I have posted clips from my documentary before on YouTube and have been asked many questions in the comments about it. So I decided to tell the background story. My video presents the entire interview.
It is a strange and sad story and my doc details the efforts that my team over a nine-month period to investigate it. We concluded that, even with the minor errors that Nettie Mitchell may have made in telling it, the basic story was true.
I took the interview that you are watching here to the executive producer of PBS American Experience series and she gave us the funds to make a one-hour documentary that both investigated the story and dramatized it titled Sins Of Our Mothers.
Some of the people that you see in this film clip corroborated what Nettie told my cameraman back in the 1975 when he recorded this interview. And I complement PBS for running a story like this involved with the Oedipus complex, Puritan sin (really sin in any culture), the sex abuse difficulties young women endured when they went to work in the mills of Massachusetts back in the mid-1800s.
Sin was a central concept in Puritan theology and was taken very seriously in New England during the 1800s. The Puritans believed that human beings were born sinful and that salvation could only be attained through faith in Jesus Christ.
In Puritan New England, sin was not just a personal failing but a crime against God and society. Puritan communities were tightly controlled with strict rules to prevent sinful behavior. Puritan ministers preached about sin regularly and sin was viewed as a very real danger to the community. Punishments for sin were severe and included public shaming, fines, imprisonment and even banishment.
Puritans were particularly concerned with sexual sins such as adultery and fornication which they believed threatened the sanctity of marriage. They were also deeply opposed to gambling, drinking and other forms of "worldly" pleasure, which they saw as distractions from the pursuit of godliness.
Life for rural Maine farmers in 1850 was difficult and marked by hardship and isolation. Most farmers lived on small, family-owned farms. Farmers typically had to contend with a challenging climate, as the winters were long and harsh, and the growing season was short. The soil in Maine was also rocky and infertile, making it difficult to grow crops.
Farmers worked long hours, often starting before dawn and continuing until well after sunset, in order to tend to their crops and livestock. They relied heavily on manual labor, with most tasks performed by hand or with the help of draft animals such as horses or oxen.
In addition to the challenges of farming, rural Maine farmers also faced social and economic isolation. Many lived far from towns or cities and had limited access to markets or goods and services. They also had limited access to education and cultural amenities.
This may be why a rural Maine farmer family trusted that when they sent their daughter Emmeline to work in the Lowell woolen Mills, she would be safe and protected as the broadsides hosted around the state of Maine for all to read claimed.
But it is also true that throughout New England and maybe throughout the country at that time, shunning was an active part of community life. Shunning was a form of social ostracism where individuals who were seen as violating community norms or religious beliefs were publicly condemned and excluded from social interactions. Shunning was often used as a way to enforce moral standards in the community. Those who were accused of violating these standards, such as engaging in extramarital affairs or consuming alcohol, would be publicly shamed and excluded from social events, including church services. Those who were shunned would be denied access to critical resources, such as food and supplies, and would be excluded from the support and assistance of their community.
Individuals who were shunned experienced significant social and economic hardship. They might lose their livelihoods or be forced to move away from their communities in order to avoid the stigma of being shunned. Despite its harshness, shunning was seen as an important way to maintain the moral fabric of the community. It was used as a way to enforce social norms and to discourage behaviors that were seen as immoral or sinful.
All of the above helps to understand how & why what happened to Emmeline according to Nettie Mitchell, could have happened. For me Nettie Mitchell was a courageous journalist/storyteller. She held it inside for so long and was pleased when we made the documentary (titled Sins Of Our Mothers), & provoked Judith Rosner to write the book Emmeline. The money she received helped her live the rest of her life in some level of comfort.
I want to thank the advertisers who post on my video. They include Portland to Bar Harbor and Rome, Maine.
David Hoffman filmmaker
