Deborah Fisher (October 30, 1723 – November 10, 1817), later Deborah Ames and Deborah Woodward, was a tavern owner in Dedham, Massachusetts.
Personal life
Born on October 30, 1723, Fisher was the youngest child of Jeremiah and Deborah (née Richards) Fisher.[1]
Fisher was the second wife Nathaniel Ames, marrying him on October 30, 1742.[1] Deborah and Nathaniel Ames had five children, Nathaniel, Seth, Deborah, William, and Fisher Ames.[1][a]
When she and her second husband, Richard Woodward, sued a relative over the will and estate of her father, they hired John Adams as their lawyer.[4] After they divorced, she was known as Mrs. Ames again.[5]
Deborah died on November 10, 1817, at which time her tavern was torn down.[2][6][1]
Nathaniel's first wife was Fisher's cousin, Mary.[1] Through this marriage, Nathaniel came into possession of Fisher's Tavern, which was founded by one of Fisher's distant relatives, Joshua Fisher.[7][6] After Nathaniel died, Fisher inherited it.[1]
After her husband Nathaniel died in 1764, Fisher successfully ran the tavern for several years with the help of several of her sons.[1][6][2][b] According to a later family biography, "inn keeping was a favorite occupation with her and she carried natters with a high hand."[1] Befitting her position as an inn keeper, she was astutely interested in politics.[1] Fisher "hated the Jacobins devoutly."[1] As an inn keeper, she was compared to Meg Dods, the innkeeper in the 19th century novel Saint Ronan's Well.[1] She has been described as "a very shrewd and sensible woman of a strong and singular cast of mind."[1]
In 1772, she married Richard Woodward and her home became known as the Woodward Tavern.[2][6][8][1][9] It was an unhappy marriage, however, and the couple divorced by 1784.[2][1] Before they did, however, the convention that adopted the Suffolk Resolves met in the tavern and began their work.
Notes
^Fisher Ames had a half brother, also named Fisher Ames, through his father and his father's first wife.[2][3]
^Her son, Nathaniel Ames, was not interested in the tavern and had little to do with it.[2]
Bernhard, Winfred E. A. (1965). Fisher Ames, Federalist and Statesman, 1758-1808. Williamsburg, VA: Institute of Early American History and Culture.
Briggs, Sam, ed. (1891). The Essays, Humor, and Poems of Nathaniel Ames, Father and Son, of Dedham, Massachusetts, from Their Almanacks, 1726-1775. With Notes and Comments by Sam. Briggs.
