic Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
9.4.1 Response to Step-Input Forcing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
9.4.2 Response to Sinusoidal-Input Forcing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
9.5 Second-Order System Dynamic Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
9.5.1 Response to Step-Input Forcing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
9.5.2 Response to Sinusoidal-Input Forcing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
9.6 Combined-System Dynamic Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
9.7 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Bibliography 213

10 Measurement Systems: Design-Stage Uncertainty 215

10.1 Design-Stage Uncertainty Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
10.2 Design-Stage Uncertainty Estimate of a Measurand . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
10.3 Design-Stage Uncertainty Estimate of a Result . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
10.4 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Bibliography 231

IV Setting Sampling Conditions 233

11 Setting Sampling Conditions - Overview 235

12 Signal Characteristics 241

12.1 Signal Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
12.2 Signal Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
12.3 Signal Statistical Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
12.4 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Bibliography 255

13 The Fourier Transform 257

13.1 Fourier Series of a Periodic Signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
13.2 Complex Numbers and Waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
13.3 Exponential Fourier Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
13.4 Spectral Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
13.5 Continuous Fourier Transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
13.6 Continuous Fourier Transform Properties* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
13.7 Discrete Fourier Transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
13.8 Fast Fourier Transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
13.9 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Bibliography 281
iv Contents

14 Digital Signal Analysis 283

14.1 Digital Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
14.2 Digital Sampling Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
14.2.1 Aliasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
14.2.2 Amplitude Ambiguity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
14.3 Windowing* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
14.4 Determining a Sample Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
14.5 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Bibliography 307

V Analyzing Data 309

15 Analyzing Results - Overview 311

16 Probability 319
16.1 Basic Probability Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
16.1.1 Union and Intersection of Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
16.1.2 Conditional Probability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
16.1.3 Sample versus Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
16.1.4 Plotting Statistical Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
16.2 Probability Density Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
16.3 Various Probability Density Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
16.3.1 Binomial Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
16.3.2 Poisson Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
16.4 Central Moments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
16.5 Probability Distribution Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
16.6 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

Bibliography 355

17 Statistics 357
17.1 Normal Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
17.2 Normalized Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
17.3 Student’s t Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
17.4 Rejection of Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
17.4.1 Single-Variable Outlier Determination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
17.4.2 Paired-Variable Outlier Determination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
17.5 Standard Deviation of the Means . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
17.6 Chi-Square Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
17.6.1 Estimating the True Variance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
17.6.2 Establishing a Rejection Criterion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
17.6.3 Comparing Observed and Expected Distributions . . . . . . . . . . . 382
17.7 Pooling Samples* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
17.8 Hypothesis Testing* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
17.8.1 One-Sample t-Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
17.8.2 Two-Sample t-Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
17.9 Design of Experiments* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
17.10 Factorial Design* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
17.11 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Bibliography 403
 Contents v

18 Uncertainty Analysis 405

18.1 Modeling and Experimental Uncertainties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
18.2 Probabilistic Basis of Uncertainty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
18.3 Identifying Sources of Error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
18.4 Systematic and Random Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
18.5 Quantifying Systematic and Random Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
18.6 Measurement Uncertainty Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
18.7 Uncertainty Analysis of a Multiple-Measurement Result . . . . . . . . . . . 414
18.8 Uncertainty Analysis for Other Measurement Situations . . . . . . . . . . . 419
18.9 Uncertainty Analysis Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
18.10 Finite-Difference Uncertainties* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
18.10.1 Derivative Approximation* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
18.10.2 Integral Approximation* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
18.10.3 Uncertainty Estimate Approximation* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
18.11 Uncertainty Based upon Interval Statistics* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
18.12 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

Bibliography 445

19 Regression and Correlation 447

19.1 Least-Squares Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
19.2 Least-Squares Regression Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
19.3 Linear Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
19.4 Higher-Order Analysis* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
19.5 Multi-Variable Linear Analysis* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
19.6 Determining the Appropriate Fit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458
19.7 Regression Confidence Intervals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
19.8 Regression Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
19.9 Linear Correlation Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
19.10 Signal Correlations in Time* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
19.10.1 Autocorrelation* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
19.10.2 Cross-Correlation* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
19.11 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487

Bibliography 491

VI Reporting Results 493

20 Reporting Results - Overview 495

21 Units and Significant Figures 499

21.1 English and Metric Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499
21.2 Systems of Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
21.3 SI Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
21.4 Technical English and SI Conversion Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
21.4.1 Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
21.4.2 Area and Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
21.4.3 Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
21.4.4 Mass and Weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
21.4.5 Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
21.4.6 Work and Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
21.4.7 Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
vi Contents

21.4.8 Light Radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510

21.4.9 Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
21.4.10 Other Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514
21.5 Prefixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
21.6 Significant Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
21.7 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520

Bibliography 525

22 Technical Communication 527

22.1 Guidelines for Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
22.1.1 Writing in General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
22.1.2 Writing Technical Memoranda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
22.1.3 Number and Unit Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
22.1.4 Graphical Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
22.2 Technical Memo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
22.3 Technical Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538
22.4 Oral Technical Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
22.5 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542

Bibliography 543

Glossary 545

Symbols 557

Review Problem Answers 565

Index 567
Preface

This text covers the fundamentals of experimentation used by both engineers and scientists.
These include the six phases of experimentation: planning an experiment, identifying its
measurement-system components, assessing the performance of the measurement system,
setting the signal sampling conditions, analyzing the experimental results, and reporting the
findings. Throughout the text, historical perspectives on various tools of experimentation
also are provided.
This is the fourth edition of Measurement and Data Analysis for Engineering and Sci-
ence. The first edition was published in 2005 by McGraw-Hill and the latter editions by
CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group. Since its beginning, the text has been adopted by an
increasing number of universities and colleges within the U.S., the U.K., and other countries.
This text has been updated. Also, new features have been added. These are as follows.

• Chapters now are organized in terms of six phases of experimentation. The chapters
relevant to each phase are preceded by an overview chapter. The chapters for a phase
are denoted in the margins by tabs with the title of that phase.

• Two example experiments are introduced in the first chapter. These experiments are
examined progressively in each of six overview chapters, in which the tools of that
phase are applied to the example experiments. Then, the tools are explained in detail
in that phase’s subsequent chapters.
• As with the previous edition, chapter sections that typically are not covered in an
introductory undergraduate course on experimentation are denoted by asterisks. The
text including all sections can be used in an upper-level undergraduate or introductory
graduate course on experimentation.
• Words highlighted in bold face within the text are defined also in the Glossary.

• Topics that have been either expanded or added to this edition include (a) the re-
jection of data outliers, (b) conditional probability, (c) probability distributions, (d)
hypothesis testing, and (e) MATLABr Sidebars.
• More problems have been added to this edition, both within the text and as homework
problems. There are now more than 125 solved example problems presented in the
text and more than 410 homework problems.
• The text is complemented by an extensive text website. Previous-edition chapter sec-
tions and appendices not in this latest edition, codes, files, and much more are available
at that site.

Instructors who adopt this text for their course can receive the problem solutions manual,
a laboratory exercise solution manual, and slide presentations from Notre Dame’s course in
Measurement and Data Analysis by contacting the publisher.

vii
viii Preface

Over the span of four editions, many undergraduate students, graduate students, and
faculty have contributed to this text. They are acknowledged by name in the prefaces of the
previous editions. A special acknowledgment goes to our editor, Jonathan Plant, who has
been this text’s editor for all four editions. Without his encouragement, professionalism,
and continued support, this text never would have happened.
Finally, each member of our families always have supported us along the way. We sin-
cerely thank everyone of them for always being there for us.

