MARBLEHEAD — As part of Rev250, a program commemorating 250 years since the American Revolutionary War, Social and Cultural Historian Judy Anderson gave a talk on notable Marbleheaders.

Held at the Robert “King” Hooper Mansion, now home to the Marblehead Arts Association, Judy Anderson held a talk on its inhabitants during the time of Revolutionary War, alongside other notable resident Jeremiah Lee. 

Anderson said that Lee and Hooper are talked about with a periodic frequency, but not so much for their families.

“They were the two major employers in town…we don’t hear about their families… I’ve always thought it was really important to understand the families,” Anderson said.

“No one was not touched by the Revolution,” Anderson added. “There was tragedy and sadness and starvation and widows,” she added.

Anderson said that Lee had one wife, and Hooper had had four.

Hooper’s four wives were Ruth, Ruth, Hannah, and Elizabeth.

Anderson said that in catalogs John Singleton Copley’s portraits from that time period, many simply call Hannah Hooper’s wife.

“They didn’t bother to look any further because they were dealing with 300 portraits, and later on, they just kept reiterating information that’s already out there,” Anderson said. 

“So, nobody realized she was his third wife, and he had two wives before them, and she was not even the mother of his children,” she said.

Hooper’s first wife, Ruth, was only married to him for two years, before she died.

Of Hooper’s wives, his first, Ruth, is the only one to have a known gravestone.

Hannah had brought multiple children to Hooper’s family, by way of being a widow herself, marrying Hooper at 37 years old. 

Anderson said that the it was not uncommon for there to have been many widows during this time period, especially in Marblehead, as men were often at sea as fishermen or trading merchants.

Colonel Jeremiah Lee’s only wife, Martha, married him in 1745. They were married for 30 years, having nine children, six living beyond infancy, joining military regiments, attending university, marrying and having children themselves.

“Most women will expect to be married once or twice, maybe three times,” Anderson said.

Anderson said that leading up to the Revolutionary War, in March of 1774, a majority of Marblehead had turned against the British after an economic sanction had been put in place, which closed off the Atlantic Ocean to New England fishing.

“They took away the entire town’s livelihood, whether you were the fisherman, or the merchant crew,” Anderson said.

Anderson said that some estimates have shown there were approximately 400 widows left after the Revolutionary War, and that in a town of 1,000 families, 1,500 men died during the war.