Updated on March 9, 2026 by Ruth
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Who are the invisible people among us? Too often, it’s the women—the 51% of the population that somehow got edited out of the history books. We know they were there, baking the bread, running the farms, and, oh yeah, holding the brand-new country together while the men were off playing soldier. So, how is it we know so little about what they actually did?
Thankfully, we’re finally starting to give these women their due. We’re celebrating the scientists, the inventors, the abolitionists, and the soldiers. Because, surprise! Women have been involved in literally every single thing humans have ever done.
For me, this isn’t an abstract historical exercise. My family has always valued the accomplishments of the women in our own line, holding them up as the ultimate role models. But even for us, the further back I go, the more the trail goes cold. They become ghosts.
Today, I’m trying to shine a light on one of them: my ancestor, Margaret Clark Webster (1757-1806).
Let’s start with a bombshell that jumps off the page: Margaret married Thomas Webster in 1770. Do the math. She was 13 years old.
Thirteen. She was an only child, and we don’t know when her father died. Was this a factor in such a young marriage? We don’t know, but you can bet your bonnet it was. We can only theorize about the desperation or the strategy behind it.
Fast forward six years. It’s 1776. Thomas, now a husband and father of three, decides it’s a great time to join the Delaware militia and go fight for this crazy idea called independence. He leaves the farm. He leaves the kids. He leaves it all to Margaret. She is 19 years old.
Let that sink in. At an age when many of us today are still figuring out how to do our own laundry, Margaret was solely responsible for running a 50-acre farm and raising three young children.
How did she feel about this? The record is silent. But as a farmer myself, I can tell you: managing 50 acres with three toddlers in tow is not a one-woman show. It’s a logistical nightmare. Her family lived nearby. Thomas’s family lived nearby. So, it’s likely aunts, uncles, and cousins rallied around. Maybe she had hired help or indentured servants. But whoever was there, one thing is clear: Margaret was the boss.
While Thomas was marching and shooting, Margaret was the CEO of Webster Homestead, Inc. She made sure the crops were planted and harvested—enough to feed the family and, crucially, to sell for cash to pay the property taxes. The chickens were fed, the eggs were collected, the cows were milked, and the fall butchering happened on schedule. Produce was canned, dried, and tucked away for the winter. The entire supply chain of 18th-century life was on her shoulders.
The fact that Thomas felt he could leave speaks volumes about his confidence in her. But let’s be real: it also speaks volumes about the fact that he was a man of his time who believed the fight for liberty was his to join. If you know farmers, you know you practically need a crowbar to pry them off their land. He must have known the farm was in capable hands.
Wouldn’t we kill for Margaret’s diary? “Dearest Diary, Thomas has run off to play soldier again. Spent the morning birthing a breech calf, then had to break up a fight over who got the last biscuit. The militia better win this thing fast.”
This was an era of massive upheaval. Delaware was officially recognized as a separate colony on June 15, 1776—just three weeks before the Declaration of Independence. But that political squabble was nothing compared to the war. And the war came knocking. The Battle of Brandywine, one of the Revolution’s largest battles, was fought a mere ten miles from the Webster farm. The ground literally shook. It may have been that very rumble of cannon fire that spurred Thomas to join up.
After the war, Thomas came home. I like to imagine their reunion. He didn’t return to a damsel in distress, but to a full partner. Margaret had successfully run the business of their lives for years. It’s easy for me to picture their marriage as a true partnership because that tradition was passed down through the generations I actually know. In my own family, the women’s contributions were always valued as highly as the men’s. That didn’t spring from nowhere.
But the history books are silent on the things I really want to know. Was Margaret a musician, like my mother and her sisters? Did she love to paint, like my grandmother? Was she an accomplished seamstress? I’m willing to bet she was a phenomenal cook and baker—that seems to be a non-negotiable, iron-clad genetic trait in this family. Did she love flowers? I’d put money on it.
Sometimes, she pops up in documents as “Margaretta.” Was that a childhood nickname? The 18th century was gloriously flexible with spelling—they were too busy surviving to care about consistency.
We hear stories of the women who followed the armies, the “camp followers” who served as nurses, laundresses, and cooks. They were vital. But let’s not forget the Home Front CEOs. The Margarets. The ones who stayed behind, kept the lights on, and ensured there was a farm, a business, and a country to come home to. Without them, the soldiers would have returned to nothing but overgrown fields and hungry children.
Margaret Clark Webster died in 1806 at just 48 years old. Her life was short, impossibly hard by our standards, and her contributions were vast. I literally could not be here without her.
As we gear up to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, let’s make a pact. Let’s remember the Founding Mothers. The teenage farm managers. The women who made it possible for the men to go off and found a nation.
So, who are the invisible people among us? No one anymore. Not if we can help it.
P.S. A Challenge to You
Don’t let the women in your own life become invisible. Write down what you know. All the details matter—the recipes, the gardening tips, the stories about how she managed the budget or kept the peace. Don’t save it for a eulogy. Start writing now. Text her and ask. Call your grandmother. The time to make them visible is today.
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More Sources & Further Reading
· [Brandywine Battlefield: The Battle] – Just how close the war came.