Patrick F. Dunn, University of Notre Dame and

Michael P. Davis, University of Southern Maine

Author Text Web Site: https://www3.nd.edu/∼pdunn/www.text/measurements.html

Publisher Text Web Site: https://www.crcpress.com/Measurement-and-Data-Analysis-for-
Engineering-and-Science-Fourth-Edition/Dunn/p/book/9781138050860

Written by PFD while at the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, the University
of Notre Dame London Centre, London, England, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The
Netherlands, and, most recently, in beautiful Wisconsin, and, with this edition, by MPD in
scenic Maine.

For product information about MATLABr and Simulink, contact:

The MathWorks, Inc.
3 Apple Hill Drive
Matick, MA 01760-2098 USA
Tel: 508-647-7000
Fax: 508-647-7001
E-mail: info@mathworks.com
Web: www.mathworks.com

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-

use hardware and software. It’s intended for artists, designers, hobbyists and anyone in-
terested in creating interactive objects or environments. For product information see:
http://arduino.cc/
Authors

Patrick F. Dunn, Ph.D., P.E., is professor emeritus of aerospace and mechanical en-
gineering at the University of Notre Dame, where he was a faculty member from 1985 to
2015. Prior to 1985, he was a mechanical engineer at Argonne National Laboratory from
1976 to 1985 and a postdoctoral fellow at Duke University from 1974 to 1976. He earned
his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in engineering from Purdue University (1970, 1971, and
1974). He graduated from Abbot Pennings High School in 1966.
Professor Dunn is the author of over 160 scientific journal and refereed symposia publica-
tions, mostly involving experimentation, and a professional engineer in Indiana and Illinois.
He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and an Associate Fellow of
the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is the recipient of departmental,
college, and university teaching awards.
Professor Dunn’s scientific expertise is in fluid mechanics, microparticle behavior in fluid
flows, and uncertainty analysis. He is an experimentalist with over 45 years of laboratory
experience. He is the author of the textbooks Measurement and Data Analysis for Engineer-
ing and Science (first edition by McGraw-Hill, 2005; second edition by Taylor & Francis /
CRC Press, 2010; third edition by Taylor & Francis / CRC Press, 2014; this fourth edition
by Taylor & Francis / CRC Press), Fundamentals of Sensors for Engineering and Science
(first edition by Taylor & Francis / CRC Press, 2011) and Uncertainty Analysis for Foren-
sic Science with R.M. Brach (first and second editions by Lawyers & Judges Publishing
Company, 2004 and 2009).

Michael P. Davis, Ph.D., is a lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the University of

Southern Maine since 2014. He has extensive industry experience in gas turbine engines,
control systems, and manufacturing, working for Pratt & Whitney from 2000 to 2007 and
Bath Iron Works from 2008 to 2011. He was a founding faculty member of the University of
Maine Orono’s innovative Brunswick Engineering Program (2011 to 2014), which introduced
an integrated engineering curriculum to the first two years of a B.S. degree in engineering.
Dr. Davis holds a B.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Notre Dame
(1998), an M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute
(2000), and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Notre Dame (2008).
Dr. Davis’s professional and scholarly interests include engineering education, fluid me-
chanics and heat transfer, and experimentation and measurement. He has taught courses
in design, solid mechanics and statics, thermodynamics, differential equations and linear
algebra, manufacturing statistics, and mechanical engineering laboratory.

ix
1
Introduction to Experimentation

CONTENTS
1.1 A Famous Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Phases of an Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Example Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

... the ultimate arbiter of truth is experiment, not the comfort one derives from a priori
beliefs, nor the beauty or elegance one ascribes to one’s theoretical models.
Lawrence M. Krauss. 2012. A Universe from Nothing. New York: Free Press.
R

Chance favours only the prepared mind.

Louis Pasteur, 1879.

1.1 A Famous Experiment

His idea was profound, yet simple - to determine the diameter of the earth by measuring
only one angle. His predecessors had postulated certain attributes of the earth and universe.
Three hundred years earlier, around 500 B.C., Anaximander suggested that the earth and
universe were three-dimensional. Later, Pythagoras proposed that the earth was spherical.
Aristotle followed arguing that the earth’s size was small compared to stellar distances [1].
From these suppositions, the Greek Eratosthenes reasoned that the sun’s rays were
essentially parallel to the earth. He also learned from travelers from Syene that no shadow
could be seen in the Syene well at noon on the summer solstice. This city was about 750
km due south of Alexandria, where Eratosthenes lived. At that moment, the sun must have
been directly overhead of the Syene well.
Armed with this information, Eratosthenes conceived of and performed his now-famous
experiment [2]. He placed an obelisk vertically on the ground in Alexandria and observed its
shadow at noon on the summer solstice. Then, he measured the angle between the obelisk
and its shadow. It was 7◦ 140 (2 % of the 360◦ circumference) [3].
Notably, Eratosthenes chose to measure an angle rather than the lengths of the obelisk
and its shadow. Angular measurement was sufficiently accurate in his time. In fact, his
angular measurement still compares to within 1/60th of a degree of that obtained by modern
measurements. However, Eratosthenes also needed to know the distance between Syene and
Alexandria to determine the earth’s diameter. Estimating this distance introduced the most
uncertainty into his result.
Eratosthenes reasoned that if it took a camel 50 days to travel between Alexandria
and Syene, covering a distance of approximately 100 stadia per day, then the distance

1
2 Measurement and Data Analysis for Engineering and Science

Planning

Identifying Measurement

Assessing Measurement

Setting Signal

Analyzing

Reporting

FIGURE 1.1
The phases of an experiment.

between the two cities was 5000 stadia. Using this distance and his angular measurement,
Eratosthenes calculated the earth’s circumference to be 250 000 stadia. This estimate of
the earth’s diameter was 7360 km (1 stadium equals 0.071 km), approximately 15 % larger
than current measurements (6378 km at the equator).
Eratosthenes’ experiment contained many elements of a good experiment. He prepared
himself well before beginning his experiment. He used known facts, made plausible assump-
tions, and employed the most accurate measurement methods of his time. He analyzed the
data and concluded by reporting his results.

1.2 Phases of an Experiment

Today, almost two centuries since Eratosthenes’ endeavor, experiments have become much
more involved. Computers, sensors, electronics, signal conditioning, signal processing, signal
analysis, probability, statistics, uncertainty analysis, and reporting are now parts of almost
all experiments. These parts of an experiment can be divided arbitrarily into six phases,
Introduction to Experimentation 3

as shown in Figure 1.1. In each phase, many practical questions can be answered. Some of
these are as follows.
1. Planning an Experiment:
• What defines an experiment?
• How are experiments classified?
• What experimental approach should be taken?
• What steps can assure a successful experiment?
2. Identifying Measurement System Components:
• What are the main elements of a measurement system?
• What basic electronics are used in most measurement systems?
• How can the physical variables be sensed?
• What electronic signal conditioning is required?
• What measurement components are needed?
3. Assessing Measurement System Performance:
• How are input physical stimulus and measurement system output related?
• How are measurement system components calibrated?
• What characterizes the static and dynamic responses of the components?
• What uncertainties are there for a chosen measurement system?
4. Setting Signal Sampling Conditions:
• How are signals classified?
• How does classification affect measurement conditions?
• How much data should be acquired?
• What sampling rate is required ?
• How do sampling conditions affect the results?
5. Analyzing Experimental Results:
• What analytical techniques are used to examine experimental results?
• What statistics are required?
• What statistical confidence is associated with the data?
• How are the data correlated?
• How do they compare with theory and/or other experiments?
• What are the overall uncertainties in the results?
• When is it appropriate to reject data?
• How is an experimental hypothesis accepted or rejected?
6. Reporting Experimental Results:
• What are the proper number, unit, and uncertainty expressions?
• What are the appropriate formats for the written document?
• What elements are needed to communicate the results effectively?
In this text, each phase of experimentation is introduced by its own overview chapter.
This overview is followed by the chapters that present that phase’s topics more in depth.
 4

