Mary Penry (12 November 1735 — 17 May 1804) was a Welsh-born woman in colonial Pennsylvania. As a longtime member of the Moravian community at

Lititz Lititz is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, north of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Lancaster. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 9,370. History Lititz was ...

, she served as "diarist, accountant and guide" for the single sisters' house.Scott Paul Gordon
"Glad Passivity: Mary Penry of Lititz and the Making of Moravian Women"
''Journal of Moravian History'' 13(1)(March 2013): 1-26.

Early life

Mary Penry was born at

Abergavenny Abergavenny (; , , archaically , ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales. Abergavenny is promoted as a "Gateway to Wales"; it is approximately from the England–Wales border, border with England and is loca ...

, the daughter of Hugh and Mary (Stocker) Penry. She left Wales with her widowed mother as a young girl, in about 1744. They moved in with Mary Stocker Penry's married sister and her husband, in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. Mary Penry was educated with Elizabeth Drinker and Hannah Callender as a young woman. Penry converted to Moravianism and left Philadelphia in 1756, but maintained an ongoing correspondence with her schoolmates for decades.

In colonial Pennsylvania

Unhappy in her stepfather's home, Miss Penry moved to the Sisters' House at

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton and Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Bethle ...

, in 1756, at the suggestion of artist and preacher

John Valentine Haidt John Valentine Haidt (an anglicanization of Johann Valentin Haidt) (1700–1780) was a German-born American painter and Moravian preacher in Pennsylvania. Life Haidt was born in Danzig, Prussia (modern day Gdańsk, Poland). He was educated a ...

. In 1762, she moved again, to the Moravian community at

Lititz, Pennsylvania Lititz is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, north of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Lancaster. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 9,370. History Lititz was ...

. There she served the community as ''Schreiber'' (records keeper) and as ''Fremden-dienerin'' (guide for visitors to the community).Abraham Reincke
''A Register of Members of the Moravian Church''
(H. T. Clauder Printer, 1873): 250. She died in 1804, from

bronchitis Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi (large and medium-sized airways) in the lungs that causes coughing. Bronchitis usually begins as an infection in the nose, ears, throat, or sinuses. The infection then makes its way down to the bronchi. ...

, age 68. Mary Penry's letters home from Pennsylvania to her Welsh cousins were detailed and personal, as seen in this physical description of herself in middle age:

"I have most excellent eyes for use--but not for beauty--dark grey--am near-sighted yet not so much as to hold my work close to my nose. I am always taken to be younger than I really am; as I am plump the wrinkles are not so visible as they would be were I lean and haggard."

The letters also show a close familiarity with music, especially as taught at the Linden Hall School during her active years. Her surviving letters, many of which are now in the collection of the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales (, ) in Aberystwyth is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals, and the l ...

, are among the best manuscript sources on Moravian life in eighteenth-century America. The choir diaries that she kept, which span forty years, are in the Moravian Archives at

. The Single Sisters' Residence where Penry lived is still standing and part of the

Lititz Moravian Historic District The Lititz Moravian Historic District is a national historic district that is located in Lititz, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. History and architectural features This distri ...

. Mary Penry is one of the historical figures re-enacted in the Candelight Cemetery Tour at Lititz.Corey van Brookhoven
"Living History: A Candlelight Tour of the Moravian Cemetery"
''Lancaster Online'' (17 October 2012). Her surviving letters, some 75 in all, have been collected and edited by Scott Paul Gordon as ''The Letters of Mary Penry: A Single Moravian Woman in Early America'' (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2018).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Penry, Mary 1735 births 1804 deaths Moravian settlement in Pennsylvania People from Abergavenny People from Lititz, Pennsylvania