Remembering Elderly Women in Early America: A survey of how aged women were memorialized in late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century tombstone inscriptions, death notices, funeral sermons, and memoirs

By analyzing the language used in tombstone inscriptions, death notices, funeral sermons, and memoirs, this thesis reviews how cultural expectations placed on women during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries impacted the reputation of aged women. Specifically, it demonstrates how the ideology of domesticity contributed to the reputation of aged women as women and how advanced age influenced their exemplary place in society. Ultimately, this thesis argues the concept of gender identity that was influential throughout the life course was magnified in importance during old age.