Mary Prudence Budd

Daughter of Daniel & Charlotte.

From History of Morris County, pg. 125:

"...on the 28th of December 1779, while the snow "storm was raging," Martha Washington passed through Trenton, on her way to Morristown; and that a troop of gallant Virginians stationed there were paraded to do her honor, being very proud to own her as a Virginian, and her husband also. She spent New Year's day in Morristown; and now, in the Ford mansion, you may see the very mirror in which her dignified form has often been reflected. The wife of the American commander-in-chief received her company, did the honors of her family, and even appeared occasionally at the "assembly balls" that winter dressed in American stuffs. It is a pleasing anecdote which was once told me by the late Mrs. Abby Vail, daughter of Uzal and Anna Kitchel. Some of the ladies in Hanover, and among them "the stately Madame Budd," mother of Dr. Bern Budd, dressed in their best, made a call on Lady Washington, and, as one of them afterward said, "we were dressed in our most elegant silks and ruffles, and so were introduced to her ladyship. And dont you think, we found her with a speckled homespun apron on, and engaged in knitting a stocking! She received us very handsomely, and then resumed her knitting. In the course of her conversation she said very kindly to us, while she made her needle fly, that American ladies should be patterns of industry to their countrywomen; 'we must become independent of England by doing without those articles which we can make ourselves. Whilst our husbands and brothers are examples of patriotism, we must be examples of industry!' 'I do declare," said one of them afterward, 'I never felt so ashamed and rebuked in my life!'"

Sources

1. Charles Alfred Strange, "The Strangs of Westchester," pgs. 199-204, New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 098, No. 4, Oct. 1967.

Links

• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~batsto/Families/Budd/BuddJ...
• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=mbwheeler...