From the Distaff Side: Some Female Entrepreneurs

Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, Inc., The, Sep 2004 by Bopp, Carl

When thinking of toolmakers, we tend to think of men. After all, most toolmakers were male. The Directory of american Toolmakers (DAT) lists more than fourteen thousand tool manufactures and only a few are women. Hut the distaff side was not completely unrepresented in the tool trade among Philadelphia toolmakers. Rachel Krooks, Margaret Napier, Mary Duke, and Charlotte White are four Philadelphia women, who, when widowed, continued to run all or part of their husbands' businesses. There were many other women who followed a similar course, bLit these four are the first whose lives I have examined.

Rachel Brooks

Rachel was the wife of William Hrooks, who was listed for the first time in the 1791 Philadelphia City Directory as "Hrooks William, plane maker, 25 Key's alley, 84 Crown st."1 He may have been in business before that date, but there is a gap in the run of city directories, so the actual starting date cannot be determined. The first Philadelphia directory came out in 1785. In fact, there were two separate directories published in the year.2 William Brooks is not found in either one. In the next five years (1786, 1787, 1788, 1789, and 1790), no directories were published, so there is no way of knowing if, perhaps, Brooks began his business during that time. The publication of those first directories was not followed by another in 1792, but Brooks is listed in the next year's directory, published in 1793.3

What is probably most interesting about this 1793 directory is that it also listed for the first time, the most famous person in America, who was then living in Philadelphia. Found within its pages is "Washington George, President of the United States, 190 High St." At this time, Philadelphia was the capital of the United States, and the president resided there and was listed like any other citizen in the city directory. The house at 100 High Street was one of the best in the city. The home was owned by Robert Morris, who moved next door so Washington could have use of it.4 An item in Morris's house figures later in the story of Rachel Brooks.

The 1801 directory was laid out by streets and lists who lived on each street.5 The directory notes that Key's Alley ran "east & west from Front & 2nd between Vine & Sassafras." The addresses were all on one side of the alley and numbered 11,13,16,17,19, 21, 25, 27, 29, 33, 35, 37, and 39 (there was no number 23). At numbers 25 and 35 there is listing for "William Brooks, plane maker." Brooks is identified in directories as a plane-maker until 1807; from 1800 to 1807, his address is listed as 25 and 35 Key's alley.6

Then in the 1808 directory, William Brooks's entry is not found; it is replaced by "Brooks widow of William, plane maker 25 Key's alley."7 At that time, most widows were only listed for one or two years following the death of their husbands, and, as in this case, the widow's first naine was not always given. From 1808 to 1813, Rachel continues to be listed as, "Brooks widow of William, plane maker."8 The fact that she is listed in all these directories as a planemaker leads me to think that tool manufacturing continued following Brooks's death and that the Widow Brooks had not remained in business to simply sell off planes that may have been on hand. If that had been the case, I do not think she would have been listed as a planemaker.

In 1814, Widow Brooks's first name is listed for the first time in a directory, and there is a new occupation in the listing, "Brooks Rachael, widow mangier 26 Key's alley."9 A mangier is one who uses a mangle, a laundry apparatus for pressing fabrics. Using rollers and pressure, water is extracted from cloth, which is flattened sufficiently to require little if any ironing.

Raymond R. Townsend discusses mangles in an article in The Chronicle in 1966 and notes that there was a mangle in the Morris home.

George Washington when attending the convention in Philadelphia in 1787 remarked that he had visited Benjamin Franklin where he had seen a machine, called a mangle, for pressing, in place of ironing, clothes from the wash. He stated it was very useful for table cloths and articles without pleats and irregular folding and recommended it for all large families. Later in 1790, when he was about to go to Philadelphia to stay at the house of Robert Morris, Mrs. Morris offered the use of her mangle, which was fixed in place. She proposed that he could take hers and leave his.10

Rachael Brooks was listed as a mangier in 1816, 1817, and 1818.11 From 1819 to 1822, her name, but with no occupation appears in the directory, as, "Brooks Rachel, widow of Wm. 25 Key's alley."12 This manner of listing is typical for a widow.

Because Rachel Brooks's listing following her husband's death included the reference to "plane maker," I think we can assume that she was in fact operating the planemaking shop for about six additional years.

Margaret Napier

Margaret Napier was the wife of Thomas Napier. He was listed in both of the 1785 directories as "Napier Thomas, plain maker, Second [between] Lombard and South-streets" and as "Napier Thomas, Planemaker, 8,99, Second-street."13 However, Napier had been working as a planemaker in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1773, and he immigrated to Philadelphia in 1774, setting up shop in the city.14