Tool Planning Identifying Assessing Setting Analyzing Reporting

Objective x - - - - -
Classification x - - - - -
Variables x - - - - -
Control Volume Analysis x - - - - -
Measurement System - x - - - -
Sensors and Transducers - x - - - -
Signal Conditioning - x - - - -
Signal Processing - x - - - -
Design-Stage Uncertainty - x - - - -
Component Calibration - - x - - -
Static Response - - x - - -
Dynamic Response - - x - - -
Signal Characterization - - - x - -
Sampling Rate - - - x - -
Sampling Period - - - x - -
Fourier Analysis - - - x - -
Sampling Statistics - - - - x -
Probability Distribution - - - - x -
Data Rejection - - - - x -
Pooling Samples - - - - x -
Hypothesis Testing - - - - x -
Design of Experiments - - - - x -
Measurement Uncertainty - - - - x -
Data Regression - - - - x -
Data Correlation - - - - x -
Units - - - - - x
Significant Figures - - - - - x
Technical Reporting - - - - - x

TABLE 1.1
Tools for each experimental phase. Tools that are italicized are applied to the example experiments in their respective overview chapters.
Measurement and Data Analysis for Engineering and Science
Introduction to Experimentation 5

1.3 Example Experiments

The tools developed in this text for each phase of experimentation are listed in Table 1.1.
These tools will be illustrated in the overview chapters by applying them to two example
experiments, one related to biomedical engineering and the other to environmental engi-
neering.
The tools that are applied specifically to the two example experiments are italicized in
Table 1.1. Only the results of using the tools are presented in the overview chapters. It is
left to the reader to explore the details of each tool in the chapters related to that phase.
Descriptions of the two experiments follow.

Fitness Tracking - A Biomedical Engineering Experiment:

The power expenditure and heart rate of a cyclist during exercise are measured to better
understand their relationship with certain environmental factors. A series of high-intensity-
interval workout protocols were performed by a recreational cyclist during which power,
heart rate, and cadence were measured. The workouts consisted of a strenuous (high-power)
effort for a given time followed by an equal-length recovery (low-power) effort. Interval
lengths studied included one, three, and 20-minute efforts. The relationship between heart
rate and power was studied for different cadences. Data was collected using a commercially
available heart rate monitor, a power meter, and a cadence sensor. These sensor outputs
were transmitted wirelessly to a GPS bike computer that recorded the data.

Microclimate Changes - A Environmental Engineering Experiment:

Variations in the weather conditions of a microclimate are studied by measuring its
pressure, temperature, and relative humidity under different sunlight irradiance and wind
conditions. Relationships between these variables and the effect of wind speed are examined.
Data acquisition is accomplished using a small sensing package that is placed into the
microclimate region by a drone. The sensing package monitors the environmental conditions
at fixed time intervals. The package’s output is transmitted wirelessly to a receiver and a
memory card located onboard the drone as the drone flies within one mile of the transmitter.
Bibliography

[1] Balchin, J. 2014. Quantum Leaps: 100 Scientists Who Changed the World. London:
Arcturus Publishing Ltd.
[2] Crease, R.P. 2004. The Prism and the Pendulum: The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments
in Science. New York: Random House.
[3] Boorstin, D.J. 1983. The Discoverers: A History of Man’s Search to Know His World
and Himself. New York: Random House.

[4] Park, R.L. 2000. Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud. New York:
Oxford University Press.
[5] Gregory, A. 2001. Eureka! The Birth of Science. Duxford, Cambridge, UK: Icon Books.

[6] Harré, R. 1984. Great Scientific Experiments. New York: Oxford University Press.
[7] Boorstin, D.J. 1985. The Discoverers. New York: Vintage Books.
[8] Gale, G. 1979. The Theory of Science. New York: McGraw-Hill.

7
 Part I

Planning an Experiment

9
2
Planning an Experiment - Overview

Experiments essentially pose questions and seek answers. A good experiment provides an
unambiguous answer to a well-posed question.
Henry N. Pollack. 2003. Uncertain Science ... Uncertain World. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

Experiments actually have been around ever since the beginning of mankind. Our first
experiment is performed almost immediately after we are born. Being hungry, we cry and
wait for someone to come feed us. This simple action encompasses the essential elements
of an experiment. We actively participate in changing the environment and then note the
results.
Recorded experiments date back to the first millennium B.C. Since then, experiments
have played an increasing role in science. This progression parallels the development of
more and more experimental tools. Today, it has expanded to exploring the universe with
elaborate sensor packages.

Chapter 3 Overview
R

Experiments serve many roles in scientific understanding (3.1). Some experiments lead
to new laws and theories (inductive experiments). Others test the validity of a conjecture
or theory (fallibilistic experiments) or illustrate something (conventionalistic experiments).
All three approaches are part of the scientific method. This method ascertains the validity
of an hypothesis through both experiment and theory.
Before performing an experiment, it is crucial to identify all of its variables (3.2). An
experimentalist manipulates the independent variable and records the effect on a dependent
variable. An extraneous variable cannot be controlled, but it affects the value of what is
measured to some extent. A parameter is fixed throughout the experiment.
An experiment also can be classified according to its purpose (3.3). This categorization
helps to clarify what may be needed for the experiment. Mathematical relationships between
variables are quantified by variational experiments. Validational experiments literally val-
idate an hypothesis. Pedagogical experiments instruct and explorational experiments help
to develop new ideas.
Finally, there is a process to follow that helps to assure a successful experiment (3.4).
This process starts with developing an experimental objective and approach. It ends with
reporting the results along with their associated measurement uncertainties.

Application of Tools to Example Experiments

R

The essentials in planning an experiment are presented in Chapter 3. The tools for
planning an experiment (Table 1.1), specifically those related to stating the experimental
objective, classifying the experiment, and identifying the experimental variables, are applied
to the two example experiments in the following.

11
 12 Measurement and Data Analysis for Engineering and Science

Fitness Tracking
Planning

• Objective: To explore the relationship between the power produced and the heart rate
response of a cyclist at different pedal cadences.
• Classification: This experiment resulted from the observation by a cyclist that high-
torque, low-cadence efforts were considerably more fatiguing than low-torque, high-
cadence ones at an identical power output. Because many extraneous variables are not
measured, in addition to only using one test subject, the goal of the experiment is to
identify possible relations power, heart rate, and cadence. Therefore, this experiment
is classified as explorational.
• Variables: A total of five variables are recorded. The independent variables are power
output and pedal cadence. Heart rate is the only dependent variable. Extraneous
variables are the environmental temperature measured during the exercise session
and a self-assessment rating by the cyclist on a 1-to-5 scale of fatigue.

Microclimate Changes

• Objective: To quantify how wind speed and solar irradiance may affect pressure, tem-
perature, and relative humidity in a microclimate environment.
• Classification: Although data are acquired under uncontrolled conditions, the data are
examined later in terms of different wind speeds and irradiances. Thus, wind speed
and irradiance are varied implicitly. Such an experiment is classified as variational.

• Variables: Five variables are measured. The independent variables are wind speed and
irradiance. Pressure, temperature, and relative humidity are dependent variables.
3
Experiments

CONTENTS
3.1 Role of Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.2 The Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.3 Classification of Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.4 Plan for Successful Experimentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.5 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

...there is a diminishing return from increased theoretical complexity and ... in many
practical situations the problem is not sufficiently well defined to merit an elaborate
approach. If basic scientific understanding is to be improved, detailed experiments will be
required ...
Graham B. Wallis. 1980. International Journal of Multiphase Flow 6:97.
R

Measure what can be measured and make measurable what cannot be measured.
Galileo Galilei, c.1600.

