Mary Cary Ambler
Born1732 Edit this on Wikidata
DiedMay 1781 Edit this on Wikidata (aged 48–49)
OccupationDiarist Edit this on Wikidata
Spouse(s)Edward Ambler Edit this on Wikidata
Parent(s)
  • Wilson Cary Edit this on Wikidata
FamilySally Fairfax

Mary Cary Ambler (1732 – May 1781) was an early American diarist. Her 1770 diary provides an early account of smallpox inoculation in colonial America.[1][2][3]

Mary Cary was the daughter of Colonel Wilson Cary (1702-1772), owner of the plantation Ceelys on the James in Elizabeth City County, Virginia, and his wife Sarah (1710-1783).[4][5] In 1754, eighteen-year-old Mary Cary married Edward Ambler (1733-1768), the son of wealthy merchant Richard Ambler (1690-1766) and heiress Elizabeth Jaquelin. Edward Ambler was a graduate of Cambridge University who was six feet tall and fond of wearing red velvet suits trimmed with gold lace.[5][6]

They had seven children, three of whom lived to adulthood:[7]

  • Elizabeth Ambler (1754-1756)
  • Richard Ambler (1756-1759)
  • Edward Ambler (1758-1782)
  • Sarah Ambler Macon (1760-1782)
  • Colonel John Ambler (1762-1836)
  • Mary Ambler (1764-1768)
  • Martha Ambler (1764-1768)

Edward Ambler inherited the Yorktown property of his father in 1766 and the couple lived there. When his brother John Ambler died later that year, Edward Ambler also inherited his father's property on Jamestown Island from his brother. The couple moved to Jamestown, preferring the natural and historical setting. Edward Ambler died "after a tedious illness" in 1768.[5][6]

In 1770 took her children Sarah and John on a three month journey to Baltimore, Maryland in order to get them inoculated against smallpox, a frequent and lethal disease of the time, by a "Dr.Stephenson", presumably John Stevenson. The process was lengthy and expensive. In her diary, Ambler wrote about the process, the details of their meals and travel, and her appreciation for her Baltimore landlady's library, especially Sermons to Young Women.[1][2][3][8]

During the American Revolutionary War, Ambler decamped further inland for Hanford County, Virginia, renting her Jamestown property to a Captain Edward Travis. She died there in 1781 and was buried in Jamestown at her request.[5]

Mary Cary is sometimes said to have been a love interest of a young George Washington, but this is due to confusion with her elder sister, Sally Fairfax.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 Ambler, M. (1937). "Diary of M. Ambler, 1770". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 45 (2): 152–170. ISSN 0042-6636. JSTOR 4244789.
  2. 1 2 Martin, Crista (1999–2002). Anne Commire; Deborah Klezmer (eds.). Women in world history: a biographical encyclopedia. Waterford, CT: Yorkin Publications. ISBN 1-4144-1267-3. OCLC 186968548.
  3. 1 2 Breslaw, Elaine G. (2012). Lotions, potions, pills, and magic : health care in early America. New York. ISBN 978-0-8147-3938-9. OCLC 813286346.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ↑ Pecquet du Bellet, Louise (1907). Some prominent Virginia families. Vol. 2. pp. 64–65.
  5. 1 2 3 4 McCartney, Martha (2000). Documentary History of Jamestown Island (PDF). Vol. 3. National Park Service. pp. 9–11. OCLC 45751986.
  6. 1 2 Rafa, Cheryl (November 1987). "The Ambler Family in Virginia - Historic Jamestowne Part of Colonial National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
  7. 1 2 Pecquet du Bellet, Louise (1907). Some prominent Virginia families. Vol. 1. pp. 23–28.
  8. ↑ Hayes, Kevin J. (1996). A colonial woman's bookshelf. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 0-87049-937-8. OCLC 33667521.
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