The trial of a Connecticut minister accused of getting a young woman pregnant made history.
In the early 19th century, most New England homes would have had a copy of “Domestic Medicine” by William Buchan, pictured here. The book included instructions to eliminate “obstructed menses” — a euphemism for early pregnancy. By Gillian Brockell Gillian Brockell Staff writer for Retropolis Email Bio Follow May 16 at 9:30 AM He was a Connecticut preacher with a reputation for seducing female congregants. She was a young woman who fell under his spell and wound up pregnant.
“Just like there are ministers now in the contemporary world who have this huge popular following, and they dress well, and people, especially women, love them,” Inniss told The Washington Post. “That’s who Ammi Rogers was.” At the time, “a huge number” of brides in New England were already pregnant when they married, Inniss said, and it was “fairly typical” for parents and grandparents to ignore premarital sex if nuptials were expected, as was the case with Smith and Rogers.According to trial transcripts, when the young woman became pregnant, Rogers told her they couldn’t marry unless she terminated her pregnancy.
Rogers was investigated, arrested and put on trial in 1820, an uncommon occurrence at a time when most sexual crimes weren’t prosecuted unless it led to a homicide or some other extreme outcome. The first trial collapsed when Rogers, still promising Smith marriage, essentially abducted her and her sister so they couldn’t testify. Months later, at a second trial, the sisters refused to testify. But their prior statements to local authorities were used as evidence. Additionally, an enslaved man named Sam Wheeler testified he had seen the couple having sex.
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