3.1 Role of Experiments

Park [1] remarks that “science is the systematic enterprise of gathering knowledge about
the world and organizing and condensing that knowledge into testable laws and theories.”
Experiments play a pivotal role in this process. The general purpose of any experiment is
to gain a better understanding about the process under investigation and, ultimately, to
advance science.
The Greeks were the earliest civilization that attempted to gain a better understanding
of their world through observation and reasoning. Previous civilizations functioned within
their environment by observing its behavior and then adapting to it. It was the Greeks
who first went beyond the stage of simple observation and attempted to arrive at the
underlying physical causes of what they observed [3]. Two opposing schools emerged, both
of which still exist but in somewhat different forms. Plato (428-347 B.C.) advanced that the
highest degree of reality was that which men think by reasoning. He believed that better
understanding followed from rational thought alone. This is called rationalism. On the
contrary, Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) believed that the highest degree of reality was that which
man perceives with his senses. He argued that better understanding came through careful
observation. This is known as empiricism. Empiricism maintains that knowledge originates
from, and is limited to, concepts developed from sensory experience. Today it is recognized
that both approaches play important roles in advancing scientific understanding.

13
Planning 14 Measurement and Data Analysis for Engineering and Science

The Real World

Experiment .. Theory

,--------,
I Our Concept of 1

: The Real World :

L ________ _j

FIGURE 3.1
The interplay between experiment and theory.

