March 13 - Moment of Strength: share a story where a female
ancestor showed courage or strength in a difficult situation. I
find this very difficult to answer! I have no knowledge of
anyone in the family having to be strong or show courage in a
difficult situation. I have always felt though that my 6 x great
grandmother, Elizabeth Read (nee Shirley) (c1713 – 1786) must
have been a very strong woman. The reason for thinking this is
because she had 20 children in an era when there was no medical
help as such. She married my 6 x great grandfather Cozens Read
in 1734, had their first child in 1735 and their last child
twenty years later in 1755. They had three sets of twins within
those 20 children. At a time when there would not have been
medication to help ease the pain of childbirth, nothing much to
help should she have had any infections and what if there were
problems during the birth? So to have endured all that over so
many years and live to a good age of about 73 years, just makes
me think she must have b