Mary Penry (12 November 1735 — 17 May 1804) was a Welsh-born woman in colonial Pennsylvania. As a longtime member of the Moravian community at Lititz, she served as "diarist, accountant and guide" for the single sisters' house.Scott Paul Gordon
"Glad Passivity: Mary Penry of Lititz and the Making of Moravian Women"
''Journal of Moravian History'' 13(1)(March 2013): 1-26.

Early life

Mary Penry was born at Abergavenny, the daughter of Hugh and Mary (Stocker) Penry. She left Wales with her widowed mother as a young girl, in about 1744. They moved in with Mary Stocker Penry's married sister and her husband, in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Mary Penry was educated with Elizabeth Drinker and Hannah Callender as a young woman. Penry converted to Moravianism and left Philadelphia in 1756, but maintained an ongoing correspondence with her schoolmates for decades.

In colonial Pennsylvania

Unhappy in her stepfather's home, Miss Penry moved to the Sisters' House at

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

, in 1756, at the suggestion of artist and preacher John Valentine Haidt. In 1762, she moved again, to the Moravian community at

Lititz, Pennsylvania Lititz is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, north of the city of Lancaster. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 9,370. History Lititz was founded by members of the Moravian Church in 1756 and was named a ...

. There she served the community as ''Schreiber'' (records keeper) and as ''Fremden-dienerin'' (guide for visitors to the community).Abraham Reincke
''A Register of Members of the Moravian Church''
(H. T. Clauder Printer, 1873): 250. She died in 1804, from

bronchitis Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi (large and medium-sized airways) in the lungs that causes coughing. Bronchitis usually begins as an infection in the nose, ears, throat, or sinuses. The infection then makes its way down to the bronchi. ...

, age 68. Mary Penry's letters home from Pennsylvania to her Welsh cousins were detailed and personal, as seen in this physical description of herself in middle age:

"I have most excellent eyes for use--but not for beauty--dark grey--am near-sighted yet not so much as to hold my work close to my nose. I am always taken to be younger than I really am; as I am plump the wrinkles are not so visible as they would be were I lean and haggard."

The letters also show a close familiarity with music, especially as taught at the Linden Hall School during her active years. Her surviving letters, many of which are now in the collection of the National Library of Wales, are among the best manuscript sources on Moravian life in eighteenth-century America. The choir diaries that she kept, which span forty years, are in the Moravian Archives at

. The Single Sisters' Residence where Penry lived is still standing and part of the Lititz Moravian Historic District. Mary Penry is one of the historical figures re-enacted in the Candelight Cemetery Tour at Lititz.Corey van Brookhoven
"Living History: A Candlelight Tour of the Moravian Cemetery"
''Lancaster Online'' (17 October 2012). Her surviving letters, some 75 in all, have been collected and edited by Scott Paul Gordon as ''The Letters of Mary Penry: A Single Moravian Woman in Early America'' (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2018).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Penry, Mary 1735 births 1804 deaths Moravian settlement in Pennsylvania People from Abergavenny People from Lititz, Pennsylvania