There are several different roles that experiments play in the process of scientific under-
standing. Harré [4], who discusses some of the landmark experiments in science, describes
three of the most important roles: inductivism, fallibilism, and conventionalism. In-
ductivism is the process whereby the laws and theories of nature are arrived at based upon
the facts gained from the experiments. In other words, a greater theoretical understanding
of nature is reached through induction. Taking the fallibilistic approach, experiments are
performed to test the validity of a conjecture. The conjecture is rejected if the experiments
show it to be false. The role of experiments in the conventionalistic approach is illustrative.
These experiments do not induce laws or disprove hypotheses but rather show us a more use-
ful or illuminating description of nature. Testings fall into the category of conventionalistic
experiments.
All three of these approaches are elements of the scientific method. Credit for its for-
malization often is given to Francis Bacon (1561-1626). However, the seeds of experimental
science were sown earlier by Roger Bacon (c. 1220-1292), who was not related to Francis.
Roger is considered “the most celebrated scientist of the Middle Ages.” [5] He attempted
to incorporate experimental science into the university curriculum but was prohibited by
Pope Clement IV, leading him to write his findings in secrecy. Francis argued that our
understanding of nature could be increased through a disciplined and orderly approach in
answering scientific questions. This approach involved experiments, done in a systematic
and rigorous manner, with the goal of arriving at a broader theoretical understanding.
Using the approach of Francis Bacon’s time, first the results of positive experiments
and observations are gathered and considered. A preliminary hypothesis is formed. All rival
hypotheses are tested for possible validity. Hopefully, only one correct hypothesis remains.
This approach is the basis of the scientific method, a method that tests a scientific
hypothesis through experiment and theory. Today, this method is used mainly either to
validate a particular hypothesis or to determine the range of validity of a hypothesis. In
the end, it is the constant interplay between experiment and theory that leads to advancing
our understanding, as illustrated schematically in Figure 3.1. The concept of the real world
Another random document with
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 All women did not run at the approach of the foe. A marked trait of
the settlers’ wives was their courage; and, indeed, opportunities
were plentiful for them to show their daring, their fortitude, and their
ready ingenuity. Hannah Bradley, of Haverhill, Mass., killed one
Indian by throwing boiling soap upon him. This same domestic
weapon was also used by some Swedish women near Philadelphia
to telling, indeed to killing advantage. A young girl in the Minot
House in Dorchester, Mass., shovelled live coals on an Indian
invader, and drove him off. A girl, almost a child, in Maine, shut a
door, barred, and held it while thirteen women and children escaped
to a neighboring block-house before the door and its brave defender
were chopped down. Anthony Bracket and his wife, captured by
savages, escaped through the wife’s skill with the needle. She
literally sewed together a broken birch-bark canoe which they found,
and in which they got safely away. Most famous and fierce of all
women fighters was Hannah Dustin, who, in 1697, with another
woman and a boy, killed ten Indians at midnight, and started for
home; but, calling to mind a thought that no one at home, without
corroborative evidence, would believe this extraordinary tale, they
returned, scalped their victims, and brought home the bloody
trophies safely to Haverhill.
Some Englishwomen were forced to marry their captors, forced by
torture or dire distress. Some, when captured in childhood, learned
to love their savage husbands. Eunice Williams, daughter of the
Deerfield minister, a Puritan who hated the Indians and the church of
Rome worse than he hated Satan, came home to her Puritan
kinsfolk wearing two abhorred symbols, a blanket and crucifix, and
after a short visit, not liking a civilized life, returned to her Indian
brave, her wigwam, and her priest.
I have always been glad that it was my far-away grandfather, John
Hoar, who left his Concord home, and risked his life as ambassador
to the Indians to rescue one of these poor “captivated” English
wives, Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, after her many and heart-rending
“savage removes.” I am proud of his “very forward spirit” which made
him dare attempt this bold rescue, as I am proud of his humanity and
his intelligent desire to treat the red men as human beings,
furnishing about sixty of them with a home and decent civilizing
employment. I picture him “stoutly not afraid,” as he entered the
camp, and met the poor captive, and treated successfully with her
savage and avaricious master, and then I see him tenderly leading
her, ragged, half-starved, and exhausted, through the lonely forests
home—home to the “doleful solemn sight” of despoiled Lancaster.
And I am proud, too, of the noble “Boston gentlewomen” who raised
twenty pounds as a ransom for Mary Rowlandson, “the price of her
redemption,” and tenderly welcomed her to their homes and hearts,
so warmly that she could write of them as “pitiful, tender-hearted,
and compassionate Christians,” whose love was so bountiful that
she could not declare it. If any one to-day marvels that English wives
did not “much desire the new and doleful land,” let them read this
graphic and thrilling story of the Captivity, Removes, and
Restauration of Mary Rowlandson, and he will marvel that the ships
were not crowded with disheartened settlers returning to their “faire
English homes.”
A very exciting and singular experience befell four dignified
Virginian wives in Bacon’s Rebellion, not through the Indians but at
the hands of their erstwhile friends. It is evident that the women of
that colony were universally and deeply stirred by the romance of
this insurrection and war. We hear of their dramatic protests against
the tyranny of the government. Sarah Drummond vowed she feared
the power of England no more than a broken straw, and
contemptuously broke a stick of wood to illustrate her words. Major
Chriesman’s wife, “the honor of her sex,” when her husband was
about to be put to death as a rebel, begged Governor Berkeley to kill
her instead, as he had joined Bacon wholly at her solicitation. One
Ann Cotton was moved by the war to drop into literary composition,
an extraordinary ebullition for a woman in her day, and to write an
account of the Rebellion, as she deemed “too wordishly,” but which
does not read now very wordishly to us. But for these four dames,
the wives of men prominent in the army under Governor Berkeley—
prime men, Ann Cotton calls them—was decreed a more stirring
participation in the excitements of war. The brilliant and erratic young
rebel, Bacon, pressed them into active service. He sent out
companies of horsemen and tore the gentlewomen from their
homes, though they remonstrated with much simplicity that they
were “indisposed” to leave; and he brought them to the scene of
battle, and heartlessly placed them—with still further and more acute
indisposition—on the “fore-front” of the breastworks as a shield
against the attacks of the four distracted husbands with their
soldiers. We read that “the poor Gentlewomen were mightily
astonished at this project; neather were their husbands void of
amazements at this subtill invention.” The four dames were
“exhibited to the view of their husbands and ffriends in the towne
upon the top of the smalle worke he had cast up in the night where
he caused them to tarey till he had finished his defence against the
enemy’s shott.” There stood these four innocent and harmless wives,
—“guardian angells—the white gardes of the Divell,” shivering
through the chill September night till the glimmering dawn saw
completed the rampart of earth and logs, or the leaguer, as it was
called by the writers with that exactness and absolute fitness of
expression which, in these old chronicles, gives such delight to the
lover of good old English. One dame was also sent to her husband’s
camp as a “white-aproned hostage” to parley with the Governor. And
this hiding of soldiers behind women was done by the order of one
who was called the most accomplished gentleman in Virginia, but
whom we might dub otherwise if we wished, to quote the
contemporary account, to “oppose him further with pertinances and
violent perstringes.”
I wish I could truthfully say that one most odious and degrading
eighteenth century English custom was wholly unknown in America
—the custom of wife-trading, the selling by a husband of his wife to
another man. I found, for a long time, no traces or hints of the
existence of such a custom in the colonies, save in two doubtful
cases. I did not wholly like the aspect of Governor Winthrop’s note of
the suggestion of some members of the church in Providence, that if
Goodman Verin would not give his wife full liberty to go to meeting
on Sunday and weekly lectures as often as she wished, “the church
should dispose her to some other man who would use her better.” I
regarded this suggestion of the Providence Christians with shocked
suspicion, but calmed myself with the decision that it merely
indicated the disposition of Goodwife Verin as a servant. And again,
in the records of the “Pticuler Court” of Hartford, Conn., in 1645, I
discovered this entry: “Baggett Egleston for bequething his wyfe to a
young man is fyned 20 shillings.” Now, any reader can draw his
conclusions as to exactly what this “bequething” was, and I cannot
see that any of us can know positively. So, though I was aware that
Baggett was not a very reputable fellow, I chose to try to persuade
myself that this exceedingly low-priced bequeathing did not really
mean wife-selling. But just as I was “setting down satysfyed” at the
superiority in social ethics and morality of our New England
ancestors, I chanced, while searching in the Boston Evening Post of
March 15, 1736, for the advertisement of a sermon on the virtues of
our forbears, entitled New England Tears and Fears of Englands
Dolours and Horrours, to find instead, by a malicious and contrary
fate, this bit of unwelcome and mortifying news not about old
England but about New England’s “dolours and horrours.”
Boston. The beginning of last Week a pretty odd and uncommon
Adventure happened in this Town, between 2 Men about a certain
woman, each one claiming her as his Wife, but so it was, that one of
them had actually disposed of his Right in her to the other for Fifteen
Shillings this Currency, who had only paid ten of it in part, and
refus’d to pay the other Five, inclining rather to quit the Woman and
lose his Earnest; but two Gentlemen happening to be present, who
were Friends to Peace, charitably gave him half a Crown a piece, to
enable him to fulfil his Agreement, which the Creditor readily took,
and gave the Woman a modest Salute, wishing her well, and his
Brother Sterling much Joy of his Bargain.
The meagre sale-money, fifteen shillings, was the usual sum
which changed hands in England at similar transactions, though one
dame of high degree was sold for a hundred guineas. In 1858 the
Stamford Mercury gave an account of a contemporary wife-sale in
England, which was announced through the town by a bellman. The
wife was led to the sale with a halter round her neck, and was “to be
taken with all her faults.” I am glad to say that this base British
husband was sharply punished for his misdemeanor.
It seems scarcely credible that the custom still exists in England,
but in 1882 a husband sold his wife in Alfreton, Derbyshire; and as
late as the 13th July, 1887, Abraham Boothroyd, may his name be
Anathema maranatha, sold his wife Clara at Sheffield, England, for
five shillings.
A most marked feature of social life in colonial times was the
belleship of widows. They were literally the queens of society. Fair
maids had so little chance against them, swains were so plentiful for
widows, that I often wonder whence came the willing men who
married the girls the first time, thus offering themselves as the
sacrifice at the matrimonial altar through which the girls could attain
the exalted state of widowhood. Men sighed sometimes in their
callow days for the girl friends of their own age, but as soon as their
regards were cast upon a widow, the girls at once disappear from
history, and the triumphant widow wins the prize.
Another marked aspect of this condition of society was the vast
number of widows in early days. In the South this was accounted for
by one of their own historians as being through the universally
intemperate habits of the husbands, and consequently their frequent
early death. In all the colonies life was hard, exposure was great to
carry on any active business, and the excessive drinking of
intoxicating liquors was not peculiar to the Southern husbands any
more than were widows. In 1698 Boston was said to be “full of
widows and orphans, and many of them very helpless creatures.” It
was counted that one sixth of the communicants of Cotton Mather’s
church were widows. It is easy for us to believe this when we read of
the array of relicts among which that aged but actively amorous
gentleman, Judge Sewall, found so much difficulty in choosing a
marriage partner, whose personal and financial charms he recounted
with so much pleasurable minuteness in his diary.
A glowing tribute to one of these Boston widows was paid by that
gossiping traveller, John Dunton, with so much evidence of deep
interest, and even sentiment, that I fancy Madam Dunton could not
have been wholly pleased with the writing and the printing thereof.
He called this Widow Breck the “flower of Boston,” the “Chosen
exemplar of what a Widow is.” He extols her high character, beauty,
and resignation, and then bridles with satisfaction while he says,
“Some have been pleas’d to say That were I in a single state they do
believe she wou’d not be displeas’d with my addresses.” He rode on
horseback on a long journey with his fair widow on a pillion behind
him, and if his conversation on “Platonicks and the blisses of
Matrimony” was half as tedious as his recounting of it, the road must
indeed have seemed long. He says her love for her dead husband is
as strong as death, but Widow Breck proved the strength of her
constancy by speedily marrying a second husband, Michael Perry.
As an instance of the complicated family relations which might
arise in marrying widows, let me cite the familiar case of the rich
merchant, Peter Sergeant, the builder of the famous Province House
in Boston. I will use Mr. Shurtleff’s explanation of this bewildering
gallimaufrey of widows and widowers:—
He was as remarkable in his marriages as his wealth; for he
had three wives, the second having been a widow twice
before her third venture; and his third also a widow, and even
becoming his widow, and lastly the widow of her third
husband.
To this I may add that this last husband, Simon Stoddart, also had
three wives, that his father had four, of whom the last three were
widows,—but all this goes beyond the modern brain to comprehend,
and reminds us most unpleasantly of the wife of Bath.
These frequent and speedy marriages were not wholly owing to
the exigencies of colonial life, but were the custom of the times in
Europe as well. I read in the diary of the Puritan John Rous, in
January, 1638, of this somewhat hasty wooing:—
A gentleman carried his wife to London last week and died
about eight o’clock at night, leaving her five hundred pounds a
year in land. The next day before twelve she was married to
the journeyman woolen-draper that came to sell mourning to
her.
I do not believe John Rous made special note of this marriage
simply because it was so speedy, but because it was unsuitable; as
a landed widow was, in social standing, far above a journeyman
draper.
 As we approach Revolutionary days, the reign of widows is still
absolute.
Washington loved at fifteen a fair unknown, supposed to be Lucy
Grimes, afterward mother of Gen. Henry Lee. To her he wrote
sentimental poems, from which we gather (as might be expected at
that age) that he was too bashful to reveal his love. A year later he
writes:—
I might, was my heart disengaged, pass my time very
pleasantly as there’s a very agreeable Young Lady Lives in
the same house; but as thats only adding fuel to the fire it
makes me more uneasy; for by often and unavoidably being
in Company with her revives my former Passion for your
Lowland Beauty; whereas was I to live more retired from
young women, I might in some measure eliviate my sorrows
by burying that chast and troublesome passion in the grave of
oblivion or eternal forgetfulness.
The amorous boy of sixteen managed to “bury this chast and
troublesome passion,” to find the “Young Lady in the house” worth
looking at, and when he was twenty years old, to write to William
Fantleroy thus of his daughter, Miss Bettie Fantleroy:—
I purpose as soon as I recover my strength (from the
pleurisy) to wait on Miss Bettie in hopes of a reconsideration
of the former cruel sentence, and to see if I cannot obtain a
decision in my favor. I enclose a letter to her.
Later he fell in love with Mary Phillipse, who, though beautiful,
spirited, and rich, did not win him. This love affair is somewhat
shadowy in outline. Washington Irving thinks that the spirit of the
alert soldier overcame the passion of the lover, and that Washington
left the lists of love for those of battle, leaving the field to his
successful rival, Colonel Morris. The inevitable widow in the shape of
Madam Custis, with two pretty children and a fortune of fifteen
thousand pounds sterling, became at last what he called his
“agreeable partner for life,” and Irving thinks she was wooed with
much despatch on account of the reverses in the Phillipse episode.
 Thomas Jefferson was another example of a President who
outlived his love-affair with a young girl, and married in serenity a
more experienced dame. In his early correspondence he reveals his
really tumultuous passion for one Miss Becca Burwell. He sighs like
a furnace, and bemoans his stammering words of love, but fair
Widow Martha Skelton made him eloquent. Many lovers sighed at
her feet; two of them lingered in her drawing-room one evening to
hear her sing a thrilling love-song to the accompaniment of
Jefferson’s violin. The love-song and music were so expressive that
the two disconsolate swains plainly read the story of their fate, and
left the house in defeat.
James Madison, supposed to be an irreclaimable old bachelor,
succumbed at first sight to the charms of fair Widow Dorothy Todd,
twenty years his junior, wooed her with warmth, and made her, as
Dolly Madison, another Mrs. President. Benjamin Franklin also
married a widow.
The characteristic glamour which hung round every widow
encircled Widow Sarah Syms, and Colonel Byrd gives a spirited
sketch of her in 1732:—
In the evening Tinsley conducted me to Widow Syms’
house where I intended to take up my quarters. This lady at
first suspecting I was some lover put on a gravity that
becomes a weed, but as soon as she learned who I was
brightened up with an unusual cheerfulness and serenity. She
was a portly handsome dame, of the family of Esau, and
seemed not to pine too much for the death of her husband.
This widow is a person of lively and cheerful conversation
with much less reserve than most of her country women. It
becomes her very well and sets off her other agreeable
qualities to advantage. We tossed off a bottle of honest port
which we relished with a broiled chicken. At nine I retired to
my devotions, and then slept so sound that fancy itself was
stupefied, else I should have dreamed of my most obliging
land-lady.
 This “weed” who did not pine too much for her husband, soon
married again, and became the mother of Patrick Henry; and the
testimony of Colonel Byrd as to her lively and cheerful conversation
shows the heredity of Patrick Henry’s “gift of tongues.”

