The Price is “Rights”

This pendant belonged to Mary Lloyd Hendrickson of Monmouth County, New Jersey. It was likely a wedding present from her husband John, whom she married in 1790. When John died in his thirties, he left Mary a widow with several children. The pendant descended in the family to Mary's unmarried granddaughter Ella Hendrickson, who then left it to her niece Mary Hendrickson Taylor.

Monmouth County Historical Association. Gift of Mrs. Charles G. Bennett and Miss Louise Hartshorne, 1935

These gold bob with rings earrings resemble a pair that Christiana Kitts willed to her granddaughter in 1801. Kitts voted in December 1800 in Upper Penns Neck Township, Salem County, New Jersey.

Historic New England 

Women often carried fans like this one. Women’s accessories, such as this fan, and their clothing were markers of social status and a demonstration of wealth, especially in early New Jersey, where their presentation could be used to prove a woman’s ownership of property or eligibility to vote.

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Wallace House State Historic Site