His330

Annie Bidwell The Cult of Domesticity

California Style

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Annie Ellicott Kennedy, born in 1839, enjoyed a privileged childhood and life. Her father, Joseph Kennedy, served as the Federal Census Director in Washington D. C. Like other privileged young women of the mid-nineteenth-century, Annie received a respectable education. During the Civil War she served as a volunteer nurse in federal hospitals. Throughout her adult life, Annie remained a devoted Christian concerned with her own spirituality and that of others. She participated in the Temperance Movement and supported laws prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcohol. In addition to temperance, Annie supported woman suffrage — the right of women to vote in elections. She hoped that enfranchised women would be able to effectively support reform measures, including prohibition. Annie Bidwell advocated for woman suffrage because she believed women would be good “public housekeepers.” According to her beliefs, women would use their political influence to “clean up” a corrupt and sinful public society.

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Annie Bidwell in 1868

During the Christmas season in 1865, Annie met a man who would eventually become her husband and lead her to the other side of the country. While in Washington D.C., California Congressman John Bidwell met with Census Director Joseph Kennedy. Kennedy invited Bidwell home to dine with him and his family and during the evening, the 46 year-old Bidwell met the young and beautiful Annie Kennedy. During the next several years, Bidwell courted Annie, mainly through correspondence. She finally accepted one of his many marriage proposals and they were married in April 1868. After their marriage ceremony, the Bidwells set sail for California and arrived and settled at his Rancho de Arroyo Chico. (Bidwell purchased a 20,000 acre Mexican land grant at the present site of Chico, California).

Bidwell was a member of one of the first wagon trains to cross into California. Initially, Bidwell worked for John Sutter. Then, in 1848, he headed up the beautiful Feather River in search of gold. Here, he found gold at what is now named, Bidwell’s Bar. In addition to profiting from gold mining, Bidwell established a profitable supply business at Bidwell Bar. With his new found fortune, he pursued his love of farming and purchased the Mexican land grant Rancho de Arroyo Chico. Eventually, he was elected to represent California in the House of Representatives. While serving in Congress, Bidwell met his future wife.

(In the coming weeks, we will learn that Bidwell Bar is now submerged under Lake Oroville, a creation of the state water project).

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19th Century Woman's Role

Women were expected to: •Instill a sense of morality in children. •Encourage men to walk along the moral path. •Embrace domesticity by creating pleasant and efficient home environments. •Obey their husbands. •Refrain from political activities. •Restrict their participation within the public sphere to educational, church, and moral reform activities. •Relinquish their legal identities and property upon marriage. (In most states).

In short, women were confined to the domestic sphere.

Although Annie and John Bidwell did not have children of their own, they supported public education of children in the Chico area. Today, California State University, Chico, sits upon land the Bidwells donated. Annie embraced the role of serving as a moral reformer in the nineteenth-century and used her privilege to pursue her priorities. Her support of woman suffrage, however, represented a definite violation of the expectations of the Cult of Domesticity or expectations of True Womanhood.

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