Hie! Betty Martin! tiptoe fine,

Couldn’t get a husband for to suit her mind!

was a famous Maryland belle, to whom came a-courting two friends,

young lawyers, named Dallam and Winston. It was a day of much
masculine finery and the two impecunious but amicable friends
possessed but one ruffled shirt between them, which each wore on
courting-day. Such amiability deserved the reward it obtained, for,
strange to say, both suitors won Betty Martin. Dallam was the first
husband,—the sacrifice,—and left her a widow with three sons and a
daughter. Winston did likewise, even to the exact number of children.
Daughter Dallam’s son was Richard Caswell, governor of South
Carolina, and member of Congress. Daughter Winston’s son was
William Paca, governor of Maryland, and member of the Continental
Congress. Both grandsons on their way to and from Congress
always visited their spirited old grandmother, who lived to be some
say one hundred and twenty years old.
There must have been afforded a certain satisfaction to a dying
husband—of colonial times—through the confidence that, by
unwavering rule, his widow would soon be cared for and cherished
by another. There was no uncertainty as to her ultimate settlement in
life, and even should she be unfortunate enough to lose her second
partner, he still had every reason to believe that a third would
speedily present himself. The Reverend Jonathan Burr when almost
moribund, piously expressed himself to “that vertuous gentlewoman
his wife with confidence” that she would soon be well provided for;
and she was, for “she was very shortly after very honourably and
comfortably married unto a gentleman of good estate,” a magistrate,
Richard Dummer, and lived with him nearly forty years. Provisions
were always made by a man in his will in case his wife married
again; scarcely ever to remove the property from her, but simply to
re-adjust the division or conditions. And men often signed ante-
nuptial contracts promising not to “meddle” with their wives’ property.
One curious law should be noted in Pennsylvania, in 1690, that a
widow could not marry till a year after her husband’s death.
There seem to have been many advantages in marrying a widow
—she might prove a valuable inheritance. The second husband
appeared to take a real pride in demanding and receiving all that
was due to the defunct partner. As an example let me give this
extract from a court record. On May 31st, 1692, the governor and
council of Maryland were thus petitioned:—
James Brown of St Marys who married the widow and relict
of Thomas Pew deceased, by his petition humbly prays
allowance for Two Years Sallary due to his Predecessor as
Publick Post employed by the Courts, as also for the use of a
Horse, and the loss of a Servant wholly, by the said Pew
deputed in his sickness to Officiate; and ran clear away with
his Horse, some Clothes &c., and for several months after not
heard of.
Now we must not be over-critical, nor hasty in judgment of the
manners and motives of two centuries ago, but those days are held
up to us as days of vast submissiveness and modesty, of patient
long-suffering, of ignorance of extortion; yet I think we would search
far, in these degenerate days, for a man who, having married a relict,
would, two years after his “Predecessor’s” death, have the colossal
effrontery to demand of the government not only the back salary of
said “Predecessor,” but pay for the use of a horse stolen by the
Predecessor’s own servant—nay, more, for the value of the said
servant who elected to run away. Truly James Brown builded well
when he chose a wife whose departing partner had, like a receding
wave, deposited much lucrative silt on the matrimonial shore, to be
thriftily gathered in and utilized as a bridal dower by his not-too-
sensitive successor.
In fact it may plainly be seen that widows were life-saving stations
in colonial social economy; one colonist expressed his attitude
towards widows and their Providential function as economic aids,
thus:—
Our uncle is not at present able to pay you or any other he
owes money to. If he was able to pay he would; they must
have patience till God enable him. As his wife died in mercy
near twelve months since, it may be he may light of some rich
widow that may make him capable to pay; except God in this
way raise him he cannot pay you or any one else.
It certainly must have been some satisfaction to every woman to
feel within herself the possibility of becoming such a celestial agent
of material salvation.
I wish to state, in passing, that it is sometimes difficult to judge as
to the marital estate of some dames, to know whether they were
widows at the time of the second marriage or not, for the prefixed
Mrs. was used indifferently for married and single women, and even
for young girls. Cotton Mather wrote of “Mrs. Sarah Gerrish, a very
beautiful and ingenious damsel seven years of age.” Rev. Mr.
Tompson wrote a funeral tribute to a little girl of six, which is entitled
and begins thus:—
A Neighbors Tears dropt on ye grave of an Amiable Virgin,
a pleasant Plant cut down in the blooming of her Spring viz;
Mrs Rebecka Sewall Anno Aetatis 6, August ye 4ᵗʰ 1710.

