The Randolph Women and Their Men Written by Ruth Doumlele

I knew this book factually covered some of our nations history starting in 1787 with our early presidents and legislators, mostly in federal and state areas. This time in history is one I have always found to be very interesting. I was surprised at the amount of information the author had garnered regarding so many women of these leaders, who, at that time of history were all men. Women were behind these men and many times behind several men! The amount of unfaithfulness of both sexes during those years was much more than we were ever led to believe. One would think that such promiscuity would have been quite an adversity to a leader or his wife but it was quite rampant.The only problem I had with the book was keeping up with all the families; who was related to which person in which family. The biggest surprise to me was the amount of inner-marriage of close and distant cousins, in-laws, and in a few cases even closer relatives. It was not surprising how many children were b
orn deformed or were stillborn. Travel in those early years took weeks merely to go across a state because of bad or virtually no roads and the mode of rough travel being coach, carriage, walking, or horseback. The weather often became insufferable in homes of lower status people with very harsh winters and flooding in other times of the year. This allowed many of the husbands or wives to dally as they could behind their spouses back while they were away. The only obstacles they had were slaves who in some cases would talk or if another family member was at the house. Sometimes that family member might be the one that performed the promiscuity.The slaves lived in terrible conditions for the most part. Some owners freed their slaves while some had that freedom written in their wills for when they died, but that could become a long time before the slaves would be freed. In many cases the slaves were taken advantage of sexually by the owners and beaten if they did not submit. T
he feelings were mixed among the many leaders at that time as to what to do with the slaves-free, sell, or keep.I gained much knowledge of the history of our early years as a nation. Ruth Doumlele has researched not only the people themselves but the history of our nation between 1787 and 1816 and beyond for a few incidents. The book takes concentration when regarding the leaders and their families, whether Randolph's or other, to keep them straight in your mind, but the history and the quips that the author has found through their many writings will carry your interest through the book. I found that I was "pulling" for Nancy throughout the book under several names as she married. While being promiscuous she stood out as also being a hero to many others throughout the book. I think you will feel the same about this woman who was scorned while being a heroin.

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