Betsey Reynolds Voorhees

Betsey Reynolds Voorhees was a woman of great spirit and ability. Born in Minaville in 1790, Betsey, like many girls her age, had a boarding school education where she learned to paint, sew and compose poetry. She married Dr. Samuel Voorhees in 1811 and had four sons, Marcus, James, Stephen and George.

Betsey oversaw her sons’ education and upbringing, giving them constant guidelines for a moral and productive life. Her journals from this time reflect the joys and sorrows of motherhood along with the theme that life is short and one has moral responsibilities to fulfill.

After her oldest son Marcus died while traveling in Mexico on business, Betsey became involved in woman’s suffrage, anti-slavery and other movements of the times. From 1844 to 1855 Betsey often travelled by train and steamboat to New York City to attend meetings. Her journals record her days in New York and her observations at meetings like the American and Foreign Antislavery Society where she heard Henry Ward Beecher speak.

Throughout her life Betsey always found time for her needlework and painting. The Betsey Reynolds Voorhees room is filled with wonderful examples of her writings, needlework, paintings and family heirlooms. It is a wonderful look at life of an early 19th century woman of the Mohawk Valley.