I saw this Pritty Lamb but t’other day

With a small flock of Doves just in my way
Ah pitty tis Such Prittiness should die
With rare alliances on every side.
Had Old Physitians liv’d she ne’er had died.

The pious old minister did not really mean by this tribute to the old-
school doctors, that Mrs. Rebecka would have achieved earthly
immortality. He modestly ends his poetic tribute thus:—
 Had you given warning ere you pleased to Die
You might have had a Neater Elegy.

These consorts and relicts are now but shadows of the past:—

their bones are dust,

Their souls are with the saints, I trust.

The honest and kindly gentlemen who were their husbands,

sounded their virtues in diaries and letters; godly ministers preached
their piety in labored and dry-as-dust sermons. Their charms were
sung by colonial poets in elegies, anagrams, epicediums, acrostics,
threnodies, and other decorous verse. It was reserved for a man of
war, and not a very godly man of war either, to pæan their good
sense. Cervantes says that “womans counsel is not worth much, yet
he who despises it is no wiser than he should be.” With John
Underhill’s more gallant tribute to the counsel of a consort, we may
fitly end this chapter.
Myself received an arrow through my coat sleeve, a second
against my helmet on the forehead; so as if God in his
Providence had not moved the heart of my wife to persuade
me to carry it along with me (which I was unwilling to do) I had
been slain. Give me leave to observe two things from hence;
first when the hour of death is not yet come, you see God
useth weak means to keep his purpose unviolated; secondly
let no man despise advice and counsel of his wife though she
be a woman. It were strange to nature to think a man should
be bound to fulfil the humour of a woman, what arms he
should carry; but you see God will have it so, that a woman
should overcome a man. What with Delilahs flattery, and with
her mournful tears, they must and will have their desire, when
the hand of God goes along in the matter, and this to
accomplish his own will. Therefore let the clamor be
quenched that I hear daily in my ears, that New England men
usurp over their wives and keep them in servile subjection.
The country is wronged in this matter as in many things else.
Let this precedent satisfy the doubtful, for that comes from the
example of a rude soldier. If they be so courteous to their
wives as to take their advice in warlike matters, how much
more kind is the tender affectionate husband to honor his wife
as the weaker vessel. Yet mistake not. I say not they are
bound to call their wives in council, though they are bound to
take their private advice (so far as they see it make for their
advantage and good). Instance Abraham.
 CHAPTER II.
WOMEN OF AFFAIRS.

