Hanging Ruth Blay
An Eighteenth-Century New Hampshire Tragedy

This was a really interesting read. There isn't a whole lot of factual information that survives in the records to uncover the whole story about Ruth Blay and what happened to her, or why. But the author does a really nice job of supplementing the meager records with great historical context and dis......more

A Quick Look at one of America’s little-known executions—that of a single schoolteacher who gave birth to a baby—stillborn—but was summarily executed for trying to conceal the event. Interesting in its exploration of women’s literacy, societal expectations of mothers, and the strange customs that co......more

I like this book. It's a brief book that shines a light on how Colonial American (andd British) laws and people dealt with pregnancy and those men and women who defied societal norms. What I particularly appreciated was that the book is short and to the point. Few facts remain about Ruth Blay, who w......more

The Hanging of Ruth Blay Very interesting account of a very sad episode in 18th Century” justice”. A 31 yr. old woman judged not by a jury of her peers (12 men); their knowledge of the post Mortem condition of a few days old infant is lacking sufficiently enough that they condemn a women to death cal......more

interesting Account Mrs. Marvin gives a very detailed and well researched account of the hanging of Ruth Blay, an unmarried school teacher. Miss Blay became pregnant out of wedlock. She gave birth in a barn. No one knows if the baby was stillborn for sure, but it seems likely. Rather than come forwar......more