From 1799 to 1826, a time of great change in the newly formed United States of America, Lydia Richards (1782-1846) from Plainfield, Massachusetts, conducted a thirty year correspondence with her friend, Charity Bryant (1777–1851) from the Middlebury, Vermont area. 

Charity Bryant was an business owner and writer and sister of Dr. Peter Bryant (1767-1820) and aunt of poet William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), both of Cummington, Massachusetts.

While it was not unusual for folks from rural New England  to exchange letters over the course of a lifetime, it is unusual to have such a complete archive of letters. Currently the Henry Sheldon Museum in Middlebury, Vermont houses a collection of over 400 of Charity Bryant’s letters, with 180 being sent from Lydia Richards. Listed below are some of the letters written by Lydia to Charity, giving us a sketch of the life and times of rural life at the turn of the 19th century – the religious, political, moral, and domestic day to day life of two women living on the edge of the frontier.

Included is a 1977 paper by historian William Hosley’s research on these letters entitled: The Richards – Bryant Correspondence 1798 – 1851

August 19 & 21, 1799August 6, 1800October 9, 1802
September 28, 1799October 9, 1800September 17, 1803
October 18, 1799November 1, 1800May 24, 1805
October 26, 1799January 6, 1801January 26, 1806
November 4, 1799February 21, 1801July 5, 1806
November 23, 1799May 21, 1801August 12, 1806
January 3, 1800September 10, 1801September 17, 1806
January 21, 1800February 21, 1802
Unidentified Artist, Double Silhouette: Sylvia Drake and Charity Bryant, ca. 1807-1815. Cut paper on black fabric, cream-colored laid paper, framed in silk and braids of human hair
Collection of Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History, 1979.325

Charity Bryant is known for her long-term, same-sex union with Sylvia Drake (1784–1868). Living together in Weybridge, Vermont, for 44 years, they were openly recognized by their community as a married couple, providing some of the earliest and most extensive documentation of same-sex partnerships in U.S. history. The couple is buried together under a shared headstone at Weybridge Hill Cemetery in Addison County, Vermont. Their extensive collection of personal papers and diaries is preserved at the Henry Sheldon Museum in Middlebury, Vermont.

An Acrostic Poem From Charity to Sylvia

Charity and Sylvia: A Weybridge Couple Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History

Drawing on the Archive: Tillie Walden’s Charity & Sylvia Graphic Novel

Sylvia Drake 1784-1868 The Self Portrait of a Seamstress of Weybridge By Donald M . Murray and Robert M. Rodney