The early history of Maryland seems singularly peaceful when

contrasted with that of other colonies. There were few Indian horrors,
few bitter quarrels, comparatively few petty offences. In spite of the
influx of convicts, there was a notable absence of the shocking
crimes and equally shocking punishments which appear on the court
records of other provinces; it is also true that there were few schools
and churches, and but scanty intellectual activity. Against that
comparatively peaceful background stands out one of the most
remarkable figures of early colonial life in America—Margaret Brent;
a woman who seemed more fitted for our day than her own. She was
the first woman in America to demand suffrage, a vote, and
representation.
She came to the province in 1638 with her sister Mary (another
shrewd and capable woman), her two brothers, and nine other
colonists. The sisters at once took up land, built manorhouses, and
shortly brought over more colonists; soon the court-baron and court-
leet were held at Mary Brent’s home, St. Gabriel’s Manor, on old
Kent Island. We at once hear of the sisters as active in business
affairs, registering cattle marks, buying and selling property,
attending with success to important matters for their brothers; and
Margaret soon signed herself “Attorney for my brother, &c., &c.,” and
was allowed the right so to act. The Brents were friends and
probably kinsfolk of Lord Baltimore, and intimate friends, also, of the
governor of Maryland, Leonard Calvert. When the latter died in 1647,
he appointed by nuncupation one Thomas Greene as his successor
as governor, and Margaret Brent as his sole executrix, with the
laconic instruction to “Take all and Pay all,” and to give one Mistress
Temperance Pypott a mare colt. His estate was small, and if he had
made Greene executor, and Mistress Margaret governor, he would
have done a much more sensible thing; for Greene was vacillating
and weak, and when an emergency arose, he had to come to
Margaret Brent for help. The soldiers, who had assisted the
government in recent troubles, were still unpaid, and Governor
Calvert had pledged his official word and the property of Lord
Baltimore that they should be paid in full. After his death an
insurrection in the army seemed rising, when Mistress Brent calmly
stepped in, sold cattle belonging to the Proprietary, and paid off the
small but angry army. This was not the only time she quelled an
incipient mutiny. Her kinsman, Lord Baltimore, was inclined to find
bitter fault, and wrote “tartly” when the news of her prompt action and
attendant expenditure reached his ears; but the Assembly sent him a
letter, gallantly upholding Mistress Brent in her “meddling,” saying
with inadvertent humour, that his estate fared better in her hands
than “any man elses.”
Her astonishing stand for woman’s rights was made on January
21, 1647-48, two centuries and a half ago, and was thus recorded:—
Came Mrs Margaret Brent and requested to have vote in
the House for herself and voyce allsoe, for that on the last
Court 3rd January it was ordered that the said Mrs Brent was
to be looked upon and received as his Ldp’s Attorney. The
Governor deny’d that the s’d Mrs Brent should have any vote
in the house. And the s’d Mrs Brent protested against all
proceedings in this present Assembly unlesse she may be
present and have vote as afores’d.
With this protest for representation, and demand for her full rights,
this remarkable woman does not disappear from our ken. We hear of
her in 1651 as an offender, having been accused of killing wild cattle
and selling the beef. She asserted with vigor and dignity that the
cattle were her own, and demanded a trial by jury.
And in 1658 she makes her last curtsey before the Assembly and
ourselves, a living proof of the fallacy of the statement that men do
not like strong-minded women. For at that date, at the fully ripened
age of fifty-seven, she appeared as heir of an estate bequeathed to
her by a Maryland gentleman as a token of his love and affection,
and of his constant wish to marry her. She thus vanishes out of
history, in a thoroughly feminine rôle, that of a mourning sweetheart;
yet standing signally out of colonial days as the most clear-cut,
unusual, and forceful figure of the seventeenth century in Maryland.
Another Maryland woman of force and fearlessness was Verlinda
Stone. A letter from her to Lord Baltimore is still in the Maryland
archives, demanding an investigation of a fight in Anne Arundel
County, in which her husband was wounded. The letter is
businesslike enough, but ends in a fiery postscript in which she uses
some pretty strong terms. Such women as these were not to be
trifled with; as Alsop wrote:—
All Complemental Courtships drest up in critical Rarities are
meer Strangers to them. Plain wit comes nearest to their
Genius, so that he that intends to Court a Maryland girle,
must have something more than the tautologies of a long-
winded speech to carry on his design.
Elizabeth Haddon was another remarkable woman; she founded
Haddonfield, New Jersey. Her father had become possessed of a
tract of land in the New World, and she volunteered to come alone to
the colony, and settle upon the land. She did so in 1701 when she
was but nineteen years old, and conducted herself and her business
with judgment, discretion, and success, and so continued throughout
her long life. She married a young Quaker named Esthaugh, who
may have been one of the attractions of the New World. Her
idealized story has been told by L. Maria Child in her book The
Youthful Emigrant.
John Clayton, writing as early as 1688 of “Observables” in Virginia,
tells of several “acute ingenious gentlewomen” who carried on
thriving tobacco-plantations, draining swamps and raising cattle and
buying slaves. One near Jamestown was a fig-raiser.
In all the Southern colonies we find these acute gentlewomen
taking up tracts of land, clearing them, and cultivating their holdings.
In the settlement of Pennsylvania, Mary Tewee took two thousand
five hundred acres in what is now Lancaster County. She was the
widow of a French Huguenot gentleman, the friend of William Penn,
and had been presented at the court of Queen Anne.
New England magistrates did not encourage such independence.
In the early days of Salem, “maid-lotts” were granted to single
women, but stern Endicott wrote that it was best to abandon the
custom, and “avoid all presedents & evil events of granting lotts vnto
single maidens not disposed of.” The town of Taunton, Mass., had an
“ancient maid” of forty-eight years for its founder, one Elizabeth
Poole; and Winthrop says she endured much hardship. Her
gravestone says she was a “native of old England of good family,
friends and prospects, all of which she left in the prime of her life to
enjoy the religion of her conscience in this distant wilderness. A
great proprietor of the township of Taunton, a chief promoter of its
settlement in 1639. Having employed the opportunity of her virgin
state in piety, liberality and sanctity of manners, she died aged 65.”
Lady Deborah Moody did not receive from the Massachusetts
magistrates an over-cordial or very long-lived welcome. She is
described as a “harassed and lonely widow voluntarily exiling herself
for conscience’ sake.” Perhaps her running in debt for her
Swampscott land and her cattle had quite as much to do with her
unpopularity as her “error of denying infant baptism.” But as she paid
nine hundred or some say eleven hundred pounds for that wild land,
it is no wonder she was “almost undone.” She was dealt with by the
elders, and admonished by the church, but she “persisted” and
finally removed to the Dutch, against the advice of all her friends.
Endicott called her a dangerous woman, but Winthrop termed her a
“wise and anciently religious woman.” Among the Dutch she found a
congenial home, and, unmolested, she planned on her Gravesend
farm a well-laid-out city, but did not live to carry out her project. A
descendant of one of her Dutch neighbors writes of her:—
Tradition says she was buried in the north-west corner of
the Gravesend church yard. Upon the headstone of those
who sleep beside her we read the inscription In der Heere
entslapen—they sleep in the Lord. We may say the same of
this brave true woman, she sleeps in the Lord. Her rest has
 been undisturbed in this quiet spot which she hoped to make
a great city.
It seems to be plain that the charge of the affairs of Governor John
Winthrop, Jr., in New Haven was wholly in the hands of Mrs.
Davenport, the wife of the minister, Rev. John Davenport. Many
sentences in her husband’s letters show her cares for her friends’
welfare, the variety of her business duties, and her performance of
them. He wrote thus to the Governor in 1658:—
For your ground; my wife speedily, even the same day she
received your letter, spake with sundry about it, and received
this answer, that there is no Indian corne to be planted in that
quarter this yeare. Brother Boykin was willing to have taken it,
but saith it is overrun with wild sorrell and it will require time to
subdue it, and put it into tillage, being at present unfit to be
improved. Goodman Finch was in our harbour when your
letter came, & my wife went promptly downe, and met with
yong Mr Lamberton to whom she delivered your letter. He
offered some so bad beaver that my wife would not take it. My
wife spake twise to him herself. My wife desireth to add that
she received for you of Mr Goodenhouse 30s worth of beaver
& 4s in wampum. She purposeth to send your beaver to the
Baye when the best time is, to sell it for your advantage and
afterwards to give you an account what it comes to. Your
letter to Sarjiunt Baldwin my wife purposeth to carry to him by
the 1st opportunity. Sister Hobbadge has paid my wife in part
of her debt to you a bushel of winter wheate.
The letters also reveal much loving-kindness, much eagerness to
be of assistance, equal readiness to welcome new-comers, and to
smooth the rough difficulties in pioneer housekeeping. Rev. Mr.
Davenport wrote in August, 1655, from New Haven to Gov. Winthrop
at Pequot:—
Hon’ᵈ Sir,—We did earnestly expect your coming hither
with Mrs. Winthrop and your familie, the last light moone,
having intelligence that a vessel wayted upon you at Pequot
for that end, and were thereby encouraged to provide your
 house, that it might be fitted in some measure, for your
comfortable dwelling in it, this winter.
My wife was not wanting in her endeavors to set all
wheeles in going, all hands that she could procure on worke,
that you might find all things to your satisfaction. Though she
could not accomplish her desires to the full, yet she
proceeded as farr as she could; whereby many things are
done viz. the house made warme, the well cleansed, the
pumpe fitted for your use, some provision of wood layed in,
and 20 loades will be ready, whensoever you come; and
sundry, by my wife’s instigation, prepared 30 bush. of wheate
for the present and sister Glover hath 12 lb of candles ready
for you. My wife hath also procured a maid servant for you,
who is reported to be cleanly and saving, her mother is of the
church, and she is kept from a place in Connectacot where
she was much desired, to serve you....
If Mrs. Winthrop knew how wellcome she will be to us she
would I believe neglect whatsoever others doe or may be
forward to suggest for her discouragement. Salute her, with
due respect, in my name and my wife’s, most affectionately.
Madam Davenport also furnished the rooms with tables and
“chayres,” and “took care of yor apples that they may be kept safe
from the frost that Mrs. Winthrop may have the benefit of them,” and
arranged to send horses to meet them; so it is not strange to learn in
a postscript that the hospitable kindly soul, who thus cheerfully
worked to “redd the house,” had a “paine in the soles of her feet,
especially in the evening;” and a little later on to know she was
“valetudinarious, faint, thirsty, of little appetite yet cheerful.”
All these examples, and many others help to correct one very
popular mistake. It seems to be universally believed that the
“business woman” is wholly a product of the nineteenth century.
Most emphatically may it be affirmed that such is not the case. I
have seen advertisements dating from 1720 to 1800, chiefly in New
England newspapers, of women teachers, embroiderers, jelly-
makers, cooks, wax-workers, japanners, mantua-makers,—all truly
feminine employments; and also of women dealers in crockery,
musical instruments, hardware, farm products, groceries, drugs,
wines, and spirits, while Hawthorne noted one colonial dame who
carried on a blacksmith-shop. Peter Faneuil’s account books show
that he had accounts in small English wares with many Boston
tradeswomen, some of whom bought many thousand pounds’ worth
of imported goods in a year. Alice Quick had fifteen hundred pounds
in three months; and I am glad to say that the women were very
prompt in payment, as well as active in business. By Stamp Act
times, the names of five women merchants appear on the Salem list
of traders who banded together to oppose taxation.
It is claimed by many that the “newspaper-woman” is a growth of
modern times. I give examples to prove the fallacy of this statement.
Newspapers of colonial times can scarcely be said to have been
edited, they were simply printed or published, and all that men did as
newspaper-publishers, women did also, and did well. It cannot be
asserted that these women often voluntarily or primarily started a
newspaper; they usually assumed the care after the death of an
editor husband, or brother, or son, or sometimes to assist while a
male relative, through sickness or multiplicity of affairs, could not
attend to his editorial or publishing work.
Perhaps the most remarkable examples of women-publishers may
be found in the Goddard family of Rhode Island. Mrs. Sarah
Goddard was the daughter of Ludowick Updike, of one of the oldest
and most respected families in that State. She received an excellent
education “in both useful and polite learning,” and married Dr. Giles
Goddard, a prominent physician and postmaster of New London.
After becoming a widow, she went into the printing business in
Providence about the year 1765, with her son, who was postmaster
of that town. They published the Providence Gazette and Country
Journal, the only newspaper printed in Providence before 1775.
William Goddard was dissatisfied with his pecuniary profit, and he
went to New York, leaving the business wholly with his mother; she
conducted it with much ability and success under the name Sarah
Goddard & Company. I wish to note that she carried on this business
not under her son’s name, but openly in her own behalf; and when